Evil--Is It Good Or Bad?

The apostle Paul, after going through ship-wreck, persecution, and years of hardship in starting the Christian Church in many areas of Asia Minor, wrote these words: “I want you to know, brethren, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel…” (Phil. 1:12)

Paul was writing from prison. Was he happy to be there? No, he didn’t say that. What he said was simply that because of his afflictions, some good things had come out of them, and then he named them: “the praetorian guard knew that his imprisonment was for Christ; the brethren had been made a bit more confident in the Lord, because of his imprisonment, and they were more bold to speak the word of the Lord.”

Can we ever say that evil is good? No, but it is possible to say that “out of evil, good can come.” Because God made our world, He made it good, but in order to give us the freedom to choose, He had to make a world in which we could learn from our sins and mistakes.

For every good, therefore, there seems to be a flip-side that is bad and the choice is ours. It would seem, therefore, that whenever we are faced with trouble and adversity, that we are only a prayer away from a God who truly cares, and is ready to give us power for our day.

I don’t understand life, with all its heartaches. I don’t know why sometimes the good people seem to suffer more than the evil ones do. I don’t understand why God can’t just stop all the evil, the hard work, the problems, the bad corn and soy bean prices. I don’t know why God couldn’t just make life easy for me. It sems to me that, if He would, then I could be a top-notch Christian. If only I could make a million bucks, and if the going wasn’t so tough, then I’d have no trouble having faith.

But life isn’t that way. God gave me the power of choice, so that I could profit from my mistakes. Without work, I would become a jelly-fish. Struggle brings pain, but without struggle, there would be no growth. It is my achievement that brings joy, but there is always a price.

I’m glad that God made a world that is seething with struggle, and one that constantly confronts me with decisions. Without that, we might as well be stones on the hill-side. I don’t like evil, but out of evil, good can come, and I am determined to find it.

Don't Worry About The Smell

Do you remember that little poem that goes:

We have the nicest garbage man
He empties all the garbage cans
He’s just as nice as he can be.
He often stops and talks to me.
My mother doesn’t like his smell
But then, she doesn’t know him very well!”

Isn’t it sad that so often we make our judgments about people from foolish and artificial reasons like this? How quickly we place people in categories: they are blonds, or they are Jews, or they are black, or they are midgets, or they are Catholics, or they are Chinese.

Suddenly our world begins to fill up with walls…walls of differences, and we find ourselves treating people differently because they are behind this or that wall.

And yet every last one of them feels the cold, or gets a fever, or is allergic to pollen. There isn’t a person behind those walls who doesn’t get hungry, or get sick, or get lonely and depressed at times. Every single soul, regardless of color or creed, or cultural orientation, feels pain when stuck by a pin, or is injured in an accident.

Robert Frost caught the significance of this as he wandered through the fields surrounded with stone walls, and wrote:

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.”

And as he wonders why walls seem so important in his world, he hears the old cliche, “Good fences make good neighbors.” And he goes on to say:

“Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
“Why do they make good neighbors?” Isn’t it
Where there are cows? But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall I’d ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out
And to whom I was like to give offense.
Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,
That wants it down.”

There are so many times when I am not sure I really want to “love my neighbors” (let alone my enemies). Sometimes they “smell” so bad! But Jesus didn’t seem to give me any choice. Here and there, we find beautiful examples of people who have broken the terrible pattern of vengeance, by not only forgiving someone for wrong-doing, but going the second mile of reconciliation.

John Morly once commented on just such an example when he wrote: “There was no worldly wisdom in it, we all know. But then what are people Christians for?”

They Decided Not To Be

There are a lot of things in our world that could make us all very discouraged. A lot of our forefathers could have given up on this business of making a land of freedom. They could have been quitters…but “they decided not to be”.

As you read the New Testament, and see the persecution of early Christians, and the hardships of the apostle Paul and read how he was beaten, imprisoned, stoned and left for dead, it would have been easy to get discouraged. But those early founders of the Faith decided not to be. And I’m glad.

There are two ways to be defeated. Sometimes, we lose at a game or in business, or from superior salesmanship by someone else. That’s one way.

But the other way is when we are caught in self-defeat…when we throw in the sponge, and declare that the odds are against us. Most of the time, people are not defeated by things, but by themselves. We give in. We quit.

We know about Helen Keller, blind, deaf and dumb, from birth. Glen Cunningham, one of the fastest milers on record at 4.4 seconds was crippled in his boyhood in a schoolhouse fire. Doctors said he would never walk again. John Bunyan wrote “Pilgrim’s Progress” while in prison, on untwisted papers that were stoppers in the bottles of milk brought to him. “Don Quixote” was written from prison, as was Sir Walter Raleigh’s “History of the World”. Beethoven was claimed at last by deafness, but he continued to write some of his greatest musical works. Alec Templeton, blind from early in life, became a great pianist. Napoleon was only 5 feet 2 1/4 inches tall. He graduated 43rd in his class. Michaelangelo, who was lame and had a broken nose, lay flat on his back for 20 months painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

All of them had plenty of reasons to say: “Stop the world, I want to get off”...but they decided not to.

As people get older, they feel they are getting useless, and yet Verdi wrote an opera at eighty, and at that same age, Goethe finished writing “Faust”. Oliver Wendell Holmes was still writing brilliant opinions at ninety and Louis Pasteur was past sixty when he began his studies that led to a cure for rabies.

The early Christians learned from Paul to say: “For me to live is Christ”. They could have been badly defeated, but “they decided not to be”.

I suppose most of us could have our feelings hurt dozens of times every week. But, what’s the point? Most of the time when someone hurts me, it’s their problem, not mine. They got out of bed on the wrong side…their spouse gave them a rough time….they’ve got “gas” or a tummy-ache.

There is an old sign on a print shop that read: “Life is a grindstone, and whether it grinds a man down or polishes him up depends on the stuff he’s made of”.

I could probably be unhappy, un-Christian, unpleasant, and a few more “un”-things. But I’ve decided not to be.

Education At The Intersection

The word “confrontation” means, “to bump into something”. And life is a kind of continual confrontation. It is forever a meeting…an intersecting of my life with yours, or with an experience, or with some crisis. Sometimes these meetings are painful, sometimes joyful, sometimes fearful, and sometimes tragic. But always they are educational. We can learn from them.

In our school classrooms, the mind comes to grips, with an idea, with a teacher, with history, or with a fact of science. In the laboratory of life, we encounter new sensations, new smells, new facts. Even an argument is an education, and making mistakes is a learning process.

If we looked back over our life-time, we would find many points of intersection that were significant. We had a head-on collision with a new idea, or a new experience, or a new problem. Sometimes these experiences seemed like the end of the world, and yet they may also have been the prelude to something better.

Paul looked back over his life, and he said, “I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content…I know how to be abased, I know how to abound; in any and all circumstances, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and want.” And then he capped it all off by adding, “I can do anything, through him who strengthens me.” (Phil. 4:11-13)

The Christian faith has always declared, what we have been slow to accept, that our faith is a kind of head-on-collision. The apostle, while thinking he was running the other way, ran head on into Christ. And this encounter changed the entire direction of his life. He learned that you can come to grips with anything if you are going the right way and if you have the right company. He encountered fears, and they made him a stronger man. He encountered new problems and he discovered that his Christ was sufficient for all of them. He encountered beatings, imprisonment, even the threat of death, and he discovered that he had been well schooled at the intersection of faith.

Paul ended his class session to Christian followers, by writing on the black-board for all of his pupils to see: “My God will supply every need of yours, according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 4:19)

Sometimes we go “bumping” through life with little reason or thought, and we complain about how tough it has been for us. But when we take the “bumps” while hanging onto the Savior, and when we have head-on collisions with hard times, but share them with a living Lord, the “agony” has a way of changing to an “ecstasy”, and life that might have gone on down to defeat, goes striding on to victory.

The Gospel Got Loose!

In Paul’s writings, he said that “Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation”. (II Cor. 5:18) At that very moment, something was set loose into the world that could not be confined. The Gospel got out! And it was given to us. And like the “hot potato” that it is, sometimes we don’t know what to do with it.

The “ministry of reconciliation” suggests to us that under the skin, we are brothers. We are one, and Christ gave us the vision of our need, and commanded us to make it become reality.

Are there divisions? Are we doing anything to heal them? Are there people hurting? Are we carrying God’s valentine of love? Are there some who are lonely, feeling left out? Are some of us being small….drawing circles that are too limited? Are we accusing others of being the problem, when we may be at fault ourselves? Is the “balm of Gilead” at work in our midst? Is the “healing” of Christ’s spirit being sought? Can others tell we are Christians by our love? Are we being reconcilers in this troubled old world?

A family was getting ready for a trip, and the station wagon was packed and ready to go. They were late, and mother called out: “Johnny, wash your hands. Get your brother. Perhaps we can still make it in time!”

Here is the 3-fold call of our ministry: 1—”Wash your hands”. Pray for forgiveness and cleansing. 2—“Get your brother”. We must be reaching out to all those around us. 3—“Perhaps there is still time”. The hour is late, but not too late to speak forth the message of the Gospel.

This is the task Christ has called us to perform. He died on a cross to make it so. That is how much it meant to Him. Does it mean anything to you…all ye that pass by?

"Lift Off" Can Happen

I’ve watched the birds, and I’ve thought, “How nice to soar above the world…to fly!” John Magee, the poet has written:

“Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;…
I’ve topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew.
And while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.”

What really is my place in this old world. I’m not an angel, but I’d sure like to fly. I’m not an angel, but the Bible tells me that I was made just a little bit lower than the angels. And yet, my destiny seems to be to “plow” the earth, to “cultivate” it, to bring a rich harvest from it. And my Lord calls me to be a binder of wounds. My task is to be a servant. I belong on this earth. I’ve been given a task here. I can’t live in a pretend world of “Cloud 9”.

But there are times when my hands get so dirty, and my knees get so weary, and my head so dizzy. And there are times when the grime of it, and the slime of it, and the weariness of it, makes me feel like I am shackled to this earth…a prisoner in clay.

But then comes the beautiful revelation, that as a human being, I have two sides to my being. I am not a stick-person, with a flat life on a flat board. There is another dimension. I was meant to “look up”. There is height, there is breadth, and length and depth. Sometimes, we can “mount up with wings as eagles, and we can walk, and not faint”. We can fly. We can fly, with God, and we can soar above the sinfulness of this world. We can live on a higher plane.

Much of my life is keeping my nose to the grindstone. And that is where it must be a good share of the time. Nobody promised me a rose garden. But one of these days, I’m goin’ to fly! And day after day, I practice the process….of loving, and giving, and forgiving, and caring…of lifting my eyes to Him who can deliver me from this bondage of death.

Many people attempt to escape this world with drugs. They get freaked out, and Hell is just around the corner. But our Lord was a macho man, strong, brave, commanding thousands of people. He was tough, but oh, so gentle. And he taught his disciples to fly.

Christianity’s “Fly-in” is sponsored by Jesus Christ, and He is inviting each of us to take the “ground course”. “Lift-off” is available. Come fly with the Lord Jesus. His is the only air-line that gives an eternal guarantee.

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Run Out Of Town

In the book of Acts, we find the exciting story of the origins of the early Church. Stephen was stoned to death by an angry mob, and Saul, consenting to his death, then began great persecution against the church in Jerusalem. All who named the name of Christ were scattered.

At times we wonder what would have happened if the Gospel had stayed in Jerusalem with the original disciples, and under the old Judaistic patterns? Might it have died an early death? Would it have been smothered in its infancy?

But the Gospel got out! It left its place of birth. Indeed it was driven out…run out of town! And this act of hardship saved the Church. The attacks upon the early Christians were a blessing in disguise…as so often hardship is.

Many of us could tell accounts of the hard things in life, which, though they shook us, also strengthened us, and made us stronger. We recall how Joseph in the Old Testament, spoke to his brothers who had sent him into seeming slavery, and said, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.” (Genesis 50:20) And again, we think about the verse: “We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him.” (Romans 8:28)

This is not to say that Christians look for trouble, but when it comes, it can be a stepping stone instead of a stumbling-block. You take problems and twist them into opportunities. Trouble throws you a “curve”, so you look at it squarely, and end up getting a home-run!

The early Christians had no idea what they had started. But “God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform”. (Wm. Cowper). Christianity had broken out of its swaddling clothes, and it was on its way out into the whole world.

There is a small lake in Minnesota, called Lake Itasca. A visitor noticed a small overflow at one end, and said to a fisherman nearby, “The lake is leaking”. The man replied: “Man, that’s no leak…that’s the beginning of the Mississippi River!” The Mississippi River may starts as a leak in a tiny lake, but it ends with a mighty body of water, flowing to the Gulf. And so, Christianity began with a handful of unpromising people, and situations, but God’s forces are still rolling along.

The Good News got out, under duress, and thank God it did, because you and I are the beneficiaries of it. Is it possible today to look at the hard things that come into your life, and say, “I wonder what exciting things the Lord has in store for me? I think I’ll try to find out.”

Take The Witness Stand

St. Luke in the book of Acts, records that after the resurrection, Jesus appeared to the disciples and said, “You shall be my witnesses.” (Acts 1:8)

A lot of people have problems with that, and as they sing some of the great hymns of the Church, you can almost hear them adding: “I love to hear the story”…if it doesn’t last more than twenty minutes. Or again, “Take my life and let it be”…yes, let it be, Lord, let it be. “Have thine own way, Lord”…with Mrs. Jones and Mrs. Smith. Or how about, “If Jesus goes with me”…it may be embarrassing for both of us.

Some of us may not be able to speak easily about our faith. We are the quiet ones. There are some people who have something to say, and then there are those who have to say something! But if our lives have been touched by the Lord, then really we have to “say” something! We must share the good news. We must let the rest of the world know that we too have been touched by the Master.

The way we do the “saying” however can vary a great deal. The Scriptures tell how “the valleys deck themselves with grain, they shout and sing together for joy.” (Ps. 65:13) And in the hymn “This is my Father’s world” we hear the words, “the birds their carols raise, the morning light, the lily white, declare their Maker’s praise.”

There is a witness in the daisy that lifts its head in praise to its Maker. And so, like that lovely flower by the roadside, we too can bear witness in faithful living day by day.

We wish it could be more natural for all of us to share what God has done for us. In the 66th Psalm, the writer says: “Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for me.” (vs. 16) But even when our voices fail us, and words don’t seem to fill the bill, the witness of a life of love, of a life of caring, is still measured by our Savior, as acceptable “coin” in Heaven’s book-keeping accounts.

Where In The World Is The Church?

If you were to ask most any person on the street, ”Where is the Church?’ the answer would probably be, “It is two blocks ahead, on the left”, or some such reply. Yes, the Church does exist in church buildings. We might call a Sunday morning worship session, “The gathered Church”.

But if that is where the Church is on Sunday mornings, then where does it go during the rest of the week? On Monday, where is the Church? How about on Thursday?

And of course, we begin to realize that the real Church is people. The Church is in the Shopping Center. It is at the City Council, it is in the Board room, in the offices of government. Wherever Christians are being faithful to their Lord, they are the “Dispersed Church”…the Church in the world.

And since Christ is the head of the Church, then Christ must be felt in the City Council, in the Board rooms, in the offices of government, in the controversies of home and nation, if the Church is to be truly in the world.

St. Paul, in his letter to the church at Ephesus, expresses great amazement at how God has made the Church, and for what purpose as he says:”grace was given…to give the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all men see what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things, that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known.” (Eph. 3:8-10)

And then he goes on to pray:”that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have power to comprehend…and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge.” (Eph 3:17-19)

This love Paul talks about is appealing, but as one person has said, “it’s practice is appalling”. And yet, this is exactly where the Church exists…wherever Christian people are appealingly trying to put that kind of love to the test.

Reconciliation or Wreck-onciliation?

There is a tremendous need today for people to learn to live together in peace and harmony. In the New Testament, Christians are called upon to be “reconcilers”. There is a very deadly sin within most of us that refuses to accept people who are “different”. The difference may be that of nationalistic background, racial and ethnic differences, gender differences, differences of religion, and even differences of physical size or color of hair.

We call this “prejudice”. We are prejudiced against certain people and this is a form of “wreck-onciliation”. We have preconceptions, predispositions, suspicions, smoldering dislike for certain folk in our world.

In the world of automobiles, high octane gas takes the “knock” out of the engine. And so the Christian is to be the “high octane” to people who are “knocking one another”. How can we run our lives with antagonism and angry disputes among us, when our Lord called us to be “reconcilers” and peace makers?

Once a year, we celebrate the birthday of Abraham Lincoln, who has been considered one of the great reconcilers. In Vachel Lindsay’s classic poem, “Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight” he says:

“It breaks his heart that kings must murder still
That all his hours of travail, here for men
Seem yet in vain. And who will bring white peace
That he may sleep upon his hill again?”

And even more than the vision of Abraham Lincoln, is that picture of a cross silhouetted against the hillside, and the realization that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself.

Reconciliation is a hard thing to achieve. It involves humbling ourselves, it involves penitence that seeks forgiveness. It means going the second mile. It means taking it on the chin, bearing the cross, absorbing evil rather than bouncing it back. It involves understanding of why people do the things they do, and it can all be summed up in one command, “Thou shalt love…”

We are to love, because we were first loved. God has been an aggressive lover. He is the aggressive lover who can break up my temper, my sinfulness. Christ’s whole life was an offensive of divine love. And the cross was God’s love, at the very flash-point of its power. It was timed to take the “ping:” out of our angry souls, and give us the grace of reconciliation.

We are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. If only we could learn to keep the engines of love running smoothly. Perhaps then, our Lord would recognize us as reconcilers, not “wreck-oncilers”.

Famous Last Words

There are so many things in our world that we cannot change. Evil lurks on every hand. How can our society go on, flaunting God’s laws, hardly caring for the little people, the oppressed, the poor, the lonely and aging? Does it not seem that injustice is a stronger force than goodness? Where is the cause of righteousness? And where are those who will stand up and be counted for God’s Kingdom?

The Christian is often overwhelmed by pessimism as he or she looks out over this troubled world. We are told that the last words of Henry Ibsen, a Norwegian dramatist who had been a great debater and critic of his society, was the one word, “Nevertheless.”

When suddenly death struck, it was a rather appropriate thing to say, for it is what the Christian is always talking about. The world puts down goodness, and persecutes the righteous, and hangs Christ upon a cross. We see all of this. We look at life’s confusions and the apparent victory of evil, but we say, “nevertheless”. Judas could betray Jesus, Caiaphas could make a mockery of his trial, Pilate could say to the soldiers, “Make the tomb as secure as you can”…NEVERTHELESS…”on the first day of the week…the women, found that the stone was rolled away!”

Sir James Simpson, the discoverer of chloroform, lost his little daughter at an early age; and it is most appropriate that upon her tombstone should be carved out these words: “nevertheless I live!”

“Nevertheless” is a very fine word. We are often fearful that we as Christians are working alone, and that there is little hope of changing this terrible world about us. “Nevertheless”, we must believe that God has not left us to do it by ourselves. Elijah believed that he and only he was left to proclaim the greatness of God, and he was informed that there were still thousands in Israel who remained faithful.

A famous last word is that of John Wesley, who said to those gathered about his death bed, “The best of all is, God is with us.” And Oliver Cromwell, upon his dying bed, took one look at the mournful crowd of faces about him, and said, “Will no one here thank God?”

Perhaps it is time for us to stop singing the “blues”…time to stop acting like “losers”…time to rise up and say “Nevertheless”. That’s right! God is here, and we are on the side of ultimate victory.

Divine Disturbance

I stopped one day at the “Grain Pit” of the Board of Trade Bldg. in Chicago. I saw persons frantically waving their hands, holding up different numbers of fingers, raucously shouting at the tops of their voices, and every so often, for no seeming reason at all, they would literally fall on one another as their excitement grew stronger and stronger. Here, it seemed were men possessed!

There was a day which we sometimes call the Birthday of the Christian Church, in which the disciples were so excited, and the reports of what happened that day so spectacular, that we can scarcely accept it. There was a divine disturbance, during which ordinary persons became extra-ordinary and moved out to proclaim their faith.

Dr. Toyohiko Kagawa, a great Japanese Christian leader, once said, “It is a shame for a Christian to be ordinary. There is something within that will make him out-of-the-ordinary and not ‘run of the mill’.” Sometimes, non-Christian persons look upon our proclamation of love, and of turning the other cheek, and they say, “Those Christians are mad!”

They said of Dr. Albert Schweitzer, “The man is mad” as he dedicated four Ph.D’s to the natives of Africa. This was not madness, but the Spirit’s disturbing of a man until his talents became tools in the hands of Almighty God.

There is a classic story about the Cape Cod farmer of New England who was shingling his house on a very foggy day, and he shingled right off into the fog. Many persons go “shingling off into the fog” in their understanding of the Holy Spirit. In their fanatic zeal, they do the very opposite of that which the Holy Spirit commands us. They find causes that separate them from their fellow-Christians, whereas the Spirit on that special day of Pentecost came to transcend all barriers of nationality and language and to bind all together in love for Jesus Christ.

God is always trying to break through into life…yours and mine. The Spirit of God has been at work since the very time of creation itself, brooding over the face of the deep. And yet we confess how little we really know about the Holy Spirit.

Ask a sailor “What is the wind?” Of all people, he should know. But he will answer, “I cannot say. All I know is that when I feel the wind blowing, I raise my sails, and it takes me to the far-off harbor.” Ask a Christian, “What is the Holy Spirit?” Of all persons, he or she should know…and yet the reply may come, “I cannot say. All I know is that when I feel the breath of God upon me, I open myself to it, and it lifts me up and carries me to the far-off shore.”

Dead End

There is a haunting fear of mankind, an almost universal uncertainty that asks the same question as Job, when he said, “If a man die, will he live again?” (Job 14:14)

In some ways, this fear runs deeper within us, than our love for money, or sex, or power. And Christians have something to share with this fear-ridden world, for we have a significant break-through. We know a man who conquered death, who went into the valley of the shadow…that terrible dead-end of the centuries…and he walked right through!

There is a story called “Labryinth” written by Gian-Carlo Menotti. The action centers around a newly married couple who wander around in the endless corridors of an old hotel, looking for their room. Their search is futile. And even when they finally find the room, the door is locked, and they have lost the key. Menotti says that modern man has also lost the key to the labyrinth of life, and is searching for a way out. All too often, he simply resigns himself to a lifetime of restless wandering. In his story, however, Menotti decides that the solution is death. The groom is nailed up in a coffin, and wakes up in the after-life holding the lost key. And so Menotti says: “Death is not the end of life, but its very happy solution!”

Surely we do not agree that death is the solution to life. It is not the way out of the problems we have, to simply end it all. But in death, there is an answer. And Jesus Christ, our risen Lord, holds the key that makes death not a dead end, but an open highway into something greater beyond.

We think about the long winter with its ice-covered trees. How dead they appear for those several months, but look at them in the Spring…budding forth more completely every day. The grass is barren in those frosty days of the year, but in its time of green-ness, your mower struggles with it week after week!

There is not a farmer around who does not recognize that beneath the seemingly dead soil, are the seeds of that which will nurture the butterflies, and feed the birds, and fill his world with beauty and a good harvest. Why then are we so in sorrow about the thought of death? It is not a dead end. For those who have learned to live with Him who holds the key, it is a thoroughfare to a new type of existence on a higher plateau.

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Power To Survive

In the fourth chapter of Philippians in the New Testament, Paul is giving us his prescription for victory. He never said it would be easy, but he did say it was possible. “Stand firm,” he said, ”Have no anxiety about anything”, he went on to say. “Whatsoever things are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, and gracious, think about these things”, was his next advice. Finally, he shared his secret on how to be content.

How do we survive life’s sadness, and sufferings, and trials? You think good, think victory, think health, and think peace.

‘The story is told about two men out in a boat on a stormy day when the waves were violent. The one man was swept over-board. The other man grabbed for him, and caught hold of his hair. But the man’s hair-piece came off in his hands. And then he grabbed and caught hold of the man’s arm, but his mechanical arm came off in the struggle. In desperation, the rescuer cried out, “My God, if you don’t stick together, I’ll never be able to save you!”

And so, we who name the name of Christ, must stick together, we must stand firm. More than that, we must face the future without anxiety, believing that “the Lord is at hand” and that He walks with us, and we are not alone. We have an anti-dote for fear. We have a cure for the “butterflies in our stomach”. It is the power of positive thinking. It is faith at work.

But there is no victory if we allow our minds to get cluttered up with hateful and evil thoughts. “If there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, we are to think about these things.” (Phil 4:8) Unfortunately, our newspapers, our T.V., and the messengers of the secular world, flood our minds with violence, and immorality. The only way to reduce the garbage, is to increase the positive thrust of that which is good and honorable, and lovely and gracious.

There is a beautiful song that goes: “Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim. In the light of his glory and grace.”

And how does “contentment” come to us? Katherine Marshall gave the illustration of the great Clydesdale horses moving through their intricate paces, through the diligence of good trainers. These gigantic horses were called “gentle under the reins”. So also, Mrs. Marshall said we too must learn to become “gentle under (His) reins. There are testings and difficult experiences. And we survive life’s sadness, and sufferings, by somehow believing that “God will supply our every need, according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 4:19)

For Goodness Sake, Come In!

There is a beautiful prayer, often used at funeral services that contains these lines: “And while thou dost prepare a place for us, prepare us for that happy place, that where they are, and thou art, we too may be.”

Although our Christian faith affirms that Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us some day, all too often, we are not prepared for that happy place, and some of us are not going to get in!

Some of us will not get in, not because God condemns us, but simply because we have done nothing to get ready…thus we condemn ourselves. How can we get someplace, if we are not ready to go there?

One little boy seemed always to be getting into mischief, and his mother asked him one day, “How do you ever expect to get into heaven?” The boy thought for a moment and then replied: “I’ll just run in and out and keep slamming the door till they say, ‘For goodness sake, come in or stay out!’ And so, then I’ll go in!”

To be prepared for that happy place through the struggles in life is not easy, but apparently is necessary. The story is told about the emperor moth that struggled for hours, to get out of its cocoon, until a kindhearted person snipped the opening. The moth was saved the struggle, but it could never fly! The wings would not unfold…they were shriveled…useless. The struggle, forced strength into the wings.

At times, I don’t want to go through the struggle, but I know that if I keep working at it…keep going in and out, and slamming the screen doors of friendliness and kindness, and make of my life a struggle of faithfulness, that eventually the wings will become strong enough, and finally a loving Heavenly Father will say, “For goodness’ sake, Come on in!”

Good-Bye Now

There is a fable about two brothers who had become sheep thieves. They were caught, and branded with the letters S.T. (Sheep Thief).

The one brother left town, but wherever he went, people asked about the letters, and sooner or later, they found out, and he moved from place to place, finally dying, without peace or friends. The other brother stayed…lived humbly, and supported himself honestly. He helped the needy and gradually, people hardly noticed the brand. One day, a stranger came, and asked one of the residents about the person with the strange brand. “I’ve forgotten the details,” he said, “it happened a long time ago, but I think it stands for ‘saint’!”

Now and then, thank God, sinners do become saints, and they do it by faithfully going on from one level of grace to another. Life is a process of saying “good-bye”. We say “good-bye” to what was, and “hello” to that which is to come. We say “good-bye” to mistakes and sins, and move on to victories and achievements. It is not easy to be good, but it is worth it. And whether we be 30 or 90, life is really the struggle of the soul to be born. If we try to short-cut the process, by going the easy road of compromise, then we end in defeat.

We all remember the “good-byes” of leaving for school, or watching our children getting married, or the agony of separation from those we love when death affirms its claim. But “good-bye now” is always a necessary part of growth. Paul said, “I die daily” (I Cor. 15:31), and there is something that dies within us, when we leave one situation to go into something new or different. There is struggle, but without struggle, without the agony of separation, we have no new frontiers, and the heart cannot fly.

The poet has said, ”Heaven is not reached by a single bound, but we build the ladder by which we rise, from the lowly earth, to the vaulted skies, and we mount to its summit, round upon round.” (Gradatim—Josiah Gilbert Holland)

The phrase “good-bye now” is actually a perversion of the old farewell, “God by you now”. You may find yourself in deep sorrow over the necessity of leaving someone, or something, or some special place in your heart, but if you can believe that God is by you now, you will have taken a significant stride in faith. And the victory is not so far away.

What's Your Excuse?

In the 14th chapter of Luke, Jesus tells the story about a man who held a banquet, and invited his friends to come, but they all made excuses. Said one, “I’ve bought some land, and must go look at it.” Said another, “I’ve just bought several yoke of oxen, and must try them out.” And a third said, “I just got married, and of course, you understand, I cannot come. I pray you, have me excused.”

Do our excuses to God make any sense at all, or are they pure evasion…just plain selfishness? For one reason or another, we simply cannot give as much to the church, nor can we offer our time…because, well simply because we can’t. After all, the Lord must know how tough things are.

In the record found in one old farmer’s diary, were these entries: “Today we buried Jacob’s only son, age three. Fourth death already from summer’s complaint. Pray God this heat breaks soon.” In a later record, we read, “A horde of grasshoppers swarmed onto the farm, methodically and monstrously devouring every green, growing thing.” The effects of this were recorded in his final entry (Dec. 31, 1874) for that year. “I harvested this year: From 8 acres of corn, nothing. From 36 acres of wheat, 350 bushels. From 6 acres of oats, feed only. From 2 acres vegetables and potatoes, seed only, scarce, and poor quality.” Many farmers would quit after that. He didn’t. And later that same night, he turned the page and wrote: Jan. 1, 1875. “A fresh new year. Thanks be to God!”

There are those who argue that the Lord may come again sometime in the future. There are many of us who believe, that in a sense, He has already come…that He is here now! Do we believe that? The Lord of Hosts is here. The King of Kings is among us. The Owner of the Vineyard has returned, and He is calling us to service. Do we live with that kind of Presence upon us? If not, then what is your excuse?

The Player

The other day, I played chess. I had forgotten many of the moves. I didn’t win, but I remembered something that I didn’t want to be.

I thank God, I am not a pawn moved by irresistible forces. I am a person. I have a name. My name is Adam, meaning “mankind”. I am subject to problems of the human family. But I am also inheritor of all the culture, and blessings brought to mankind as part of the human family.

Jesus once said to Peter, “You are Cephas”, (meaning Peter, the Rock) and like Peter, I too have a name. Society may try to make me into a number, a Social Security number, a telephone number, a zip code number, an office number, an extension number, a tax number. But still I have a name. My name is Jo Smith, or Harriet White, or a million other names. And I am important in this world.

I am told, that if I have one child, and that child marries and has children, and these children marry, and have children, etc….that within 5 generations, I will have been responsible for 9,000 living souls. That’s almost unbelievable, but that is certainly a part of what I am. I am family.

But not only this, when I take a breath…just one single breath, I am told that the whole world has to make a re-adjustment…so dependent are we upon one another. This is me. I am a grain of sand upon the sea-shore of the universe, but I count for something. There is importance given to me.

Somehow in the course of history, through His Son upon a cross, God made it clear that He loves us. Since that time, every Christian Church in the world, has been telling us about it, and I believe it.

And because we are loved, we must respond. My life must be lived in worthiness, and in trust so that a deposit (a contribution) can be made. For some, life seems so futile. They live a routine existence with never any thought of a holy relationship, any divine connection. But it is something like being on Candid Camera. I never realize that much of the world is being either shocked, or saddened, or amused, or challenged by my actions.

At times, I think that life is like a wheel. It goes around faster and faster. We are all upon this wheel of life. The faster it goes, the harder it is to stay on. Every day some folks slip off this wheel of sanity. But remember: at the center of the wheel is our Christian faith. All other forces may be trying to throw you off. But here, at the center is God, and like a magnet, He holds you on.

You are the player. You must make the moves, but if you are willing to let Him do so, God will keep you on course!

How About "Compact" People?

We live in a day of miniaturization. We have mini-cars, mini-skirts, mini-subs. Our new technology directs us towards smaller things…smaller cameras, smaller computers, tiny motors, so small they can be used for medical research and therapy in the blood stream of our bodies.

A man by the name of Donald Allen suggested that perhaps we ought to develop a race of mini-people, and with tongue in cheek, suggested that with the shortages of food and energy and space, a race of people about 18” tall could help a lot…less food consumption, plenty of housing and living space, and maybe even abolish war. His theory was that we might not be able to hit one another, if we were so small!

There is a fascinating geological phenomenon of small fossils. In an outcropping of rock called the Macquoketa shale that shows up here and there all over the world, fossils are always miniatures…crinoids, trilobites, brachiopods, etc. They are not babies, but full-grown mature adults. No one seems to know for sure why this is the case. It appeared to be a kind of Lilliputian stage in our world’s history.

I don’t know whether “compacting” people is the answer. In many ways, big or little is not the point. God did not make us Mini-People, but we are a “Compact” people. It was not a miniaturizing process, but a covenanting one. God is our Father, and we are to be His children. This is what we are and this is the way we were made, and this makes a world of difference. It is not my size physically that matters, but the size of the man inside.

Counselors tell us that failure to know who we are is one of the primary causes of delinquency. Children and teen-agers who do not really know themselves, who are not grounded in a knowledge of why they are here, and where they are going, are at the center of the crime problem.

Some children are in homes, like balls in a pool table, being knocked about in all directions. They are not loved, nor does anyone really seem to care. They think they must be a nuisance, a problem, so that is what they become.

I am a child of God, I was made in His image, and I belong to Him. Therefore, whether I live in “ticky tacky houses” in the suburbs or in a high-rise apartment “filing cabinet for people”, or whether I live in rural America, as long as I know that I am a child of God, and belong to Him, life can have meaning.

We do not need smaller people, but people who know that they have a God who is larger than any problem that may come. Years ago, God shook up this world to let us know who we are. He took a cross, and wrote a letter saying how much He loved us, and signed it with His blood. That’s how I have the assurance that I am a “compact” person.

When Is A Person Strong?

The Bible tells us about the giant, Goliath. And yet little David felled him with his sling shot. We read about “giants in the earth” in those early days. But were they so very strong?

We read that Claudius Caesar had a 9 foot, strapping fellow, named Baggarus, and yet the details are pretty hazy. Most giants in history have not been especially strong.

One exception, perhaps, was a man named Angus McAskill, born in Scotland in 1825. At the age of 19, he was 7 feet, 9 inches. And he was powerful. When his father’s horses gave out, Angus slipped into the harness and matched his strength with the other horse. He was a church-going, peace-loving giant, and he looked for trouble with no-one. When a heavy-weight champion fighter from the docks accused him of being a coward and challenged him to a fight, he accepted. With great excitement the crowds gathered. The two men went to the center of the ring to shake hands before the fight. Suddenly the professional fighter screamed and fell to his knees. The fight was over. Angus had crushed the man’s hand with one mighty grip.

P.T. Barnum hired him for awhile, billed with Tom Thumb. At the conclusion of each program, Tom Thumb danced a jig on the giant’s palm.

He was challenged to lift a ship’s anchor weighing 2,200 lbs. He did so, but as he lowered the unusual shaped weight, one of the points struck his shoulder, and tore the muscles so badly that he soon drifted out of the news.

Such feats of strength thrill us…especially when they come from a good person. Here in America, we seem to worship bigness. We build bigger bombs, and bigger planes, and bigger skyscrapers. But is bigger better? Is bigger, stronger?

Strength is not measured in biceps, or size, or loudness of voice. Strength is a quiet thing, measured in inner integrity, and the power of love. Jesus was the strongest man in the world. He never pulled down pillars in the temple, or lifted giant anchors over his head. But he defeated the devil in the wilderness, he was too strong to stoop to unkindness, and even though his anger burned with scorching heat against the scribes and Pharisees, he forgave them all from the cross. No tomb could hold him, and three days after his death at the hands of evil men, he burst open the bonds of the grave. Twelve disciples couldn’t keep him to themselves, and now he lives in the hearts of millions. No darkness has been so great that the light he has given could ever be put out.

The exercise videos are helpful…my walking and running and exercising certainly helps to build up my body, but when it comes to looking for giants, I’ll turn to Jesus. The Prophet once said, “They that wait upon the Lord, shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31)

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The "Who" and the "Why"

Robert Raines in his little book “Creative Brooding” has penned this short prayer:

“We struggle in separation,
With silent longing,
Lonely, and alone.
Lord, help us to reach out to each other,
And say, ‘I love you.’”

One of the Jews who had survived four different concentration camps under the German prisoner program, told how people were going insane, and some were committing suicide, and many did not survive the terrible rigors of these inhuman places.

And when asked, ”How did you make it?” he answered, “When you have a “Who” and a “Why” for your living, you can survive any “How”.

I have a mission here and now, and within my reach and grasp. It does not require more education than I can muster. It does not demand more time than I can give. It is the task of simply being human, and Christian, and available to those around me…to my own children, to my neighbors, and to older persons near-by, or a friend.

To love, and be loved in return is a worthy goal. For did not Jesus say, “Love is the fulfilling of the law.” (Romans 13:10)

Someone once said, that you and I are like violin strings stretched out between heaven and earth. If we are stretched too tight, of course, we will snap. If we are stretched too loosely, then we will wibble-wabble with nothing but a twang and a discord. But if we are stretched out just right, then we make good music.

Here is the meaning of life…to be stretched out before God and before our fellow-men in service, as a living sacrifice, trying to make the good, rich music of peace.

Our Holy Guest

There is a beautiful prayer to begin your meal that goes like this:

“Lord Jesus, be our holy guest
Our morning joy
Our evening rest
And with our daily bread impart
Some love and peace to every heart.”

It is a good thing to ask the Holy Son of God to come into our home and be our daily guest…to invite Him to our table, to our conversations, and to our daily business.

Having this special Guest, makes a combination of miracles and exciting fellowship. The ordinary becomes extra-ordinary; the usual becomes unusual; and the common-place becomes special. My friends begin to look different, and I can even put up with my enemies who make life miserable. The Biblical writer says, “casting all your cares upon Him…” and somehow my worries leave me, the tensions are less and the pressures are eased. Peace, like a mighty river, floods my soul.

The prayer says: “and with our daily bread impart, some love and peace to every heart.” I discover that there is something more that I need besides food. I can put the meat and potatoes on the table and I have a collection of food. But if I let Christ be the head of my home, and the unseen guest at every meal, I have a banquet, a sacrament. I have access to the Healer of Souls. And the Healer of Souls has food to eat, of which we know nothing. He has nourishment that has no calories, adds no cholesterol, puts on no fat or blubber, but makes me lean and tough in the things of the spirit.

I need Christ as my Holy Guest. Without Him, I become just an animal in an animal-like world. But with Him, I find myself walking on higher ground. With Him, I can do the impossible. I see the unseeable, climb the unclimbable, and miracles and magic become part of my living room.

When I was a child, my mother used to kiss the bruises and cuts. But now, Jesus, the Healer of my soul, gives me the kiss of peace and takes all the sickness of my heart away.

Today, I have reached the age of 86.
Does age make any difference? Maybe
not, but it's amazing how the years
have gone by. They have been good
ones, and the Lord has sent His
many blessings, for which I give
thanks.

Life's A Lonely Journey

There’s something lacking in my driving ability. Other people pass me, and they wave. All I seem to be able to see are the holes in the road, and the signs. I’m really not unfriendly, but I just never got the habit of peering through the windshield to see who is in the car coming at me. Lately, I’ve been trying.

About 32 of my 45 years of ministry were in the big cities. Country boy that I was, I learned quickly about city driving. You don’t see people in cars. All you see are fenders, and bumpers. On the Outer Drive in Chicago, you see 2 or 4 or even 6 cars sneaking up behind you. They pass you on the left and they pass you on the right. They breathe down your tailgate. It’s like being in the middle of a buffalo stampede. And for some reason, all the vehicles sound angry…tires screeching, mufflers belching out fumes, brakes squealing, horns honking, radiators hissing, and now and then a car comes by, a window rolls down, and what looks almost like a human face yells at you or “gives you the finger!”

Needless to say, I’m glad to be in an area, where there are real people in cars, and folks smile, and wave, and seem to notice you now and then. I’ve got a lot of re-learning to do with my driving, but it occurred to me…what a wonderful thing that God doesn’t overlook me, like I tend to overlook folks. God is not bothered by our mechanical problems. He knows my name. Even every hair of my head is numbered. He is not confused by what I drive, or the lumps on my fenders. He knows me. He cares for me. He loves me.

It’s beautiful the way the Psalmist said it:
“O Lord, thou hast searched me and known me
Thou knowest when I sit down and when I rise up
Thou discernest my thoughts from afar
Thou searchest out my path and my lying down,
And art acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
Lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether.” (Ps. 139:1-4)

And then he goes on to say: “If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there thy hand shall lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.” (Ps. 139:9,10)

Life may be a lonely journey, but it’s good to believe that along with the cars that honk, and the problems that hiss, there is also a God who cares and loves, and will never leave or forsake me.

Does Jesus Live Here?

The story is told about a rural area of our country, where one day a housewife received a call from a gentleman who asked, “Does Jesus live here?”

She replied that they were Christian people, and attended church regularly. But still he asked the question, “Does Jesus live here?” When he saw the puzzled look on her face, he sadly turned and went away.

When her husband returned that evening, he said “That must have been the new minister. Did you tell him that we are the best givers in the church, that we always do our job well, and give a large gift to the church at Christmas, that we are charter members and pillars of the church? Did you…” “But John,” she interrupted, “the man didn’t ask all those things. All he asked was, ‘Does Jesus live here?’”

That’s really the heart of it, isn’t it? All these other things are good, but is Christ in our hearts? Does He really live within us?

It happens only, if we first of all let him in. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.” (Rev. 3:20) are the repeated words of the Savior. How can Jesus live in us, if we keep him on the outside?

But he can come in, in the second place, only if we do some house-cleaning. My bad temper, my racial prejudices, my unpleasant habits, my unforgiving spirit are part of the mess that has to go. He’ll help me clean it up, but I have to be willing to get rid of the trash. “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.” (Ps. 51:10) must be my prayer. God and sin cannot walk hand in hand. Where one is, the other must go, and we must make the choice.

But a third requirement, is that I must turn over all the keys. There can be no “Fibber McGee closets” left locked and sealed. Christ becomes my Commander in Chief. If He needs my time, I must give it. If He needs my tithe, I must share it. If He needs my talents, I must use them to His glory.

Jesus one time said, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord’ and not do what I tell you?” (Lk. 6:46) Christ on my lips may be enough to get me into a church, but Christ in my heart is the only way I can get into heaven. The answer to the riddle of life, and the mystery of the Universe is this: “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Col. 1:27)

Got That Swiss Cheese Hole-iness?

I’m not much of a country music fan, but now and then I get some interesting ideas from their music and lyrics. The other day, I heard a tune with these words: “I’ve got a whole lot of holes in my life. If you could stack them all together, you could fall in them forever.”

Sounds a bit like me. Sometimes my life is shot through with holes. Holes of inconsistency…holes that remind me of my mistakes and sin…holes that make what should be smooth-sailing into a mighty bumpy life’s ride.

And the “fall” is there. The Bible reminds me of a mighty “fall” that mankind took back in the days of our beginning, and which each of us continues to take. But that is part of our life, and that is part and parcel of our sinfulness, and our humanness. We are not perfect. But my Christian faith tells me that God sent Jesus into the world to take my hole-iness and give me wholeness.

Living with Jesus in your life is a step not only towards holiness, but completeness. Thank God, I don’t have to be perfect, but I do have to be open to receive the wholeness He offers.

The Harvest of Hate

At this very moment, a murder is being committed somewhere in our world. In New York City, there are several murders every day. We are a people of violence, and we live with violence and hate as a part of our daily diet of newspapers and T.V.

“The sign of Cain” is upon us. The old story of Cain and Abel in the Bible is a story of mankind.

“Am I my brother’s keeper” is the taunting question we hurl at God. And in our killing, our hating, and our jealousy is to be found the horrible, haunting symbol of our brokenness. We hurt, we destroy, we kill, because we are out of relationship with both our neighbor and with God.

Most of us have thought that our major issue is, “What do I have to live on?” Really, the issue is, “Who do I have to live with?” This is where the issue gets sticky.

Some have contended that man is by nature a violent person. Dr. Fredric Wertham says, however, “Violence is no more an integral part of human life than T.B., syphilis, or cancer.” We study these afflictions to prevent them. Animals kill, by and large, for survival. As far as we know, they do not hate, or have spite, or take revenge, or express sadism, or greed. Animals are generally averse to killing members of their own species or killing systematically large numbers. So when we speak of massacres, extermination camps, etc. we should not refer to the “beastial” in man, because the beasts of the field do not do that.

The story of Cain is a story of anger, hatred, and then violence and death. God has given us our brothers and sisters, and the only solution to alienation is love. Life calls for it. Jesus affirmed it…”Love one another,” he said.

But the harvest of hate continues to take its toll. It is hard for us to think of the Cain story as applying to us, but it does. Cain’s problem began with resentment, and jealousy and anger. And that’s where many of us are. But Jesus said, that even if we are angry with our brothers, we are liable to judgment. (Matt. 5:22). It would seem that hatred itself is a form of murder, and is anathema to our Savior.

The total goal of the Christian Church is to be able, someday, to harvest the products of good will and love in our world. We may be a long way from that goal, but it must be the focus of every prayer, and the steadfast purpose of every one who has come to know the love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ.

The writer of First John says, “Do not be like Cain, who destroyed his brother”. “We know”, he says, “that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love remains in death. Any one who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.” (I John 3:14-15)

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Alliances Or Crocodile Tears

Today, we live in a world in which there are few absolutes…things seem to be neither black or white, and everything gets a kind of dirty gray.

Sometimes our politics and world government gets this way too. It all depends on which side you are on, as to whether something seems to be right or wrong. In Biblical times, the prophet Isaiah spoke to King Ahaz about this. Israel was being pushed and taxed by powers from the East. The only solution the King saw was an alliance with Egypt to the south-west.

To remain at risk did not seem absolutely right, but to deal with the foreign power, Egypt, was not absolutely wrong either. Isaiah said the King’s sin was not that he chose one or the other of two possible evils, but that he failed to consider a third alternative altogether, namely to ask, “What is the Lord’s will?”

Ahaz was running scared. He was looking for security from somewhere. And Isaiah proclaimed, “Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or consult the Lord.” (Isaiah 31:1)

In life, we have to ask the question, “Where can I place my trust? What is real?” But we have faith in the wrong things. We have tried to buy our safety with warfare, and military might. We have assumed that strong banks and Savings and Loans could save us. And suddenly we discover that we are under greater jeopardy than before. Who needs a good educational system? Just give our kids a good time, and they’ll turn out O.K. Why worry about morality or Christian faith? You can’t eat it.

We are much like the business-man with a sign on his back, that read: “My mind is made up, don’t confuse me with the facts!” And so we claim to have our minds made up. We believe in Christianity and the way of love, but we believe more in armies and in guns. We know that love is the will and the way of God, but we practice hatred and suspicion. Just don’t “confuse us with the facts!”

We are making our secular alliances, but we are not placing our trust in God. And yet, God is the only Reality. Our alliances with money, and securities, and the morality of the movies, and the violence of the drug crowd, leaves us shedding great alligator tears.

With God, we need not fear. The depression can hurt us. The lack of jobs can break us. The wages of crime will haunt us. The enmity of nations will cause us distress. And yet, all of this will pass. But in God’s great classroom of life, will you and I pass? This is the only question that really matters.

Just A Second, Please

There are times I wish the Lord would give me just a bit more time. I need to change. I need to be a better person. I need renovation, but I keep so busy, and there just isn’t that much time for self-improvement.

Once every four years, we get a leap year, and God does give us one entire new day. And yet, it doesn’t seem that I make much use of that extra day. I keep on doing the same old things I’ve always done.

In June of 1992, we were told that we would be given an extra second. And all the world clocks had to move ahead just a little.

I suppose it doesn’t help much to wait for any more seconds or Leap Years to get started on my personal needs. It’s time I started now! “Now is the day of salvation”, the Bible says. Today is the day, I wished I had yesterday. What will I do with it? Do I keep saying, “Just a minute, God!”? Or can I speak up like the great Christians of old and say, “Here am I, Lord, send me.”

God has all the time in the world. He can wait. Indeed, He will wait, if we fail to come through. We may even destroy this old world God was good enough to give us. And if we do so, God will just try again. And eventually “the kingdoms of this world shall become the Kingdom of our God.” That’s the gospel truth. But when we say, “wait a second, Lord,” aren’t we just digging our own grave?

The Lord needs us now. He wants us today. Heaven waits with bated breath for my commitment and for yours. It’s hard for us to believe it, but Christ has no hands but ours. Christ is able to walk in love in this world, only through us. God with all His power and majesty, breathes His will into the world, but we must respond.