Getting Rid Of The Demons Within

The story of Jesus and his disciples meeting a demented man along the shore of the Gerasenes (Mark 5) gives the haunting picture of a person who is out of control. "No one could bind him any more, even with chains," Mark says. It is a picture of illness not known about in those days, and even today is something of a mystery.

But Jesus reached down into the very center of this man's deranged mind and spirit, with the power to expel the evil spirits lodged within. Here was a man who was lost to society, because he was in need of wholeness, togetherness. He was like a wheel without a hub. He had no center!

Even today, Jesus has much to do with chaotic lives. Persons who are torn with conflicting desires, and confused minds, can never have the fullness of peace which God can give.

And the world is filled with people who are like the famed character of legend who jumped upon his horse and rode off in all directions at once! We have no purpose, because we have no one consuming goal.

One woman, after hearing William James lecture on pragmatism repeated lovingly, "Ah, fragmentism, what a beautiful word!" But fragmentism is not a beautiful word! And yet, into fragmented lives, Jesus can come to give the command, "Come out of this person, you unclean spirit."

How this strange pathetic man of the Gerasenes resembles me. "What is your name?" Jesus asked. And the reply was,, "My name is Legion, for we are many." Ah yes, there seem to be hundreds of persons within us, pulling in opposite directions; thousands of clamoring voices in the town meeting of our minds. And there is no one strong chairperson to sound the gavel and bring a cluttered mind into order.

The reality of Christian conversion comes when that oneness of life takes place, and the end of the civil war is reached. When Jesus comes, the storm disappears, and I can find my wholeness in Him.

CREATOR, OR REDEEMER?

We think of God as being primarily the Creator. And yet, long before creation, the dream of neighborhood was in His heart. And so He molded the earth in the palm of His hand. And he set it spinning in space, not just to see if He could, but rather to create a theater in which fellowship could take place between His children.

We have no way of knowing whether He might have set up other theaters, but at least we know about this one.

And so, creation is really secondary to redemption. For, from the beginning, God determined to mix us up, enmesh us in each other's lives. Why?...in order to make us fight and snarl and snap at each other? No, that is the animal level. He made us to be higher than that. God had planned from the beginning of time for mankind to be redeemed from his animal‑like characteristics. And to learn what it means to live together in peace.

There is a story about a man in New York city who said he would bring that wicked city to her knees, and he would teach the lion and the lamb to lay down together in peace. And he did it! And in one of the city stores, he got people to come and see it being done. Week after week people came, and there in a window cage, the lion and the lambs were indeed lying down together.

Finally, one person asked him how he had accomplished this amazing miracle...a lion and lambs, lying down together? "What does it take to accomplish this?" he was asked. "Well", the man sighed, "it takes an almost inexhaustible supply of lambs!"

We think about the starving millions, and the war‑torn multitudes around the world, and we see that there have been an almost inexhaustible supply of lambs, led to the slaughter. Is there no answer here?

A Rabbi once said, "I can give you the essence of the entire Old Testament in one verse." "What is it?" he was asked. "Job 1:21...The Lord has given, and the Lord has taken away...blessed be the name of the Lord." "The answer," he said, "is obedience!"

A Christian minister said, "Well I can match you. The New Testament can be contained in one verse, namely this: Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane saying, 'Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me....but if not, then Thy will be done.' Submission is the key," the minister replied.

Sometimes I do not want to obey. But finally, I must submit. The key to life is submission. I cannot avoid it. I must give in to it. I may not like it, but I am my brother's keeper. I am entangled in this human relationship. I can fight it and be utterly miserable, or I can submit to it, and find the glory of it. God marvels in His creation, but His dream was for a redeeming fellowship, where indeed lions and lambs could live in peace.

Entangled, For God's Sake!

Dr. Harrel Beck, professor of Old Test. at Boston U. School of Theology was asked the question, "If God were to apply for one of the teaching positions open at Boston U., which would it be?...Religion, History?" "No," he replied, "I think it would be Political Science. Because politics is what it takes to keep life human. God would be involved in politics, because He is concerned about keeping life human!"

Unlike cogs in a gear, people often clash. There is conflict. Even Christians sometimes disagree as to what is Christian. We are forever entangled in each other's lives.

It is our privilege to be tangled together, and yet, at times it becomes profoundly tragic, and we can be badly hurt by one another. Because we are involved together, we can be dragged down, or sucked in, or lifted up, or wrapped around. It is tragic and yet it is triumphant. There is joy, and there is sorrow. This is the arena of our world, and what we do with it is both political and religious.

A cartoon showed a great mushroom cloud of a nuclear explosion shaped like a vast crucifix, and a voice coming out of the cloud saying, "Father, forgive them not, for they know what they are doing!"

It's frightening, isn't it? Because, we do know what we are doing! We know that we live in a world of relationships and we know that if we hate our brothers and sisters, it's going to bring about war...but we do it anyway!

Someone once said about Erasmus, the great philosopher, that he looked like he had descended from a long line of maiden aunts. And sometimes the Church looks that way too. We are sometimes anemic and devoid of the red blood of compassion, because we have not really been involved in mankind. We have tried to separate ourselves from the mess, and our job is not to leave the world, but to love the world. Our job is to turn the loving Word into the living Deed.

Jesus was not crucified in Jerusalem because he was organizing a Wed. evening prayer meeting. Nobody gets crucified for that! But rather because he entangled himself redemptively, for God's sake.

Dr. Beck added, that Christ bids us to accept the gift of in-completion. God made the world, and he said,"That's good." He made man and woman and he said, "That's good." Then God could have done the finishing act, and made the perfect world, but He didn't do that. He handed it to the man and the woman and he said, "Here it is, now you finish it!"

Are you and I willing to get entangled, for God's sake?

Watching The Passing Show

The Psalmist has said, "O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth." (Psalm 8:1) All of us have reserved seats somewhere in life's universe to watch the passing show. But sadly enough, we are not all watching the same thing.

For some, the emphasis is on what man is doing. For others, it is with awe that they look upon that which God is doing!

Small wonder, however, when we are engrossed in a 110 hour wakeful week with things of the world, and a possible two or more hours with worship of God, that the secular interests should become 100% more real to us than the things of the Spirit. And thus it is that when we do come to worship, we fail to "see the Lord, sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up", (Is.6:1) as did the prophet Isaiah so many years ago.

We have been looking at the Box Office score on Mankind, and we have missed the splendor of the Eternal. True worship is designed to sharpen spiritual vision and insights. In the Psalms, the emphasis is not "look at me, and on my problems," but rather,"O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is thy name in all the earth."(Ps. 8:1) and "When I look at thy heavens, the work of thy fingers the moon and the stars which Thou hast ordained, what is man, that Thou art mindful of him?" (Ps. 8:3ff) Or again, "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?"(Ps. 27:1)

In the Bible, God steals the show! In our worship, the same thing should happen. Isaiah had the experience of God in the temple. (Is. 8) Zechariah, father of John the Baptist went into the synagogue and on the right side of the altar of incense, he saw an angel of the Lord. (Luke 1:11)

The Bible and the Psalmist did well to direct our gaze upon the Lord. Mankind will disappoint and betray us, but God will never forsake us. The glory of man is like a flickering candle, but the splendor of God is like the sun.

And so as we enter our churches, the center aisle becomes symbol of the road of life upon which the person of earth gets access to the Lord of Heaven. On one side stands the lectern from which the Word of God is read, and on the other side is the pulpit from which the Way of life is interpreted and explained. It is not to be a book review, or a lecture. It is not to be comedy or entertainment. But again and again, we are to be told, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." (Ps.46:1) "Come, behold the works of the Lord."(Ps.46:8) "See his wonders in the deep!"(Ps. 107:24)

God is here...in this holy place of worship. His splendor fills this place. He is above us, around us, yea, within us.

Unfortunately, many are only casual observers of the Eternal and His mighty works. They take eternal things for granted and turn to watch the antics of mankind. Perhaps it is time to switch channels! The big show is what is going on between God and His world. And when you really become an avid fan of Eternal splendors and see what God is doing, you too will say, "O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!"

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Will We Lose God In Outer Space?

Back in the year 1963, a space craft named "Faith 7" was sent out from the earth. A man named Gordon Cooper orbited the earth 22 times. In the book of Hebrews, we read "By faith, Abraham went out, not knowing where he was to go."(11:8) So also, Cooper went out, not knowing exactly what might happen, or entirely where he was going. But these early astronauts believed that God was there.

I know not why that capsule was called "Faith 7", but it was certainly appropriate. It was a venture in faith in spite of years of research and 18,000 persons to work the equipment. To sleep in that tiny capsule of steel with all of its intricate mechanisms while going over 17,000 m.p.h. took faith.

At about that same time, the Russian cosmonauts were asking, "Where is your God? We've never seen Him out there in space. We circled the globe again and again, and He wasn't out there!"

Thousands of years ago, the Psalmist said that you could not lose God. He wrote, "If I take the wings of the morning, and fly to the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall Thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me." (Ps. 139:9,10) And he went on to say, "If I ascend to the heavens thou art there. If I make Sheol my bed, thou art there also." (Ps. 139:8)

Christianity has survived many unsettling philosophies in the past, but what bothers us so, is how quickly we limit God. When the Copernican theory was proposed, it was drowned in a barrage of criticism. "What do you mean that God did not make the earth the center of everything?" They not only laughed Copernicus to scorn, but they pronounced anathema upon anyone who believed him.

So also when Darwin's theories began to split the church, there were those who said, "What do you mean, saying that man has evolved?" And so today, there are people who can only conceive of God working in one way...their way! And they forget that God has all the options of the universe at His disposal, far beyond our ability to think or comprehend.

Is it possible that there is life on other planets in other solar systems? If so, what kind of life would it be? We don't know. But if God is our God, wouldn't He be their God too? Some people seem to have lost track of God on this Earth, but God is most certainly here, and in outer space too. It is possible that we have yet to see some of His marvelous miracles revealed elsewhere in His Universe too.

Brass Tacks Religion

If you say, "don't let the man die on third", that's baseball terminology. If you say, "batten the hatches", that's terminology of the sailor. If you say, "corn that's knee‑high by the 4th of July", that's farm terminology of about 40 years ago. If you say, "we are sinners, washed in the blood of the Lamb", that's Church terminology.

Now it really doesn't matter much if you learn sailor terminology unless you want to become a sailor. And a spectator can enjoy baseball without knowing all of the terms. A farmer does not depend on teaching all of us the language of the farm. But the Church is concerned about making people...all kinds of people...Christians.

The Christian gospel exists only as it communicates...as it wins others...as it helps others understand the love of God in Jesus Christ. The language of the Church is rich in great words of the faith: "salvation", "redemption", "justification", and a host of others. These have been a means of grace to millions of Christians. But we have made the mistake of failing to explain our faith in simple, unmistakable terms that even the simplest person can understand.

In life there is a way that works and a way that does not work. And it is up to us to find the way that works. There are physical laws and spiritual ones. There is a physical law that is called "impenetrability". It means that two things cannot occupy the same space at the same time. And if two cars try to do it, the result is tragedy. They have not broken the law of "impenetrability", but they have been broken by it.

So also, in God's wonderful world of human relationships, there are laws. They may not seem as obvious as the "law of gravity", or the "law of impenetrability", but their results are just as obvious. The Old Testament prophets called for "justice","mercy","fairness" and "righteousness". And then Jesus came and said there were two supreme laws: love for God and love for our neighbors. And he said, "I am the way" that works. Nothing else does. Just like other laws, spiritual laws cannot be broken either.

If there were two roads, and one had a bridge out, and you said "Don't take that road". I would say, "Thank you. You have saved me...perhaps my very life...as well as a lot of agony." And so in life there are two roads. One is good and one is bad. One is a dead end, with a bridge out. It leads to disillusionment, unhappiness, and death to your soul. Many go that way. But Jesus said, "Few there be who find the road that leadeth unto life." "I am the way", he said, "follow me."

Jesus said that we must love one another. This is not a suggestion...it is a law, a spiritual law. I can try to break this law by hating my neighbor, but I have broken nothing except myself. Love is a law. It just makes sense to love my neighbors. Jesus told me that, and I violate it only at my own risk.

We would do well to consider that the way of evil bears bitter fruit...but following the way of Jesus, brings me to Eternal Life. Isn't this a simple kind of" brass tacks religion"?

New Every Morning

The book of Lamentations in the Old Testament is a series of poems and elegies, written after the capture of Jerusalem in 586 B.C.. Written, assumably by Jeremiah, it is a series of heart-broken cries. Listen to his opening words:

"How lonely sits the city
that was full of people
How like a widow has she become.
she that was great among the nations...
She weeps bitterly in the night
tears on her cheeks." (Lamentations 1:1,2)

Why is such a book written anyway? Who wants to read it? Such a sad book..."Lamentations" from the word "lament" meaning to be sad.

Perhaps it is written because it is important sometimes to read sad stories. It is so easy to be careless and blithe in the presence of human misery. We need reminders of the fact that there is much in human life that is sorrowful and sad.

In the lovely Good Friday cantata, "The Seven Last Words", the composer sees the three crosses and those standing by watching, and pulls a passage from Lamentations 1:12 which says: "Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow".

And the down‑side of that is my own realization that in many ways, I am like that. I have not cared enough. I have turned away and walked by on the other side. I have seen human misery, and not really cared. Perhaps there is therapy in looking pain and problems right in the eye. It is not wise to wear rose‑colored glasses and pretend that everything is lovely when most assuredly it is not. And so Jeremiah had personally experienced some of this. He says he had seen affliction. "God has walled me about, so that I cannot escape" he said. "He has put heavy chains on me." (Lam. 3:7,8) But still the prophet could affirm,

"This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope!
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.
his mercies never come to an end.

They are new every morning.
Great is thy faithfulness.
The Lord is my portion, says my soul.
Therefore I have hope in him." (Lam. 3:21‑24)

What a beautiful word..."hope". The Old Testament says: "God is a rock...a shelter in the time of storm. "He is a strong foundation. He is a fortress. He will not let you down." The Old Testament is a record of hope...of looking forward...of believing that something better was ahead. A Savior was coming. The Jews had a history of tribulation, of waiting. What kept them going? It was hope. "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases," they said. "His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness."

Nobody Puts Down A Chlild of God!

There is a kind of judgment upon evil that is built into the very heart of the universe. Does a criminal ever do evil and get away with it? At times it would seem so. Does a person ever cheat, and go away scot free? We would be inclined to believe so. Can we violate any of the commandments and not suffer the consequences? I suppose the newspapers could chalk up a huge tally sheet of those who have done so, and end up pretty well.

But there is another tally sheet that must be reckoned with, and that is the scroll of St. Peter. Sin does have its consequences! And somewhere, we believe, it is being tallied! And the built‑in consequences, begin to take effect right now. You see, nobody hurts a child of God and gets away with it! Nobody, but nobody puts down any of God's loved ones and escapes...at least not forever!

Sin has two real side effects: (1) It separates a person from God, and (2) It produces effects in the world, which can never be changed and taken back. It is like the nail holes in a piece of wood. I can pull out the nail, but I cannot pull out the hole. Sin has its consequences, and I cannot reverse them.

It would be foolish to light a match near gasoline. I might be sorry that I did it, and I could apologize to everyone concerned, but I cannot take back the consequences of what I have done. While going at 80 miles an hour, someone could dare me to take my hands off the wheel for 5 minutes. I could take the dare and count off the seconds, but I cannot prevent the consequences of what I am doing. And my life may well come to an end because of it.

Why then, can we not realize that if we call people names...or if we expose children to violence and bloodshed, or if we pollute our streams, or if we allow drugs to confuse young minds, that there are terrible consequences? Why is it so hard to realize that moral and spiritual laws have consequences just as real as the physical ones. In the 25th chapter of Matthew, Jesus is talking about good and bad people. The bad ones don't see how they are hurting one another, and themselves. On the other hand, the good folks see the hungry, and give them food. They see the thirsty and give them drink. They notice the strangers, and welcome them, observe the naked and clothe them, see the sick, and visit them. They do not reject the prisoners, but go to them. And to these good folks he said, "inherit the Kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world." (vs. 34)

Here is something foundational! Hatred and evil in our world must eventually fail, because it is not built into the foundation. Love, on the other hand, will stand.

Sometimes it is easy to believe that all is lost. People do wrong, and never get caught. Evil seems to have its way, and the good get poorer and the righteous seem to get weaker. But just remember: nobody...but nobody puts down a child of God and gets away with it. There is judgment built into the very heart of the universe against sin. But there is a kind of grace built into the very heart of God. And thank God, we can be the beneficiaries of it.

And The Beat Goes On

Listen closely. Can you hear it? It is the heart‑beat of every person near you. It is the beat of our jobs, and the school bell, and the beat of the farmer's tractors in the fields, and the cheerleaders and the bouncing football, the beat of the disk‑jockey, and the more tragic beat of hunger and the flack of sub‑machine guns.

Day after day, the beat goes on, with crime and heartache, and grief all around the world. Most of us live in a sheltered community, but if we are to give meaning to the aged, or the handicapped, or the minorities...or if we are to deal with persons like the Biblical Nicodemus who came to Jesus by night, or to a Samaritan woman of poor reputation, like the one Jesus met at the well...then we must be more sensitive to the "beat" that goes on.

What really is the job of the Church? Is it to have chicken suppers, or to keep the roof from leaking, or even to maintain a missionary society or have Bible classes? No...the job of the Church is to decide, for Christ's sake, who and what is alienated from God, and to bring the love of our Lord to bear upon it.

Jesus recognized that the woman at the well had gotten into trouble. She had had five husbands, and the one she was now with was not really her husband! But Jesus saw that she had gotten into trouble not because she was bad, but probably because she was desirable, and attractive, and perhaps very unhappy. A lot of people who "go bad" are really folks who are saying, "I am lonely, I am unhappy...please, somebody...anybody, please pay attention to me."

And most girls who go bad, are not really bad, and most boys who make them go bad, or who get into other kinds of trouble are not really bad. They are simply persons, who, for one reason or another, have been left out, or have gotten the idea that fate has driven them out, and each wrong involvement gets them deeper and deeper into trouble. Some of the most mixed‑up people I have counseled with are some of the nicest people I have known.

Years ago, a book was written called, "The Kingdom of Downtown." "Downtown" is the world of parading around the Square, it is the world of psychedelic sights and sounds, it is the world of picture "T" shirts and rock and roll, and in many respects, it is a world for those who may no longer be starry‑eyed idealists, but who are becoming disillusioned skeptics.

There is "living water" available. Jesus said so to the woman at the well, and people everywhere need to know about it. Dr. Bauman, noted Bible teacher and scholar said in one of his T.V. broadcasts, that "Man is sometimes depicted as a clown with a laughing face. But it is painted on, to hide the tragic lines beneath." There is a kind of rhythm to our world, an increasingly fast beat, that is flaunting old‑time traditions of society and Christian morals. Our task is not to stop the beat, not to berate it, criticize it, but to get in step, because that is what Christ did...so that if possible, the beat of God's love and the beat of man's need, can be synchronized and brought together.

If we as Christians get so busy with everything else that we fail to be sensitive to this kind of person and this kind of need, then the beat of life will go on, and we will be left hopelessly behind. In the midst of it, can often be heard the beat of someone crying, someone hurt, someone lonely, someone really thirsty for the water of life. For Christ's sake, will you listen, and care, and do what you can to help? Because if Christ would not reject the woman of Samaria, then neither should we.

Pick Your Own Millstone

If you play the horses now and then and think it doesn't matter, because the kids will never find out...then pick your own millstone! If you read the morning paper every morning, and know the latest news and ball game scores, and your son decides that this is important, but your Bible collects dust on the living room table, and your son decides that this must not be important...then pick your own millstone! Jesus said that children were like priceless jewels, and "of such is the kingdom of heaven". But he also said that if anyone causes one of these little ones to sin, "It would be better for you if a great millstone were fastened around your neck and you were drowned in the depth of the sea." (Matt. 18:6)

Why did Jesus consider children to be so important? Kill a man, and you destroy a life, but when you pervert a child, you plant a seed, which grows and multiplies as it comes to manhood, shaking off its evil influence upon all it meets. The child becomes an adult, marries, has children and to them, the seed is transferred and the weed of evil spreads further and further through the years. Kill a man, and you do great evil. But pervert a child and you multiply evil a hundred‑fold.

Every one of us leaves a deposit upon another's soul. A child's mind is like a sensitive film...it is an endless computer bank, recording, absorbing everything seen, heard, tasted, smelled, and felt. A picture is being etched like an ever‑turning movie film. It takes in the smell of cookies, or the lack. It receives the harsh word, the deceit, the love that is seen, or the prayers that are spoken. God has placed us in the world as families. For every chick and child that is born, he has appointed two defenders, a mother and a father. God is holding them personally responsible. It is a scary situation! Edgar A. Guest has written:

"Who touches a boy, by the Master's plan...
Is shaping the course of the future man;
Father or mother or teacher or priest...
Friend or stranger or saint or beast
Is dealing with one who is living seed
And may be the man whom the world shall need.
For who can measure the pride and joy
That may some day grow from a little boy?"

esus said, "Do not hinder them"..."do not cause them to stumble". In the gangs, in the urban street children, we have all the makings of a sad and horrible future. And somewhere out there are parents, who gave birth to them, and are now being fitted for their particular millstone! God is not mocked!

Where To Put Your Foot Down

Walking on thin ice is an uncomfortable situation. And we are a generation of people who are doing it. Back in the 7th and 8th centuries B.C. the Assyrians were pushing their way towards the Mediterranean coast, and King Ahaz of Judah was invited to join his neighbors to the north in resisting the Assyrian forces. When he refused, they threatened to invade and destroy him. He decided he should ask the Assyrians for help, and Isaiah the prophet said "No, leave the alliances alone!" But Ahaz went ahead anyway. He sold out to the enemy and was called the "Judas" of his time.

Later, Hezekiah, the king who was now suffering from the oppression of taxes to this same Assyria, threatened to make an alliance with Egypt, and once again Isaiah counseled "No". "The Egyptians are men, not God." he said. "Horses are flesh, not spirit."

All of which suggests that when we are running scared, we often lose our sense of values, and we turn to any willow‑the‑wisp that appears. We cling to any straws!

From the beginning, we have fallen snare to the delusion that military might and the strength of our arm would save us. When will we begin to ask that God's will be done and not ours? Isaiah the prophet found Ahaz "shaking like a leaf" when they met, and when the prophet said, "Why?" the reply came: "Haven't you heard that we are going to be invaded? Israel and Syria are breathing down my throat." And Isaiah says, "Of course, I've heard, but what are you afraid of? The Lord is with us." And Ahaz says: "Yes, but I want something real! I want help from Assyria."

We are told that Thomas Carlyle had a great mind, but was troubled by trifles. A neighbor had a rooster that crowed every morning at 4 a.m. When Carlyle complained, the neighbor said, "Does the crowing keep you awake?" "No, it isn't the crowing...it's my lying awake, waiting for him to crow."

And so, we are all tormented. What or who can we trust? Where can we put our foot down with confidence, without having the rug pulled out from under us? And each of us must decide. Are we ruled by fear or by faith? Ahaz was ruled by fear and he tried to "buy" protection. Where will we place our faith? Do we believe in armies, or in God? Is it to be the lottery, or common‑sense Savings accounts? A business man had a motto on his desk. It said, "My mind is made up, don't confuse me with the facts!" Most of us honor and revere our faith. And yet we seem to believe that it is impractical and irrelevant to life today. But take a look at the facts: the way we have dealt with one another and with other nations through the years has not been very practical. "Destroy them before they destroy us" seems to be our philosophy. But is there a better way, a spiritual way, based upon the only absolute there is: love?

The problem of Ahaz is the problem of our own times. We have too much faith in the wrong things. Soldiers, horses, guns and bombs...these are flesh, not spirit. You can't depend on them. If you put your foot down on this foundation you'll fall through. But put your faith in the good Lord God, and you have something no treasure can buy.

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The Seventh Day!

In Genesis 2, verse 2 we read, "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished. And on the seventh day, God finished His work which he had done. And He rested on the seventh day from all his work. So God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it."

What a catastrophe it would have been without the Sabbath. How could we have survived all these years, without that one day we call "Holy." We need that, more than we need pay day. For it is the pay check of the soul to worship. Sad is the person who never enriches his spirit. Bankrupt is the person who never gets the dividends of a Sunday investment. Life is so flat...so horizontal most of the time. We grovel for the almighty dollar. But on the lst day of the week, we need to get the vertical dimension.

I feel sorry for people who stay home on Sunday mornings. How important it is to come and meet your Creator. To get the main‑spring of your heart re‑wound; to let the Lord fill your cup once again, before starting a new week.

"Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy." It is not a suggestion. It is a law of life! Break it if you will, and you hurt yourself and your family. Keep it, and shovel in the inner treasures that are there.

Genesis 1 and 2 tell us about God. He is the star, the main character. He is a God who acts. He began it. He made it all. He pronounced it good. And into this world, He sent a man and woman. They are our parents. They made the mistake of thinking they knew better than God. I need the Sabbath to avoid that folly.

The Essence Of A Candle

Sunday morning worship is more than a sermon, more than the hymns, more than the choir. There is a symphony of symbolism that speaks to the heart that is willing to listen and observe.

Lighting the candles seems like such an insignificant thing, but what it suggests is anything but insignificant. Of course, it refers to “light”. Jesus is the “light of the world”. He is the “light” that the darkness has never been able to put out.

But the burning of the candles has a message that goes even beyond this. It is the message of sacrifice. Have you ever stopped to think about the wax that burns for our careless consumption?

Some candle‑wax comes from west China. Two hundred miles past Chungking, insect eggs are gathered every spring. Porters carry these eggs over mountain trails for as long as seven nights journey away. They travel at night mostly because during the day, the heat of the sun would be too much for the eggs. The eggs are placed on specially prepared trees, and fourteen days later, the insects find the best branches to feed on close at hand. Two months go by and the insects have covered the branches to which they are attached with wax a quarter of an inch thick. The wax is then scraped off and boiled to remove all impurities, including the dead bodies of the workers. For 45 centuries, these tiny insects have been giving their lives to provide wax, and light for man.

We may have heard also of the sperm whale, sacrificed for its commercial usage, including the massive head containing a huge reservoir of fifteen to twenty‑five barrels of valuable sperm oil, so high in quality that candle power is measured by the sperm candle.

So also, nearly half the commercial output of beeswax is used in this country for religious purposes. The life span of the worker bee is just forty days. She literally works herself to death. The frayed wings and beaten bodies of the dead workers show how completely they live for their work. If a single bee could produce a pound of honey, her labors would require eight years and require mileage flights equivalent of three times around the world.

Far to the south, in the land of Brazil, there is another wax‑producing worker. In those times when the land is parched and most animals and insects have died or moved out, one tree has put up a battle and wins so complete a victory that it is in a class all its own. It defies the sun's rays to pull out its moisture by covering its leaves with a surface of wax . The more intense the heat, the thicker the wax. The tree becomes a tree of life for beast and man. Cattle eat the green shoots. Its palmetto becomes food for man. Its roots become his medicine, and its sap a drink. Seeds are a substitute for coffee. Leaves are made into rope, mats, hats, brooms, baskets, hammocks, and thatch for the houses. Its high quality fibers become fishing nets, blankets and fillers for cushions. The trunk of the tree withstands insects, salt water, and thus is used for telephone poles, bridges, house building, etc. There is something remarkable about its wax, and no synthetic substitute has been found to take its place. The carnauba wax, and the story that is behind it, gives any candle with which it burns, a new glow of beauty.

Is it any wonder that sometimes the best sermons are simply the message behind our symbols. Sacrifice! It is the essence of the candle, and surely suggests that it play an important part in our lives as well.

They Decided Not To Be!

Shakespeare once had one of his characters say: "To be or not to be, that is the question." There are some people who decide "not to be", and stop living.

But there is a not‑so‑negative thought here as well. The world around us often fills us with despair. There is sin, there is hatred and animosity. There is agony. And in this kind of world, it is easy to be overwhelmed. But we must decide not to be.

The early disciples give us a remarkable example here. They decided to live on a level where nothing could hurt them, where nothing could drag them down, because Christ had lifted them up.

We read about Paul and his followers, going from city to city. Some listened with respect, but others drove them out. They were beaten, imprisoned, stoned and left for dead. The early Christians could have been discouraged, but they decided not to be. They could have been hurt, but they decided not to be. They could have resorted to trickery, bribery, deceit, and to be mean or vindictive in return, but "they decided not to be."

There are two ways to be defeated. One is when others defeat you. But the second way is when you defeat yourself. The first often happens. We lose at a game. We lose in business to a superior salesman. We lose in love to a more charming Romeo. But this is not the really significant battle. When we throw in the sponge, and declare that the odds are against us, then people catch us in self‑defeat. One such character, in modern literature exclaimed, "Tricked by gad, that's what I was; tricked by life, and made a fool of." (Fosdick)

Robert Louis Stevenson, the great poet, was plagued with tuberculosis...but it didn't defeat him. Helen Keller, was blind, deaf and dumb from birth...but somehow it didn't defeat her. Glen Cunningham, one of the fastest milers had been crippled in his boyhood in a schoolhouse fire. Doctors said he would never walk again. He could have been easily defeated, but he decided not to be.

The poet has said:

If you think you are beaten, you are;
If you think you dare not, you don't.
If you'd like to win, but think you can't
It's almost a cinch you won't.
If you think you'll lose, you're lost,
For out in the world we find
Success begins with a fellow's will.
It's all in the state of mind.
Life's battles don't always go
To the stronger or faster man;
But sooner or late the man who wins
Is the one who thinks he can.
The early Christians learned a divine focus of life. Paul said, "For me, to live is Christ." He could have been badly defeated...but he decided not to be.

The Circle Syndrome

Tell a boy he is a bad boy often enough, and pretty soon, he will begin to believe it himself. Call a man a crook long enough, and treat him like an animal, and more than likely he will live up to your expectations. Treat people with suspicion, and soon you will find reason to justify your suspicions.

How do you break the vicious circle? Jesus broke it many years ago, when after he had been hung upon a cross, with tear‑filled eyes he said, "Father, forgive them, all of them, for they know not what they do."

We build walls between ourselves and those around us. Between denominations, between nations, between races, between the rich and the poor. How childish, really! Robert Frost in his little poem called "Mending Wall" says, "Something there is that doesn't love a wall, that sends the frozen ground‑swell under it, and spills the upper boulders in the sun; and makes gaps even two can pass abreast."

We may not like walls, but we build them, nonetheless. The apostle Peter asked Jesus how many times he should forgive his brother. He suggested maybe 7 times, thinking he was being magnanimous. But Jesus suggested that we must keep forgiving even to infinity.

You see, the Christian is obligated to forgive. With us, it is not optional. We have to forgive, or run the risk of not being forgiven by the Heavenly Father. We are reminded of it in the Lord's prayer when we say, "Forgive us as (in proportion to) we forgive others."

When we are hurt, retaliation is never the answer...forgiveness is. The little person kicks back. But, as Francis Bacon once said, "It is the prince's part to pardon."

Will it work? We quickly ask: "Has any other way ever worked?" Forgiveness has been commissioned to the Christian world. John Morley, commenting on Gladstone's wonderfully constructive handling of an extortioner and on his readiness to forgive, wrote: "There was no worldly wisdom in it, we all know. But then what are people Christians for?"

Badness has a way of coming around. Do evil to others, and it returns to you. But goodness comes around too. "Cast your bread upon the waters," and in many ways, and after many days, somehow it brings the goodness back to you. There is a kind of "circle syndrome". I'd like to believe that the Lord knew the answer when he told us we must "love one another"...and that ultimately this "circle", the "circle of love" will become more powerful, and overcome the "circle of evil." Sometimes there is no worldly wisdom to it...but then, what are people Christians for?

Creedo

In the 9th chapter of Mark, there is a story about a man whose son had epileptic fits. He would foam at the mouth, grind his teeth, and become rigid. The father had asked the disciples for help, but they didn't know what to do. Then, the father came to Jesus.

Jesus asked him a few things about the problem. Sometimes it convulsed the child with such energy that it threw him into the water, or into the fire. What agony for those parents!

The Dad said, "Jesus, if you can do anything, have pity on us and help us." And Jesus replied, "If you can." In other words, I can do something, if you can do something. I can heal him, if you can believe that I can.

It is true. God's power is sometimes limited by how much we believe. Later on, Jesus said, "All things are possible to him who believes."

At times, it appears that there is not much "belief" in our world. Nobody really believes that great things will happen, and so they don't! Belief is fundamental.

When Martin Luther was put on trial, he said, "Here I stand, so help me God, I can do no other." Someone once said, "People who don't stand for something, will invariably fall for anything." And that is what is happening in our troubled society.

Today we need a Creed...a profound belief...something to stand for, lest we fall for anything! Is there such a Creed for everyone? Yes, Jesus himself is our Creed. He is the Word of God become flesh. He is the living Word.

And so, I believe, that there is a God, that He is like Jesus, and that He cares for me. Maybe that's the only creed, I really need!

The Jesus-Goal

Someone has said that Jesus is the summit of a kind of spiritual evolution towards which we are all to be pointed.

Whenever we wish to accomplish a certain goal, we need to have a picture of it, so that we can move towards it. And so we human beings need to have some idea as to what we were designed to be.

We need a picture...a pattern. And Jesus is that Design...love upon love, forgiveness upon forgiveness. And Jesus is Man...man, the way God designed him to be!

When God made man back in the garden of Eden, he had a visual picture of what He wanted human‑kind to become. But Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden, and the fall of mankind took place.

They failed to live up to that picture of what God had in mind. So also, all of us have sinned and fallen short of the Great Design.

But God sent a 2nd Adam, and Jesus is that model of our humanity. And this time, the model is perfect in every respect. We cannot hope to live up to that sinlessness or perfection. But we can be like him. We can look unto Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.

If physical evolution is slow...so also is spiritual evolution. The Jesus‑goal is the model. In this man, Jesus, God got "all the bugs worked out!" If Detroit could ever come out with a model of an automobile that finally had all the problems cured, all the lemons un‑soured, all the failures corrected, then, they could say, "This is CAR...car, the way car was meant to be."

Unfortunately, they can never say that. But God can say it, "Jesus is MAN...man the way I meant him to be." Through the years, we have each had our vocations, and our jobs in life. Sometimes we are confused about our reason for existence. Mother Teresa tells the story of a man working for her, who was assigned tasks about which he complained. "My vocation is to work for lepers," he said. "I want to spend myself for the lepers." Her answer to him was, "Brother, your vocation is not to work for lepers; your vocation is to belong to Jesus."

What is my task here on earth? Am I to work on committees? Am I to help in community affairs? Is my primary task to be a parent, or a member of the choir? Should I be attending all the Board meetings that are on my schedule? At times, it is confusing.

But one thing I do know. There is a Jesus‑goal! And my job in all things is to be like Jesus. I know I can't make it all the way. I just know I want to become like Him. That's my goal!

Are You Sure You're Sure?

The Scripture from Nehemiah 8 is sometimes known as the "Watergate Account", not because it has anything to do with a major theft of political significance, but simply because it says,

"All the people gathered into the square
before the Water Gate; and they told Ezra the
scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses...
and he read from it facing the square before the
Water Gate from early morning until midday." (Neh. 8:1,3)

If you were to ask the folks of the Old Testament, "How can you be sure you are sure?" they would simply say, "You can be sure, because it's in the Book."

Unfortunately, we have argued so much about our interpretations of the Book, that although every religious group sounds "sure", the results are very "unsure". A modern under‑arm deodorant uses television to promote the idea that some people raise their arms and they are "sure". You see, they use the right deodorant! Others are hesitant to raise their sweaty arms, because they are "unsure".

In II Timothy, chapter 1, verse 12, we find the intrepid Paul saying: "I know whom I have believed, and I am sure..." I love that verse, and I only wish I could be as sure as the apostle Paul seemed to be.

Sometimes I am envious of the certainty of some of the independent church groups, who have no doubt that they are absolutely right about every doctrine they proclaim. Since we cannot know all that God knows, don't we need a bit more humility than that? Someone has said that the only persons who are absolutely sure of themselves in today's world are the politicians. And the world is filled with gullible people who fall for their self‑proclaimed authority.

I suppose faith is a risky thing. Most of us have concluded that science is "sure"...faith is "unsure". And yet listen to the wizard of science, Thomas Edison saying,

"We don't know the millionth part of one percent,
about anything. We don't know what water is. We don't
know what light is. We don't know what gravitation is.
We don't know what enables us to keep on our feet when
we stand up. We don't know what electricity is. We
don't know what heat is. We don't know anything
about magnetism. We have a lot of hypotheses about
these things, but that is all. But we do not let our
ignorance about all these things deprive us of their
use."

If the "scientific method" is not always "sure", what is? Are there other ways of knowing truth? For example, I know that Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" is a beautiful number. Debussy's

"Reverie" really "sends me"! I know that Tchaikovsky's "Andante Cantabile" is a moving piece of music. But because I am not using a scientific procedure, does it therefore mean that it is not true?

Amelia Burr once wrote:
"I am not sure the earth is round
Nor that the sky is really blue,
The tale of why the apples fall
May or may not be true.
I do not know what makes the tides
Nor what tomorrow's world may do,
But I have certainty enough
For I am sure of you."

When Jesus took the Scriptures, and said, "Today, this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing," he was telling us that the yardstick of interpretation of the spiritual truths of the world, come not from a book of Law, or from a Pope, or from a pulpit‑pounding evangelist, but from Him.

We may not have all the answers, but we have enough. We do not need a lawyer to forge out the intricacies of all the 66 books of the Bible for us. There is One who walked this life before us, and who walked it perfectly and beautifully, and our job is to become like Him.

A little boy flying his kite was asked by a friend how he knew the kite was still there, when it got so high he could hardly see it. He replied, "I know it is there, because I can feel the tug of it."

How can we be sure there is a God who cares, who gives strength to those who are weak, and who gives power to the faint? The answer is, because of Jesus Christ in my heart, I can feel
the tug of Him in my soul, and because of that I am sure!

Can You Stand Inspection?

Years ago, in our Chicago Church, one of the members worked at the famous Brach Candy Company. She told me the kind of care taken in this hygienic laboratory. An inspector checked each person who entered. If finger‑nails were not clean, if hands were not scrubbed, if the hair seemed less than light and fluffy, the inspector would send them home. "Wash your hair...make yourself clean and then come back." No street clothes or regular shoes were permitted...only sterilized uniforms. The air in the building was washed and filtered.

For the honest Christian, something like this must happen every day as we stand before the Lord of all inspectors. "Lord, filter and wash my thoughts this day as I work." "Jesus, stand guard over my temper." "O Father, keep me from spending my money for that which is worthless." Again and again, we must stand before Him, peeling off vestments and cloaks for inspection...opening every door of our personalities...saying in utter faith, "Lord Jesus, is there anything here that does not belong in the life of a Christian?"

We cannot honestly do this day after day, without the "power of God for salvation" beginning to take effect. And the proof of this is that lives have been, and are being changed...and here in truth, is the real power of God. It would be nice if each of our lives could have a label: "Inspected and approved...by Almighty God."

Breaking The Sight Barrier

It was a significant break-through when our jet planes broke the “sound barrier”. But as Christians, we have not as yet broken the sight barrier. In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he says: “Do not live as the Gentiles live. For they live blind-folded in a world of illusion.” Eph. 4:17 (Phillips translation)

“Having eyes, do we not see?” And the point is that we may be seeing everything, but the things that are real. We live in a world of illusion. We watch T.V., but it is not real, for it is a world of make-believe. The “Soaps” are not real, no matter how much of your time you spend deciding who’s going to marry who, and who’s going to be unfaithful to who else?

And again, we read our newspapers, and much of what we read is not the real story. The story behind the headlines is the one that really counts. Even as we look at each other, we do not see the real person. We often see only what the other person is pretending to be.

And so, reality is a confusing thing. The New Testament puts it well, when it says, “Now we see through a glass darkly” (I Cor. 13:12) Are we teaching illusion? It is possible that in much of our world, T.V. for example, that we are. We are saying that life is a gun-shootin’, rootin’ sort of thing, and we have come to believe it. Take a look at the penal institutions, and we can see the results of this illusionary kind of world. 20 years ago, the average age level in the prisons, was about 32. Today it is 17! Somewhere along the way, our young kids have been flip-flopping between illusion and reality...believing that violence and killing was the true reality.

As a nation, we have been living in a world of illusion, teaching as real that which is unreal. We have been printing on our coins, “In God we trust”, and we have said in our pledge, “this nation under God”. We are a good nation, and there are many good people believing that this made us a Christian nation, whereas in reality we are not. “Having eyes, we see not”. This is the condemnation of Jesus to a sin-sick, blinded world. We have walked so long in illusion, that we cannot see reality and so, we stumble and fall: One divorce out of every 2 marriages...criminals at the age of 17...people drinking instead of thinking...folks turning to immorality, because they have never learned to deny themselves anything...people with a house full of furniture, but a home empty; of love...folks with all the paraphernalia of life, but none of the necessities.

In the midst of this confusion and blindness, stands the Church, calling to people and saying, “Here is the Way of the Lord...Walk in it.” We are to be witnesses, Jesus said, and why can’t we do this? We ring door bells for the Red Cross, and make pleas for the Cancer Fund. We sell insurance, and vacuum cleaners, and have the audacity to confront people with their need for new clothes, and new cars, and new houses. But should we hesitate to confront them with their need for new eyes, and a new birth, and a new faith in Jesus Christ?

No church is kind and no Church is Christian that does not include an outreach together with an up-reach. To ignore others for Christ now, is to turn our children over later to a generation of pagans that far surpasses what we think exists at the moment. Isn’t it just being practical? I’d better win my neighbor to Christ, or my own future is jeopardized. A pagan neighbor puts me in jeopardy.

But the reason is far deeper. The love of Christ constrains us! Because Christ has done what he did for us upon the cross, then how can we do less for Him that call our friends to an accounting, and help them tear off the blindfolds?

Emerson one time said that the name of Jesus is “not so much written as ploughed into the history of the world.” And if this be so, then it will take more than just talk, more than just a few pieces of literature. It will take all of us, in every way, and in every place, proclaiming the name of Jesus and giving personal example to the life of Jesus. It would seem that we have been scribbling the name of Jesus rather than cultivating it, in the life of our communities. To be blindfolded to God is to be cut off from Him forever. I wonder about the fate of those of us who know the truth, and sit idly by.

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Look For The Diamond

Jesus Christ has given us a very strange formula for living when he said: “The man who loves his own life will lose it, and the man who hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life.” (John 12:25)

What did he mean? We have heard it said, that “a person who is wrapped up in himself makes a very small package,” and this is part of the meaning. All of us, from childhood on, tend to be selfish and self-centered. And unless we stop that line of direction and change it to something else, we become like a top, spinning around ourselves, but having no meaning.

Jesus said that we must not center life around ourselves...don’t love your life to the point that your eyes turn inward instead of outward. If we do that, we will lose all that we have, he inferred. If we discount ourselves, if we push down our egos, bury our self-interest...Jesus used strong language, “hate your own life,” then we will find that what we have despised, God will love. What we have hated, God will preserve through all eternity.

But someone will say, “I doubt that! I don’t think that Jesus went around hating himself, and I don’t think we should either!” But Jesus loved some things so much that by contrast, it might be supposed he hated himself. He so loved the leper that he seemed to care little about danger to himself. He loved people so much, that it didn’t matter that he ran smack into a wall of iron resistance that finally led to a cross.

Perhaps this is what it means to “hate” our lives. It is not that we should neglect our bodies or take chances with our health...but rather that we become so obsessed with finding God’s will and doing it, of serving Him, and laboring under His divine command, that by contrast, our own wills mean nothing.

This was Christ’s formula...to give and give and give of Himself for God, and others, that finally what is left over, is the essence boiled down, the valuable nugget filtered through, which has value in the coin of heaven.

Suppose someone were to deliver to your home a load of coal, and say that somewhere in that load is a diamond of great value. You could do several things. You could guard and preserve that load of coal forever. Or you could tell everyone who comes, “Look at that pile of coal. I have a diamond there.” And they would laugh at you in scorn.

But if you gave away that coal, piece by piece, finally when all of it had been given away, the diamond would have filtered down and be preserved at the bottom of the pile.

Somewhere within you, there is a diamond in a soul of tremendous value. It must be preserved, it must be carefully handled. But it will not be one by hanging on for dear life to that which surrounds it. Spend your life, lose it for Christ, give it away in service until it is all used. And before your very eyes, you will discover that what is left, is of far greater value than all the other put together.

The Unpardonable Sin

A minister one time was speaking informally to a group of college students in their fraternity house. He turned to the chairman of the discussion group and asked: “What are you living for?” The student replied: “I am going to be a pharmacist.” The minister said: “I understand that this is how you are going to earn your livelihood, but what are you living for?” The youth bowed his head for a moment, and then looking up with clear, true eyes, he said: “Sir, I am sorry, but I haven’t thought that thing through.”

You see, we are placed in this world to build men and women, boys and girls, whose lives will continue on through all eternity. This is what we must be living for, and we are in our professions merely to pay the expenses.

It matters not so much whether my boy becomes a ditch-digger or an engineer, or an assembly line worker as it does that he be a Christian. I am to build into his life staunch honesty, and a holy fear of doing wrong, and a genuine concern for the value of human life. If I have done this, then I have done more for him than the gift of a million dollar estate.

We will not always be successful. In Matt. 13:58 we read that Jesus could do no mighty works in his home town because of their unbelief...”He came unto his own and his own received him not.” Sometimes not all the praying in the world will change a person. People are sometimes stiff-necked and there is an awful lot of resistance given to the invitation of Almighty God. There are many people in our world who are convinced that they are good people, and that they have no need for anything more. God could not save them, because they have saved themselves already! They are right, and anyone who tries to make them think otherwise, is wrong.

We believe that there gets to be a point in life when the condition of unpardonable sin becomes dangerously real. It comes like this: when a person is wrong and believes for a long enough time that he is right, then a reversal of values begins to take place. Wrong becomes right, and right becomes wrong. It is nearly impossible for such a person to become a Christian, because he or she has so dulled the conscience that a right choice cannot be made.

It is like the story of the dancing slippers, of the little girl who wanted so much to dance, and who upon getting the pair of dancing slippers could not stop dancing. Her will was no longer in her head, but in her feet. So too, the man or woman whose God-given power of choice and decision has lost out to habits and patterns of behavior, finds that he is no longer in the driver’s seat. God cannot forgive such a person, because such a person cannot honestly ask forgiveness, and God will never save a person against his will.

I may not ask God to pardon my sins, but if my sin is the fact that I do not honestly believe that I need to be pardoned, then I am really trying to fool God! But God is not mocked!

Gossip On The Hill

Someone has said that the Bible is a record of the “glows and after-glows” of religious experience. After the Easter resurrection, two of the disciples were on their way to Emmaus, and were joined by a stranger. Luke 24:35 says: “They told what had happened on the road.”

In these words, we find a summary of the Bible from cover to cover...”They told what had happened.” The Bible is the story of witnessing, of how people found God, and discovered that His grace was sufficient for them. They took the witness stand, and they testified gladly.

A few years ago, much was made of thugs, racketeers, mobsters, etc. who called upon the 5^th Amendment. They refused to testify on the grounds that it might be used to incriminate them. Falling back on the 5^th amendment troubles me, but it reminds me of what a multitude of Christians are doing again and again.

Moses and Elijah, Isaiah and Jeremiah were willing to testify, no matter how unpopular their words might be. They were incriminated! Indeed they were willing to die for what they said. And this is the way our Bible came to us...through faithful testimony of men and women who had gotten all involved in the proclamation of the Gospel.

On what grounds do we dare refuse testimony? We are a people with a story to tell. We have words to speak, and there is power in words that burn their way into human life.

An unknown poet has written:

“Good news, old world, good news;
The river and the winds refuse
To keep the matter still;
There is gossip on the hill.”

And this gossip is that the seasons are changing, and that the oriole, and the lark and blackbird all refuse to keep the matter still. Ours is an unfinished Gospel. And do we dare to keep quiet about it?

It is a continued story...a continuing story. There is an unwritten page left for each of us to write, and it is to be our record of what Jesus Christ means to us. I have some gossiping to do from my own hill-top. It is not the old game of “Button, Button, Who’s Got the Button?” I have the “button,” and no one else can do what I must do. I have a witness to share. God help me to do it well.

The Devil Made Me Do It!

In I John 4:4, the text reads: "Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world." As Christians approach the season of Lent, there are so many times that they examine their failures and weaknesses and get discouraged because they have failed so often.

Flip Wilson on T.V. had a familiar phrase, "The devil made me do it!" We have all said that, or something similar to it, I suppose. We have felt that we were not in control, or that we were not ourselves...not at our best...and the power of evil zaps us between the eyes and we sin.

The 40 days of Lent, beginning with Ash Wednesday, are like the period of testing that Jesus spent in the wilderness. He too, struggled for supremacy over evil, and he won!

Although we can never be sinless like Jesus, yet if he is in our hearts, then we have a power stronger within us, than all the combined forces of evil on the outside. For that we should rejoice!

San Dee Tillee is a poet who often puts her lyrics to country music. In her own life, she must have gone through experiences like that of the Prodigal Son. When she was baptized, she wrote these words:

Lord, I've been in hell so long.
Thank you for helping me out.
You've given me a brand new song;
You mapped the whole road out.
Yes, I believe I'm on the right road,
But, I've still got the tracks on my arms
To remind me of that hellish load,
With the devil's many charms.

If you feel the need for power on the inside to work against the evil on the outside, then invite the Savior to walk the journey of Lent with you.

By Faith Possessed

For years, we have been struggling with the process of eliminating poisons in our water supply, harmful chemicals in the air we breathe, and finding medicines and drugs that will remove the sickness from our bodies.

But when John the Baptist confronted Jesus at the time of his baptism, we hear John saying, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” (Jn. 1:29)

With the coming of Jesus, therefore, something entered life that takes away sin. Here indeed is a wonder! We have not found anything, really, to take away the common cold...let alone cancer, or alcoholism, or a dozen other problems. But here is something that can take away sin.

And when we come right down to it, the real problems of this world, are not cancer, or colds, or poverty, or even pollution, important as these are. The really important problems are those human relations between peoples: selfishness, hatred, greed, murder, and that which creates poverty, and broken homes, and inter-national tensions. Putting it simply, our problem is sin!

And John the Baptist said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.” Here, then is what we are dealing with...a force that has the power to take away sin. Paul said, he was not ashamed of it, for it was the power of God for salvation.

Have you stopped to consider what your faith is really all about? Is it not that grand and glorious idea that there is a new way of living that takes sin out of life? It is the way of love, of unselfishness, of vicarious suffering, and of going the second mile.

The secret of 1^st century Christianity was not that they could outsmart the Roman Empire, or over-stockpile them, or beat them in any armament race, or win the cold war, but that they could out-love them, and they could out-die them! And this they did, singing “Hallelujahs” as they went to their deaths, in the lion-filled arenas.

They had something to live for that made dying worthwhile, and something to die for that made living eternal. They were not looking so much for what they could hold, as for what held them. They were by faith possessed.

I am not convinced that either the Democrats or the Republicans can solve all of today’s problems...nor the Senate or the Congress. I do not expect that the President will eliminate evil and immorality. I hope he tries. However, I m by my faith possessed, that if TIDE can take the dirt out...LOVE can take the sin out! And that love is truly the answer to the confused mess we are in.

We must find new ways of living by love, because the love of Jesus takes away sin. This is not easy, nor does it even seem practical. And yet, the cross was not practical, nor was John 3:16 practical. But it was necessary for your salvation, and for mine.

Get Me Out Of The Box

Life is a highway...yes...but it is also a valley, and some of life is spent, not out upon the broad highway where life is smooth, but down deep in the valley. So much of life seems to be on a trail that is hemmed in, overshadowed, and overwhelming. Many times, you are not on top of things, but way down in the valley.

One gentleman asked a friend, “How are things going?” And the friend replied, “Well, things are looking up! You see, when you’re down in the hole as far as I am, that’s the only way you can look...is up!”

Yes, it’s better to look up than down. Although I did hear about a man who made a practice of looking down. In 40 years, as he walked along, he picked up 34,947 buttons, 54,712 pins, and 1100 pennies. But he also got a bent back, and a bad disposition. During that time, he failed to see the glory of the sun, the smiles of his friends, and the beauties of nature. He also lost many chances to serve his fellow men.

But there are some who neither look up or down...they look in. They are scared, ingrown, and afraid of the terror of the day, and the panic of the night. This is not living, but dying, when I allow myself to be like this. I am really in the process of dying, when I should be living.

Several years ago, a fascinating record was released called, “For Heaven’s Sake.” One of the songs on that record went like this:

Get me out of the box...Get me out of the box
Somewhere, there’s a key that surely unlocks.
I’m choking to death
I’ve gotta have air.
But there’s strangers out there!
Outside is the world...and the world is so wide
I want to get out...but it’s much too cold outside
I’m too young to die...with so much to give
I want to get out...but out there I’ve got to live!
And I’m warm in the box...safe from harm in the box
Free of grief in the box...Such relief in the box
So, I hide from the world
And, I stay snugly curled...In my little box!

Unfortunately, there are many persons who are doing just that. They are hiding from life. They are in a “box condition.” But Jesus Christ, and the “Good News” of the Gospel says, “You can’t find life in a box!” We must get up and walk through the valley. Sure, it’s hard out there, and there’s pain, and trial and tribulation...but God is out there too. Lose yourself in it, and you will find yourself. As the Scriptures say, “God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” (II Tim. 1:7)

As you walk through the valley, you are not alone. God is behind you, and before you, above you, and around you. J Perhaps you need to remember...you can’t get away from God. If you’re trying to hide, he’ll hound you. If you’re trying hard to die, he’ll tempt you with life. And if you’re trying to walk through the valley, He’ll go with you all the way.

But, I Don't Like The Wilderness

The Scriptures remind us that after the baptism of our Lord, the Spirit led him into the wilderness, to be tempted by the devil.

In some ways, this sounds very contradictory. God’s Holy Spirit had just descended from heaven upon our Lord, along with the words, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Such a high and holy moment it was.

But is it not true within our own lives, that great moments of exaltation are inevitably followed by times of depression. A minister sometimes calls it, his “blue Monday.” He had a great day on Sunday. Everything went fine. It was a busy day, an eventful day, and then Mon. comes, and he gets those let-down blues. Do you sometimes have that too?

And there in the wilderness, Jesus had it. The devil said, “Who do you think you are? You don’t really believe that you heard that voice at your baptism, do you? If you are the Son of God, then change this stone to bread...throw yourself down from the temple and let the angels save you.”

And so, the devil hits you and me right between the eyes with doubt. “You mean to stand there with your face hanging out, and tell me you are a child of...what God?...show me...prove it. You are an ape. You are a sick fly. You are a blob of protoplasm. You say your life has meaning? It is futility! People are scum, who someday will be blotted up from the earth.”

Jesus needed the wilderness as a time to orient his life, and so do I. But how cleverly the devil takes our moments of inspiration, our high and holy resolves, and turns them into dry dust.

It’s lonely in the wilderness. It’s a lonely thing to be brave, to be true, to be pure. I don’t like to be forced to make choices. I don’t like to be needled into thinking seriously about life. And here is the rising cry of multitudes of careless Christians. “Just let me sit in a pew by the side of the aisle, and let the rest of the Church go by. Don’t ask me to grow. Don’t ask me to think too much, because thinking is disturbing. Don’t get me out in the open where the devil can take his shots at me. Just let me stay safe back around the edge of life.”

I don’t like the wilderness, Lord. But somehow I have the feeling that those quiet times of worship, those lonely times of decision-making, those times of inner reflection, when I confront my sins, and my weaknesses, and my failures before God...that this is what the Spirit is leading me to do. And when I resist it, I may even be resisting God!

Develop Christian Teeth

A long time ago, I became a Christian. But sometimes I wonder how much of me really “took”! There are plenty of times, my stomach is reacting to my temper. Ulcer is the long range expectation if I let that continue. Again and again, my headaches cry out that my tensions are killing me. I am fearful. I am not dealing well with my business associates. I have taken the weight of the world on my own shoulders, without ever asking God to shoulder any of it. Who do I think I am? Superman?

And now, I have discovered that my teeth never got converted either. But it’s not really the teeth...it’s the juices and acidity arising out of my own stupidity. When I am angry, a recent dental authority said, “a stress related gum disease called necrotizing ulcerative gingivites (NUG for short)” allows bacteria to literally eat away my gums. (Dr. John Wilde on Dental Fitness...Hancock County Journal Pilot, Feb. 10, 1993)

I’ve heard about people being so angry that they “grind their teeth.” This appears to be Biblically substantiated...and I know that I’ve “ground” mine now and then. Dentists are apparently having to repair broken and worn teeth from people who have this habit.

So where does that leave me? It would appear that I am a Christian, but not completely Christian. Looks like I’ve got a long way to go. It seems to have something to do with the head and the heart, and the stomach, and the very acid juices my un-Christian spirit produces. What is the answer?

This same dentist tells us there are only two requirements: learn to forgive, and learn to live in love. Strange...I thought I got sermons from preachers. Seems like a good dentist might have given me the best sermon I’ve heard for quite awhile.

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