Is Anyone Up There?

Is life tough? Yes, it is! Am I alone? No, you aren’t! Is the world going to pieces? At times, it would seem that way. Is there anyone who can help me? Yes! “God is our refuge and strength. A very present help in time of trouble.” (Psalm 46:1)

The Psalmist said it, but at times the questions plague my mind: Is anyone up there? Must I wait for fate, for chance? Is there a design? Is there anyone who cares? Could God hear me if I called? Would He answer? Would He deliver me from my distresses? Is God dead? These are the questions that plague my soul!

An officer out of uniform, rode by a group of soldiers, struggling under the load of a very heavy burden. “Why don’t you help?” he asked, of a soldier standing by. “Sir, I am the Corporal,” came the reply. “Forgive me, said the officer, and he got out of his car and helped. Afterwards, he said to the surprised Corporal, “Corporal, whenever you have a job to do, and need some help, send for your Commander-in-chief!”

Jesus, our Commander-in-chief, has come! He took upon himself the form of a servant. He humbled himself, and came down. And you and I are the richer, because this is so. For He who stripped himself to become poor, has clothed us now with the garments of His peace. Why should I fear, when God is near? Who should fret, when we have this confidence?

Paul said, “Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and with supplication, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God which passeth all understanding, will fill your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Phil. 4:6,7)

Do Not Trespass

A good many years ago, I visited Lion Safari Country near W. Palm Beach, Florida. It is an area where the visitors are caged, not the animals! You are caged within your car! You drive through miles and miles of jungle-like countryside, with wild beasts of all sizes and descriptions. These wild beasts come within a few feet of your closed windows as you drive by.

There are a few basic rules here: No convertibles. Windows and doors must be kept tightly closed at all times while you are there. Any violation of these rules suggests a tragic ending. A sign at the main entrance suggests grimly, “Trespassers will be eaten!”

So it is that in all of life around us, we discover: “Trespassers will be eaten!” We are eaten up by violation of certain basic rules. Life has real built-in requirements, and he who disregards them is as foolish as a careless camper in Lion Safari Country.

Certain laws have been built into the grain of the universe by a very wise Creator. Laws such as: “I am my brother’s keeper.” (Gen. 4:9) Or laws such as “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and thy neighbor as thyself.” (Matt. 22:37-39). Or laws such as, “He who knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” (James 4:17)

Why is it that so many people are coming to the dead-ends of life? Why are so many being eaten up by their own selfish greed? The goals of their life are leading them to a blank wall. Why is it that so many are going in the wrong direction? Their energies seem to be pitted against God’s rules of life rather than for them.

To hit the bull’s eye of God’s purposes for each one of us is no easy task. But it is never accomplished by neglecting the basic rules of courtesy, and good will, and love, and forgiveness. These are the high goals of the high road to heaven, and require our best obedience to them today and always.

As Long As You're Not Dead

In a recent T. V. movie, a woman coming out of surgery was told by her friend, “Honey, it’s O.K. now…you’re out of danger!” To which the patient replied, “How can I be out of danger if I’m not dead?”

It’s a point well taken, that as long as we’re still alive, we are still in danger. But that’s a negative way of putting a very positive truth, namely that life would not be life if it did not have some hazards, some problems, some tough times. These are the things that make life worth living: the struggle and the agony…because after the agony comes the ecstasy!

A wise old college professor once pointed out that the happiest moments of his life came after he had gone through and completed a difficult assignment. The Olympic participants endure the agony of months and years of grueling practice and disciplined agony to produce the beauty of a champion.

There is no promise of roses in this life, but there is a promise of a Heavenly Father who will make it all worth while someday. As long as we’re not dead, we’re in danger, but at least we’re alive, with all of it’s possibilities for good and for God.

Look to this day, for though it has its questions, it also has glorious answers. Jesus has given them to us in the New Testament, and all we need to do is take his answers with us throughout the day.

Serendipity!

Have you ever asked yourself the question, “Which words sound nice? Which words do I like the best?” Let me try out a few: Lollipop, tickle, lickety-split. Or here is a beautiful Jewish word, “Shalom”. It means almost anything you want it to mean: “Hello”, “Good-bye”, “I love you”, “Farewell”. It depends upon how you say it! Or how about this word…Serendipity?

Is this a new word to you? Horace Walpole coined it. It came from an old Persian fairy tale, “The Three princes of Serendip”. Every time the three princes took a trip, by coincidence, along the way, they found the most profitable, and enjoyable “extra” benefits!

For example, here are a few samples out of history: Columbus set out to find a new route to Asia. Serendipity! He found America instead! Edison set out to discover the electric light. Serendipity! He discovered the phonograph in the process. Pasteur was trying to find a process for keeping wine sweet. Serendipity! He came upon the process of pasteurization. Serendipity! What a delightful word!

Jesus suggested the very same idea, when he said, ”He who finds his life loses it. But he who sets out to lose his life…Serendipity!...lo, and behold, he finds it!” Or again, Jesus suggested that if we seek one important thing, we would also find a whole world of other delightful things too. He said: “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these other things (the ones we’re looking for), will be added unto you as well.” (Matt. 6:33)

Ask most people what they are looking for, and their answer is happiness, security, peace of mind. But one does not find these things by making them a direct campaign. I do not find happiness, by setting out to find happiness! No…Serendipity! Happiness is the joyous by-product of doing something else like doing the will of God, for example.

It is in the sweet act of giving perfume to another, that some is bound to get on you. It is in the act of giving happiness to someone else, that we find it for ourselves.

Try it! Try seeking first the will of God. Try seeking out the happiness of someone else. Lo and behold, there is a “serendipity!”

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One Bang Christians!

An interesting item came out of the 19^th Century regarding dramatic productions. An edict in Europe banned the giving of plays, except in certain theaters. What it amounted to was a theatrical monopoly.

But the bright boys of the theater got past this little problem. The edict applied to plays, but not to musicals. So, in many places, at the beginning of the play, one of the theater staff would give a few loud bangs on the piano…which made it into a musical, and then the play continued.

There is a certain parallel we can observe today. In our communities, we observe many “one-bang” people. For example, there are the “one-bang” patriots, who stand reverently when the national anthem is played, or face the flag at the Service Club luncheon, or manage to sing one stanza of America. But after sounding that “one-bang”, they are not so hot about the tougher aspects of citizenship.

And then, there are the “one-bang’ marriages, where sometimes the only real musical note was the first “I will”, or a box of candy once a year. So many marriages dwindle down to a “tired friendship”.

And so also, there are the “Mother’s Day bangers”…the one carnation a year variety. But one carnation a year does not make a symphony of love for Mother.

And then at Christmas and Easter, there are the “two-banger” Church-goers. But a “thank you” to Almighty God once or twice a year, does not turn the play of life into an aria of praise!

One pastor in his church newsletter, expressed his joy and pride “that members had braved the rain” to attend services the week before.

What a picture enters our mind: earnest Christians on one of the holy days of the Church, dared the raindrops, some even lifted umbrellas, and resolutely walked to the garage, climbed into their cars, and came to church. Surely such valor deserves a medal. Who says the race is running down, with lads and lasses like that!

Truly such sacrifice reminds us of those who…
“conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, received
promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched
raging fires, escaped the edge of the sword,
won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war,
and put foreign armies to flight.” (Heb. 22:33,34)

Perhaps we need a roll call of modern Christian heroes: here is Saint Joan, who came to church once every three months, on good Sundays, and stayed through to the benediction…what devotion! And here is Saint Franklin Smith, who may not have quenched any raging fires, but who increased his pledge to the church from $10 to $12 per Sunday, and was fittingly rewarded by another deduction from income tax…of such is the Kingdom of Heaven!

As the Psalmist has said, “Lord, help us to sing a new song unto Thee.” It’s better than banging around with a pretense of religion, rather than the real thing.

Poise And Power

A noted business man discovered that when things got very busy, his solution was not in frantic work, but in quiet meditation. He set aside two periods during the day, and faithfully spent two minutes of quiet meditation in each.

The writer of Proverbs in the Old Testament said, ”Drink from your own cistern, drink fresh water out of your own well.” (5:15) He had discovered that deep down within everyone of us, there is a reservoir of helpfulness which comes directly from God. We do not have to go anywhere, or do anything, but to send our roots down deeply into this reservoir of poise and power.

Frantic distraction is not the answer to the turmoil inside. Rather, we need to learn to take the time for quietness and contemplation. From these, we shall find help unknown and untested before.

The Psalmist said: “I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.” Indeed, he continued, ”He hath put a new song in my mouth.” (Ps. 40:1,3)

If we are to survive the forces that direct themselves upon us from all sides, we must find the poise that comes from power, and the power that comes from poise. They will not be found in humankind, but in God. They will not be found by dashing madly after them, but in waiting patiently for them.

It was Edward Markham who one time said, “At the heart of the cyclone tearing the sky is a place of central calm. The cyclone derives its power from a calm center. So does a person. Power is generated in and derived from quietness.”

Strength is a strange quality. Sometimes the strongest person does not have it, while the crippled and weak, possess it in abundance. Power is a spiritual quality. It does not depend upon muscles, but upon obedience…obedience to spiritual laws!

The prophet of old was right when he said, “The effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever.” (Is. 32:17) Or again: “This is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith.” (I John 5:4)

Someone once spelled out for us, the way to poise and power:
“Every morning lean thine arm awhile
Upon the windowsill of heaven
And gaze upon Thy Lord.
Then, with the vision in thy heart,
Turn strong to meet the day.”

Please Don't Let Me Get Old!

Julia Ward Howe once wrote: “Do not fear age, the sugar of life is at the bottom of the cup.” But always we seems to believe that it must be in someone else’s cup! “What can I do?” I complain. “I’m getting too old!”

But we forget, that Verdi wrote an opera at the age of 80 and Goethe finished writing “Faust” at that same age. Oliver Wendell Holmes was still writing brilliant opinions at 90. Louis Pasteur was past 60 when he began his studies that led to a cure for rabies. A lovely woman doctor near our Chicago church was still going strong at the age of 89. She flew up to Canada every Summer to fish and hunt elk.

But by that same token, some people are old at the age of 30. They look old, they act old, and they give you the impression that life has passed them by, and they never took a shot at it. Of course, there are also those Methuselahs, who live for 969 years, and might just as well never have tried. They leave no record of ever singing the praises of a morning sunrise, or ever set much of an example to their children or grandchildren. They just take the record in birthdays, and nothing else. Why do such people have to live at all?

Which really brings us to the conclusion, that life is not so much years, as it is values. What really counts is not how long you live, but how you live…not whether you achieve a thousand inventions, but whether you achieve a beautiful spirit. Some people do more living in 30 years than others do in a hundred.

I’d like to be 20 again, but I’m really way up there in age. I could wish for the moon, but this is who I really am. Let’s face it, God doesn’t desert us at the age of 80. It’s a marvelous blooming world out there, and this just might be my time to “bloom”. There is still “sugar in the cup”.

You've Got The Wrong God, Buddy

Bad theology is at the heart of much of the trouble within today’s Church. We literally do not worship the same God!

When I was in Seminary, I did not enjoy the study of theology, because it seemed so difficult and complex. And frankly, much of it is, and our thousands of different doctrines within our hundreds of different churches, are proof of that.

But basic, down-to-earth theology, is something we must get right. Theology really means, “the logic of God”, and many of us are reading from the very same Bible and using the wrong “logic of God”.

If I persist in believing that 2 + 2 = 5, and if I am convinced that a crooked line is the shortest distance between two points, then I am bound to come up with a different answer to a problem than you will. And frankly, many of our churches are using that 2 + 2 = 5 formula for God, and they are coming up with the wrong answers, because they are using the wrong measurements.

Jesus Christ must be the yardstick used for our understanding of God. For Jesus said, ”If you have seen me, you have seen the Father…I and my Father are one.” And John in his gospel says that “the WORD (of God) became flesh and dwelt among us.” And he is talking about Jesus Christ.

Therefore, if your god is too small, or if your god is vicious and inconsistent, you are really not looking at the God of the Bible at all, but at some foreign deity.

Therefore, let us come to our Bible with a new understanding of basic theology. Jesus Christ gave us the best picture of God there is. And since God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, then let us recognize that if there are portions of the Bible that suggest a God who is not like what Jesus told us, then we need to check it out against God’s spiritual yardstick.

God has not changed through the centuries, but our human understanding of God has changed. The Bible is that marvelous record of holy men and women of old, struggling to know and to understand what God is like. Little by little, they learned, and in “the fullness of time, Jesus came”, and gave us the complete picture.

The Bible is sometimes a wilderness of confusion. But thank God, through Jesus Christ, I can find my way through, and find the truth.

With Anticipation

Have you seen the T.V. commercial with the boy waiting for the catsup to come out of the bottle…and then a choral group sings, “anti-ci-pa-tion…an-ti-ci-pa-tion”?

I really can’t get very excited about catsup. But I do share the excitement of waiting for that something “special” to happen, And that is the way I feel about worship services at our church.

Since the Holy Spirit is always there, wouldn’t it be great if all congregations everywhere could be literally “turned-around”, or “flipped over”, or “on fire”? What if we all felt the power of God so marvelously in our lives, that every church task and every service of worship would begin to feel like a spiritual pilgrimage for the “Holy Grail”?

Hebrews 11:1 indicates that “faith” is a special kind of “anti-ci-pation”. It is “an assurance of things hoped for, and a conviction of things not seen”. In other words, we have every reason to believe that something marvelous is going to happen…is bound to happen, because we are trusting in God to help make it happen! That is faith!

A Trust

“The secret of great living” says Charles Clayton Morrison, “is the consciousness that I am being trusted…therefore I must be trustworthy.”

These words suggest that each of us has been given a trust by our friends and our associates, and we must live up to it. But, it also suggests that God has given to every one of us treasures of heart, and health, and wealth, and talent. When we wise up to the fact that everything we have and own, and are, has been given to us, that we own nothing and that we owe everything, then we have found the secret of great living.

I am a steward of the Eternal God. I hold all that I have on God’s behalf. I am simply a care-taker of it, dispensing it on the Lord’s behalf.

This is what the Christian means when he or she sings, “All to Jesus, I surrender. I surrender all.” We are God’s body, God’s mouth-piece. God’s hands and feet, God’s accountant. We owe God everything. We give God a portion of what has been given to us, to continue the work while we are alive. We sing for the Lord, we work for the Lord, we witness for God, we give through the Lord’s Church. Someday, we are to return all that we have in that final Trust Account.

This is great living! To waste our substance in riotous living, and selfish pursuit, is to throw it down a rat hole. To invest our time, our talent, and our tithes in Kingdom enterprises, is the only answer to inflation. It is ours forever, with “interest” from the Master-Holder.

I am being trusted, therefore, I must be trustworthy. My future is at stake!

Why Go Limping?

Church members have had a way of claiming to be a part of something big, and then acting as though it were nothing! As though the love of God were nothing! As though Christ’s death upon the cross were nothing! As though his blessings were nothing! As though the milky way and the universe with all its wonderful starry hosts were nothing! As though the gift of life from a Creator God who is also our Heavenly Father were nothing!

Why do we go on calling ourselves Christians and acting like atheists? Where do we stand? Why do we join the church and then stay home? Why do we throw out our chests and say with pride, “Oh, but I’m a Christian!” and then act like a heathen?

The writer of I Kings had something to say about this. He quoted Elijah talking to his people gathered at Mt. Carmel: “How long will you go limping with two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” (I Kings 18:21)

Is it time to begin to say where we stand? Are we weak-kneed? Do we equivocate? Does it say something to us about church attendance? Does it say something about basic honesty, about integrity in our daily lives? The Christian is always called upon to “give witness” to his faith. What is your witness? Does it say the word loud and clear, or does it come through with a limp?

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Are You Guilty?

If we were brought into court, and accused of being Christians, would there be enough evidence to convict us? What in your life or activity, would link you with the crime of loving God?

We have watched enough T.V. police stories to know how it all proceeds…If there was a stake-out on us: would we be observed eating and drinking a ceremonial meal called the Lord’s Supper? Would wire-taps have picked up our voices saying a meal-time grace? Would anyone have seen us reading subversive literature known as the New Testament? Would the D.A. be able to prove that we had tracked into the homes of the poor, or that we had identified with people who were oppressed, or tried to lift the burden of being black?

But what about other factual evidence? Does our checkbook state a clear case of involvement with the ministry of Jesus? Are there any books of the faith in our home library? Have we been seen going regularly to that Christian gathering known as Church? Would the attorneys draw to the attention of the jurors that we had been guilty of certain forms of behavior…such as forgiving a person who had offended us…or, loving someone who had treated us unfairly? The case is building up…the prosecutor gets to his feet and offers his final summation…”This person”, he says, “even walks like a Christian…whether he is driving his car, or riding up an elevator…he has an infectious sparkle to his life.”

The facts are in…the verdict comes through: “This person is guilty of Christianity in the first degree!” Guilty!...Hallelujah!

Isn’t it great to see many who are guilty as charged: filling their pockets with unexpected love, guilty of modesty, guilty of caring about others, guilty of loving people rather than hating. Some people just can’t keep their connection with Jesus Christ a secret. They’re guilty!...Praise God!

Oh, to be with that Divine Warden, who has the Keys of Life. May He lock us up in His eternal love, forever!

Noah Was Prepared For Rain... Are You?

The following is a test: “How many animals did Moses take with him into the ark?” You flunked it, if you said “2”, because Moses didn’t take any…Noah did!

Old jokes like that never seem to die, but a lot of people do, because they remain deaf to God’s plea to be prepared.

There is a book called “The Devil’s Dictionary” with wit and witticism that is not always the kindest. But for the word “deluge” or “flood”, the definition is given: “A notable first experiment in baptism which washed away the sins and the sinners of the world.”

Noah lived at a time when people were careless about their lives, but Noah knew when to come in out of the rain when it was time. The story of the flood in the Bible is trying to teach us that we have a God who cares, and a God who saves. God has made provision for His people. Punishment for our moral bankruptcy is there, but salvation is there too. Things may get awfully bad, but there is also a rainbow. There is Hope. Don’t ever give it up!

A world in revolt against God brings retribution. As the morals and decency of a nation or a people disintegrate, there comes a point when something has to break. For about so long, the forces of decency upon the earth are able to hold out, and then the floods come.

The wars and the brutality of our world are like a horrible nightmare, and the wash and welter of it may prevail not only “a hundred and fifty days” as in the time of Noah, but through dragging decades in which the aftermath of evil still spreads its slime of bitterness and suffering.

The ancient story is a parable of terrible reality. Whenever man begins to live as though God did not exist; whenever people take truth and bend and twist it to their own convenience, then the tides of cause and effect begin to build up. Perhaps we shall need an ark very soon!

With all of its imperfections, sometimes we wonder whether the Church (not any one Church, but the Holy Universal Church) is today’s “ark” for mankind? Sometimes “the stink within, is worse than the storm without”, but still the Church exists for a few people here and there who still believe in righteousness, and who long for the Kingdom of God upon earth, and actively work for its fulfillment.

There are clouds upon the horizon, and there is rain a-comin’…it is the flood of moral retribution which has been held back thus far. Enter the ark, then, not as saints, but as sinners who are humble enough to be ashamed. The Church of Jesus Christ is the saving remnant. Will we be sensible enough and obedient enough to get in?

Blackballed With Balloons

We saw a birthday celebration the other day at a local business. One of the employees had reached 40. Signs here and there read, “Over the hill”. And all around were balloons: red, yellow, blue, and here and there black ones!

Why black? Through the years, we have never associated black with joy or celebration. Perhaps if we were of the black race, we would do so…”black is beautiful”. Yes it is!

Although I love the daylight, and the colors of the day, sometimes I love even more the quiet beauty of the night. How peaceful, how quiet, how beautiful when you realize that only then can the stars come out.

Maybe 40 isn’t “over the hill”, but sometimes people who are getting older begin to wonder whether life holds much for them up ahead. Sometimes the eyes begin to dim…the hearing gets distant, and the health falters and fails. But, in truth, only when some of the noise and confusion of the chaotic world around us begins to slow down, and maybe even go away…only then do we begin to discover that night is but the wonderful prelude to another day.

Only then do we begin to see that God is preparing us, in the quiet times of retirement, for a Special Day…a Day so bright and glorious, so marvelously different than the one in which we have been living for three score years and ten, that truly “black is beautiful”, and the night is not the end of anything, except the beginning of something uniquely new.

The apostle Paul had his complaints too. And in Romans 5:3ff, he says we may even be able to “rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts.”

I’m a sucker for “hope”. And I can’t help but believe that God doesn’t “blackball” us, but that He beautifully rewards us with all the colors of the rainbow, along with a certain amount of darkness, in preparation for an eternity with Him.

Casually Yours

Many years ago, Hitler said something that was very true. Just because he was an evil man, does not mean that sometimes bad persons do not say something good. Even a clock that is stopped gives the right time twice every day. Hitler in his “Mein Kampf” once wrote, that the revolution that he was preparing, could be stopped only by those who brought against it, “an explosive idea”. And Hitler was right! Because there is an explosive idea that puts a stop to the kind of thing that Hitlers and dictators try to do. It is the explosive idea of Christ and Christ’s teachings.

Christians have a bombshell! Jesus Christ explodes hatred, wars, immorality, fear, and the evils that prevail upon this world. The apostle Paul would never agree that two plus two could ever equal 5. It has to be 4. And so it is with belief. It has to be the right answer. It has to be the explosive love of Jesus Christ. In Romans 10:8, Paul says “For the secret is very near you, in your own heart, in your own mouth! It is the secret of faith, which is the burden of our preaching.” (Phillips translation)

In a ladies department store, a coat was listed for sale under the name, “Casually yours”. Perhaps that fits people of our day. The advertisement said, “This coat captures beautifully that fine air of informal unconcern.”

Is this what is wrong with us? We have too much of that “fine air of informal unconcern”. The sin of casualness…careless casualness…that’s the nail that crucifies the Christ again and again. A Christian must never be “casually yours”. But always “devotedly yours”, or “enthusiastically yours”.

The secret of our salvation is “belief”. And belief must move us to commitment, and commitment must shove us always to do a little more, give more, care a lot more, and let the love show! It’s not the “casual” thing to do.

The Hilarity of the Gospel

Do you recall the hell-fire and damnation preaching, the “Amen” shouting, the “saw-dust trail” of past decades in the church? Or surely you have heard about it? Although we may not wish to return to them, at times we have become so formal in the life of the church, so staid and sour, that we no longer act or sound like Christians.

There was something marvelously relaxed and joyous about the life of our Lord as he walked this earth. It is something we wish we might duplicate.

In the book of Acts, we read that the early disciples proclaimed the risen Christ with such hilarious joy and exuberance, that they were accused of being addicted to wine. Peter said, ”No, it was too early in the day for that.” This was not alcoholism, but the heady wine of the Spirit. It was that which caused men to see visions, and dream dreams.

Diedrich Bonhoeffer, German theologian, executed on the Nazi gallows, defined “hilaritas”, the Latin word, as a certain confidence in your work; as a certain boldness and defiance of the world and of popular opinion; and as a certain steadfastness that what we do, benefits the world.

The Christian works with a kind of assurance of freedom. We are not under Law, but under Love. The burden of the Law was like shackles of steel. The fruit of Love is exhilaration, joy, peace, and freedom.

The early Christians learned the cost of freedom, but they would not be shackled again. They could be persecuted, burned at the stake, but they would sing as they burned. They could be thrown to the lions, but they went rejoicing.

With our small sacrifices today, have we forgotten the Gospel with its joy, with its Good News? Call me a fool, if you want, for Christ’s sake, but I don’t care. I have Jesus. Accuse me of indulging, if you will, but the only intoxicant I have been drinking is the wine of the Spirit. I have filled my cup with the sacrament of Life, and I am hilariously happy with the Savior!

Love Is Not Optional

When you buy a car, you first get a price that is very basic. It may seem like a lot, but the salesman convinces you it is a bargain. Then you talk about the extras: the “On Star” phone connection, the sun-roof, the CD player, the computer analyzer, etc.

It may seem very difficult, but it is possible to refuse the extras, and still get the car.

In the Christian life, some people want the superficial extras, but think they can get along without the basic equipment. They can take the sacrament, they can attend church, have their names on the rolls, come to the church suppers and even sing in the choir. They are sold on the extras, but just as a car is not a car without wheels, so the Christian is not a Christian without love. Love is not optional!

The epistle-writer says: “If any one says, ‘I love God’ and hates his brother, he is a liar’. (I Jn. 4:20). We thought maybe this basic equipment could wait. We know we are supposed to love our neighbors, but at the moment, we just can’t do it. So, we’d like the optional equipment first, and maybe some day get around to the basics. It doesn’t work. It’s no soap! It isn’t good logic, and it isn’t good Christianity.

I have no alternative. I may not agree with my neighbors. I may not like my neighbors, but nonetheless I must love them. Love is not optional. And this comes at times, as a terrifying reality. It moves me out of the theoretical into the realm of the actual.

The story of hate down through the centuries has been a grim one. Hatred is not just an absence of love, it is a violation of the law of love. Just as holding your breath is a violation of the law of breathing, so hatred is a violation of the law of loving. The effects are deadly!

There is a cross that stands at the center of our faith. And the epistle-writer says: “Herein is love…that God loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins.” He then concludes. “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” (I John 4:10,11)

If I am a Christian, I have no choice. My job is not to change my neighbor, or even to agree with him in everything. My job is simply to love him. I may not learn to like the garlic he eats, or enjoy the music to which he listens. I may not like the way he combs his hair, or the cut of his clothes, but I must love him as I love myself…to want for him, what I want for myself…to guarantee for him every freedom which I wish to guarantee for myself.

Sometimes this drives me to distraction, but the automobile of faith won’t move without it.

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Begin With "Good -Bye"

The good Lord surely knew what He was doing when He made us! He gave us a front and a back, and our heads were screwed on so that we look towards where we are going, and not where we’ve been. I can look back, and there are times when I need to do so, but I was designed to look ahead.

It is sad when some people live in the past. They glory over past victories, until they become a stumbling-block, preventing them from living in the present. And there are others who get hung up on their failures, and on personal misfortunes, and with deep sorrow, they bury themselves in self-pity.

The Scriptures tell us that Lot’s wife turned into a pillar of salt because she couldn’t leave the past. She kept turning around, grieving over what she was leaving. She was not ready to face the future. And because of this, she had no future!

There are circumstances in life when we need to begin with “good-bye”. Beginning a New Year is one of them. Moving to a new community is another. Taking a new job is such an experience. There must be a movement from grief to new beginnings. Sure, last year had its good moments. Yes, your own community means a lot to you, and the old job wasn’t all that bad. But life goes on!

The apostle Paul was wise enough to say that “he died daily”. As parents, we died a little death, when we released our first child to go to school. We died a little death when our daughter walked down the aisle to her future husband. We die little deaths when we go for surgery. On each of these times, we trusted ourselves and our loved ones to Life.

Perhaps God has so ordained that we die these little deaths so that we can make a final transition some day. Unless we can trust, and really say, “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded, that He is willing to keep that which I’ve committed unto Him, against that day.” (II Timothy 1:12) then we are not ready for that final act of BEGINNING.

Endings and beginnings are built into all of life, to keep us conscious of this truth. Each morning, we get up…each evening we go to bed. There is healing in saying the smaller good-byes, in dealing with the smaller death, so that we may be able to deal with the larger separations that come to us.

The past is past. We must learn to say “good-bye” to our sins, to our failures. Lay your sorrows and your hang-ups, your fears and your tensions at the feet of the Savior. For He is faithful and just to forgive your sins, and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness, if you come to Him. (I John 1:9) To deny that He does this is to blaspheme God and His promises.

Let today be the first day of new beginnings, and say “Good-bye” to yesterday with all its failures.

A Sunday Morning Priority

Some people go to church, but wonder why? “What’s in it for me?” they ask. “Where’s the gain?”

In my business, there is “gain” (at least there is supposed to be). I can see it. Working around the house gives me a nicer place. I can see it. Going out for a drive, or heading for the lake gives me pleasure. I feel it. But sometimes going to church makes me feel, “Where’s the gain?”

But wait a minute: there is gain!...infinite gain! And without it, there is loss!...infinite loss! This is not like hot dogs or sunshine, or cool water, or sand in our sandwiches. This is like life or death, like breathing or not breathing. The eternal God who made you, who gave you life, who has the world in His hands, who can destroy us with one breath, is waiting to be praised! He waits at the altar for the penitent heart to worship. There is infinite gain in going to church, and infinite loss in not going.

Take a look: When we worship God, it removes us from the danger of idolatry. It is not a question of whether we will worship or not, but of what we shall worship? We all know how easy it is to give first-rate priority to second-rate things. And so, I go to church to keep my worship lifted upon the Holy of Holies. It would not be safe to have it anyplace else.

And then I go, because it makes me part of a great fellowship. If God is my Father, then all persons are my brothers and sisters. Some want to worship God in fractions, as long as He allows them to accept only white people, or only “my kind of people”. But God cannot be worshiped as a fraction. And there is no such thing as fractional brotherhood. Going to church makes me brother to every other child of God in the universe, and that’s a tremendous thing!

I go to Church, furthermore, because God has made me restless until I find my rest in Him.

I go to Church, also, because I must know the Truth. I am not always sure I am getting the truth from my government, or the T.V. news, and the politicians are not noted for giving us the truth. But Truth is our field. God’s truth is the only truth there is. All else is falsehood.

There is a world of invisible Truth…laws far more important than the ones we learn in our science books. They are the mental, the moral, and the spiritual laws. You cannot break these. You only get broken upon them. Love is truth. You can try to break that law with hate, but when you do so, you get ulcers and become spiteful and small. You cannot break the law of forgiveness, it breaks you.

You may have other priorities on Sunday morning, but God won’t take second place. And so I go to establish these priorities in my life. God has a lot at stake in us. And you and I have all of Eternity at stake…in Him!

Lord, Them's My Sentiments

In the prayer wheels of Tibet, there was a mechanical arrangement that enabled each person’s prayer to be lifted up before the altar again and again without the worshiper even being present. It makes you think of some kind of Rube Goldberg contraption.

It’s not too different, however, from the little boy who crawled into bed, and pointing to a note at the foot of his bed that he had written the night before, said: “Them’s my sentiments, God. Good night.”

Of course, the prayer without the pray-er is of no value, though it be repeated parrot-like a million times.

Prayer that is real keeps us in the supply line of strength, and without it, we discover that we have been shorn of our locks like Samson, who failed to realize, until too late, that his strength was gone.

The Lord’s Payer is the great model that Jesus gave to his disciples. Jesus said, ”pray then, like this.” It is a brief prayer, it is a child-like prayer, and yet no prayer could portray more profoundly the theology of the Church. It is a prayer that sets first things first.

It starts out with three things: God’s nature, God’s Kingdom, and God’s will: “hallowed be thy name…thy kingdom come…thy will be done.” And then follows the four petitions of man’s needs: his daily temporal needs (“give us this day our daily bread”), his need for forgiveness, (“forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors”), his defense against the onset of temptation (“lead us not into temptation”) and his deliverance from evil (“deliver us from evil”). And then comes the closing doxology: “thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever.” Amen.

The story is told about a man who left his car parked in a “no Parking” zone. He left a note, “I’ve driven around this block 20 times and found no place except here. I have an appointment. Forgive us our trespasses.”

When he came back, he found a traffic ticket on the window, and this note: “I’ve been driving around this block for 20 years on my beat, and if I don’t give you a ticket, I may lose my job.” And then he added, “Lead us not into temptation.”

The Lord’s Prayer has been used, and it has been abused. But it holds before us the truth that the way to pray is not complicated. It is our needful way of communicating with the Eternal.

Compassion Fatigue

There is a kind of battle-fatigue known to men and women on the service fronts of the world. It is characterized by shock, lack of feeling, imperviousness to anything. After so much noise of shells and bombs, so much plodding through mud and weeds, they develop a kind of wall of insensitivity.

Sometimes I get that way too. I get tired of doing good, being helpful, trying to be sensitive to the hurts of the world. We hear so much about evil in our world, drugs, deception in high places, terrorism, starvation, cruel and vicious deaths. And I begin to build up a kind of compassion-fatigue. What’s the use? How can anybody do anything for this crazy, mixed-up world?

There is a story about a ball team with a rookie playing right field. When the batter hit a Texas leaguer his way, sure enough, it squirted through his hands. The next pop up, he lost in the sun. Then followed a nice direct hit, and he fell over his shoe laces, trying to get it.

The manager got him back on the bench and looking down on him said, “Son, let me show you how to play right field.” So, as might be expected, the first hit went bounding between his legs. A second hit bounced off his mitt like rubber, and the next pop-up coming his way, he lost in the sun.

Storming back to the bench, he looked down at the rookie and said, “Man, you’ve messed up that right field so bad, nobody can play it anymore.”

Not so with God. His grace is greater than all of our bobbling of the ball. Nobody can mess up life so bad, that God’s compassion is not able to redeem it. This is the story of how man’s sinfulness is met by Divine Grace. His love is never dimmed. And so, I register myself among the sinners, grateful that the love of God is never diminished, that His compassion is never fatigued, and that there is room in His heart for you and me.

Cancel Tomorrow

On a college wall, a student had scribbled these thought-provoking words: “Due to lack of interest, tomorrow has been cancelled.”

What a thought! Perhaps these words could be revised to say: “Due to lack of commitment, life has come to a grinding halt.” And now we begin to get the idea.

Across the land, a lot of people are “on strike”. They cherish the meaning of citizenship, but forget that it means for them a moral commitment to help keep our country great. Within the Church Universal, there are people who are happy to call themselves Christian, but are just holding back, waiting for God to improve the conditions, and make a better world.

And so, due to lack of interest, churches have to close their doors. Due to lack of interest, P.T.A.’s decide to disband. Due to lack of interest and commitment, people decide that liberty means “license” and decide to do whatever they want. They forget that liberty prevails only when we restrain ourselves, so as not to deny rights to others along the way.

The writer of Revelation said to one of the Churches of Asia Minor: “I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth.” (Rev. 3:15)

Unfortunately, we have become so dead-locked into pessimism, that we no longer believe in the triumph of good over evil. And so, we reject our faith, which proclaims that not only are we to be triumphant over death some day, but we are also to be victorious over the world. We are not victims, but victors. We are on the side of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. It is not worthy of us to be discouraged, when we have pledged ourselves to the Master of HOPE.

What's Going On Here?

In the third chapter of Acts, there is the story of Peter and John, at the city gate, being approached by a cripple, who asked for money. Peter’s response was “silver and gold have I none, but what I have, I give…In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” (3:6) And lo, he did!

The follow-up of the story is that some of the priests and Sadducees were disturbed by what Peter had done, and began the inquisition: “What’s going on here?” they demanded.

Of course, it was obvious what had been going on here. A cripple was now walking and in good health. Shortly before this, Peter had preached a great sermon, and 5,000 people believed. And of course, it was only a few weeks before that Jesus had been crucified and sealed away in a tomb. That tomb had turned out to be an “open door”. Death had no power over this amazing Jesus. And now, some of it seemed to have rubbed off on his disciples.

Peter and John, therefore, were quite obviously continuing something that people thought had been sealed away in a tomb. And as Christian history was being formed, a Saul became a Paul, and Christians sang as they were burned at the stake, and an Emperor named Constantine decided that the entire Empire ought to become Christian, and a Francis of Assissi gave up everything he owned, to live as a simple man of love, and a Luther and a Wesley were born, and so it continued down to our day.

There’s something that goes on here, whenever Jesus Christ is proclaimed. Lives are being changed, and miracles take place. People even learn to forgive one another, and some people in their church memberships actually begin to act like Christians.

At times, it seems like a very small dent upon the armory of evil, but yes, some of Christ’s people actually live like soldiers of the cross. Some of them do “stand firm, with the belt of truth buckled around their waists, and with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with their feet fitted with the gospel of peace as a firm footing.” (Eph. 6:14,15 N.I.V.)

What’s going on here? There are people who have learned to “walk in the footsteps of Jesus”, that is all. And if there is any difference in the way they talk to each other; in the way they understand and forgive each other; and in the way they live seven days of the week, with a kind of new power…the power of love in their lives…it is, as I understand it, because they have been with Jesus.

The Heartbreak House

Why do so many good people go bad? Why do some children turn against their parents? What a heartbreaking experience to have a child turn to drugs, or alcohol, or end up in jail. Why? Why does it happen?

Perhaps the best answer we can give to parental heart-break is that it happens to God too. We who are His children disappoint and hurt Him. We cause Him great pain. But this is what the Gospel is all about…God’s amazing love for foolish, sinful children.

In John 14, we find the words of Jesus telling about a Heavenly Father, who has a marvelous house with many rooms. In this beautiful passage, often used as funeral scripture, he explains that he will go on ahead to prepare a place for us.

But the spiritual home that we call “Heaven” must be the original “Heartbreak House”, because so many of its rooms are empty! God has an occupancy problem. He has a room for everyone, but rooms are empty because they are not claimed.

It is because God loves us, that He has given us the freedom to say “Yes” or “No” to Him and to His spiritual laws. We are not puppets on a string. We are not electronic machinery, powered by a divine battery, and controlled by a super divine computer. We are the prodigal sons, who can freely take God’s marvelous gifts and squander them, until finally the hell on earth of our own sins causes us to say, “Even the servants in my father’s house are better off than I.”

With this mood of desperation, or because of good common sense reasoning, some of God’s children decide to take a second look and say, “I will return.”

How wonderful that “Heartbreak House” can become “Rejoicing House”. For when even one sinner comes to his senses, we are told that literally “all the angels in heaven rejoice.”

Through the centuries there have been too many un-occupied rooms in God’s great mansion. This is the burden of God’s heart. But you and I can change God’s sorrow into rejoicing, when we come to our senses. We each have a claim on that Heavenly real estate. What a shame that so many just ignore it.

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Pick A Minor Ecstasy

Psalm 144:9 says: “I will sing a new song to thee, O God.” For some of us, the song has gone sour. For some, life has become drudgery, not joy.

Why? What is it that moves us? What starts us into the day with a sense of meaning and purpose? How do we get the joy back into life again?

A big dog saw a little dog chasing its tail, and asked, “Why are you chasing your tail so?” Said the puppy, “I have mastered philosophy. I have solved the problems of the universe which no dog before me has rightly solved. I have learned that the best thing for a dog is happiness, and that happiness is in my tail. Therefore, I am chasing it; and when I catch it, I shall have it.”

Said the old dog, “My son, I too have paid attention to the problems of the universe in my weak way, and formed some opinions. I too have judged that happiness is a fine thing for a dog, and that happiness is in my tail. But I have noticed that when I chase it, it keeps running away from me; but when I go about my business, it comes right along behind me.”

We need vacations, hobbies, joyous moments with great music. We all need a kind of tail-chasing ecstasy, to take away the drabness, the sameness, and the boredom of daily tasks. But if we pick it properly, it will help us to maintain our major priorities.

The disciple, Peter, loved to fish, but Jesus changed his priorities, and he became a “fisher of men.” He learned that when he went about his major business of seeking Christ’s Kingdom, the minor ecstasy was still there to pull him out of a fatal nose-dive!

Pick one for yourself…a minor ecstasy, that is. Try “following a smile,” for example. Smile at someone, and then watch it move on like a chain reaction. One of the poets asked, “Have you had a kindness shown? Pass it on! ‘Twas not given to you alone! Pass it on! Let it travel down the years, let is wipe another’s tears, ‘Till in heaven the deed appears. Pass it on.”

Someone once said, “A hobby is something you go nuts about, in order to keep from going crazy.” These are pleasant “minor ecstasies”. They keep us alert, alive, and going straight in our major tasks.

Have you seen the modern kites? They’ve gone professional. Some have elaborate 50 foot tails which seem like needless appendages! But without them, the kite will not fly. Happiness in the tail may not be everything. But like the old dog, we discover that when we seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, then the joy, the happiness, the significance to life seems to come along quite naturally too. Work at it, and you will once again, be able to “sing a new song unto the Lord”…one that will lift you out of the blues, into joy.