Moon Glow and Biscuits

Losing All To Gain One

2008-10-01T05:39:00.003-05:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How To Turn Yourself Inside Out

2008-09-30T06:29:00.002-05:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Scared To Die?

2008-09-29T07:49:00.002-05:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Still Evolving?

2008-09-27T08:01:00.002-05:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rainbow Over Calvary

2008-09-26T06:13:00.001-05:00

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

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

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

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

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

Gabriel's Horn And Hell's Bells

2008-09-25T06:30:00.002-05:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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And Lazarus Laughed

2008-09-24T06:24:00.002-05:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Where Are You Going?

2008-09-23T07:45:00.000-05:00

You may remember in the story of Alice in Wonderland that Alice came to a fork in the road. She asked the Chesire Cat, who was sitting in a tree, "What road do I take?"

The cat asked, "Where do you want to go?"

"I don't know", Alice answered.

"Then," said the cat, "it really doesn't matter, does it?"

Some people are content to live in that kind of nether world, but once you have caught the vision of the truth that God has given to His people through Jesus Christ, anything less than that is unacceptable.

As someone once said, "Once you've seen a sunrise, you can get 'hooked' on it." So, living with Jesus in your life, and the power of truth in your heart, can become a delicious habit!

"Without a vision, the people perish" is the old proverb. So also, we can say that if you don't know where you are going, you are going to end up in the ditch. Without a worthy purpose to begin each day, you will soon find yourself like the proverbial dog chasing it's tail, and getting absolutely nowhere!

Like the plants of the field, we cease to live when we are no longer illumined by the SUN. As Christians, we cease to have life with meaning, when we are no longer illumined by the power of the SON, the Son of God.

Thanks God, I Needed That!

2008-09-22T05:44:00.001-05:00

In a Reader's Digest article, the question was asked, "Have Astronomers Found God?" The writer, a scientist, said that although he was an agnostic himself, he felt that the astronomers were being forced to consider the possibility of a divine Creator. Because of the "Big Bang" theory, there seems no alternative but to believe that there had to be a beginning moment...and beyond that moment, there had to be One who did the beginning. "In the beginning...God". We've been saying that for a long time!

Personally, I don't really care whether the scientists are the ones who discover that, or the theologians...for I have discovered that not only is there a God who started everything, but One who continues to stay with His creation, to sustain it, and work with us in our problems, and love us in our sinful condition.

No matter where I go, this great God has gone first. It was the Psalmist who said: "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) That's a beautiful re assurance!

So, today I say: "Thanks God, I needed that!"

Love And Demons

2008-09-21T06:37:00.001-05:00

A fascinating story is told in three of the Gospels about Jesus meeting a disturbed man ("a man from the city who had demons") Lk. 8:26 39, Matt.8:28 34, Mk. 5:1 20

Today, we would say this man had mental illness. Jesus came into this man's life, and the demons went out! What a wonder cure this is to our pressure filled world. When Jesus comes in...demons go out! When love comes in, demons must flee!

And here is a miracle cure just as real as penicillin, just as valid as insulin; just as real as any of the modern wonder working medical drugs. If only we realized the power of the love of Jesus! If only we believed the cure of His Presence in human life.

You and I have a power that we can give to those around us! It is the power of love...it is the saving presence of Jesus that is better than aspirin, more powerful than cobalt treatment or a laser beam. Demons go down by the bushel when love comes in!

Thank God, we don't have to wait years and years for any other wonder cure! It began in the heart of God; it became crystal clear on a hill side cross; it takes place any day, any time, in the human heart, when we accept the healing love of God through Jesus Christ.

How's Your Peace Maker Doing?

2008-09-20T08:15:00.002-05:00

The story is told of a woman who in a conversation asked how a friends's "peacemaker"...no "pacemaker" was doing. After the slip of the tongue, she began to think about what she had said.

Truly, into the heart of every Christian, our Lord has implanted a "peacemaker", and the question is, "How is it doing?" Is it helping us overcome our bad tempers? Is it giving us a sweeter disposition? Or does it have long periods when it never functions? Are people within the church learning to be forgiving and accepting of one another? Could anyone tell, if he saw you at work, that you had a "peacemaker" implanted within you?

When we accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, maybe we shorted out the wires so that the "peacemaker" would never work. If so, then life is running out for us fast. Anyone who puts on an exterior of piety, and does not seek to prove it through actions that back up his words, is no more than a hollow shell, and the life of the Savior is not in him.

Or, maybe we let the power go out of our "peacemaker" by failure to nurture the soul and cultivate the heart through worship and prayer. A phone call came to a certain church one day. The caller asked, "Is Rev. So and So preaching tomorrow?" The church secretary answered, "No, but we believe that God will be there, and that's good enough for us."

Get the power from the Source, and keep your "peacemaker" alive and strong. The slogan that says, "7 days without worship and prayer, makes one weak!" is absolutely true.

Because Christians have failed to respond to the implanting of God's Holy Spirit within them, the world grows increasingly evil; the Church grows increasingly weak; and the heart of the Savior bleeds again. Our society needs Christ in the heart, or peace in the world will never start.

Hope

2008-09-18T06:45:00.002-05:00

There's more to life than complaining!...there's always HOPE! When it's hot outside, I'll think cool! When it's cold, I'll think warm. When there's nothing but trouble, I'll try to whistle. When people say it can't be done. I'll remember those who have worked miracles before. When evil seems to be in charge, I'll remember God!

The author of Lamentations gives us a good thought for each day: "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end; They are new every morning; Great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, says my soul, Therefore I will hope in him." (Lamentations 3:22 24)

Without hope, life would be an impossible nightmare! With hope, life is a challenge and an act of praise! "Great is thy faithfulness" the author said of the Lord, "this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope." (vs. 21)

Accepting Failure

2008-09-18T06:45:00.001-05:00

Are you a perfectionist? Many people are! And how could we get along, without those sincere, hard working, conscientious people who are forever "doing their best" and striving for "perfection".

And yet, sometimes we fool ourselves into thinking that "succeeding", and doing a "perfect" job is expected of us! Who do we think we are...God? Only God is perfect, and some of us are dangerously on the ragged edge of "playing God" in our perfectionism.

Better for us, if we accept from the beginning that we are imperfect, and that we cannot be a success in everything, and that we are going to fail sometimes; but that God loves us any- way, and (hopefully) others will too, even when we fail! We do not have value because we succeed or fail, but we have value in God's eyes, because we are human, and imperfect, and sinful creatures.

Someone once said, "Nothing fails like success!". In a sense, it is true. We learn only a very little from our successes; but it is from many failures, that we learn and grow.

I find this a great comfort, that I don't have to be perfect. I don't have to "succeed"! I just have to rejoice in my son-ship, with a heavenly Father who loves me just as I am in my human condition.

Romans 5:8 says, "God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

I don't think anyone should be satisfied with a poor job, or sloppy workmanship, but I am grateful that the mess that I sometimes am, is still O.K. with God. Could I ask you to judge me kindly, and say that it's O.K. with you too?

Just Suppose

2008-09-17T07:57:00.002-05:00

I was just thinking..."suppose God had waited until Moses was perfect before He called him to deliver his people?"

I recall in the Scriptures how Moses hemmed and hawed, finding every excuse in the books to let God know he couldn't do the job. But God didn't let something like stammering and a faltering speech get in the way. He used Moses anyway!

Suppose God had waited until Peter had been perfect before Jesus called him for a disciple. Peter had a lot of weaknesses. He was over confident, he had racial prejudice (which Paul pointed out later); he let Jesus down when he needed him most. What a poor selection! But God made good use of a poor prospect, anyway!

And just suppose God waited until you or I were perfect, before he allowed us to do the work of ministering in His Church. The church would fold up right now!
But, fortunately for all of us, God doesn't wait for perfect people. He can use weak, sinful, imperfect specimens to do the job. And that's what the Church of Jesus Christ is...a motley bunch of inadequate, imperfect folk (who realize what they are), but men and women who just do their best, knowing that God is working with them to join His perfect power with their stumbling weaknesses.

If you thought you needed to wait until you were better, to join the church, or to work in the Lord's Kingdom, put your mind at ease. The Lord has "in service" training for anyone who trusts Him enough to just take a chance with God, and jump in.

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Are You The Same Old You?

2008-09-16T05:43:00.001-05:00

I talked with a woman once who said, "I go to church faithfully. I listen, I understand, I believe. But when I get home, I'm the same old me!"

How true! We are caught up with hopes and beliefs and faith during special moments of worship and inspiration. But when we go back to the grind of life, we feel like the same old person again.

And yet this is not quite true. I am not quite the same "me". Because every experience in life does change us! We cannot be exposed again and again to the Savior, and not be changed by Him. Here is the value of regular worship, and the attitude that seeks a blessing when we go.

Somebody asked a church member one day what the minister had said. She thought for a moment, and then said she didn't remember. "See" said her friend. "It doesn't do you any good. Why not stay at home?" The church member pointed at her wicker basket and asked, "What if I asked you to fill up that basket with water, and bring it to me?" Said the other, "why the water would all run out!" "That's right," said the other, "but it would be a cleaner basket, wouldn't it?"

Do you despair of growing in grace, of being better? Don't give up, just because you fail now and then. Do you sometimes wish you had never been made? Just remember: You're not made yet. You're just in the process of being made, and this is all part of the Maker's process.

Go to church. Keep growing in the faith. Eagerly seek Him, and that same old "you" will become a transformed “new you".

Try Writing Your Own Obituary

2008-09-15T04:41:00.002-05:00

One morning in 1888, Nobel, inventor of dynamite, the man who had spent his life amassing a fortune from the manufacture and sale of weapons of destruction, awoke to read his own obituary. The obituary was printed as a result of a simple journalistic error...Alfred's brother had died, and a French reporter carelessly reported the death of the wrong brother.

Naturally any person would be disturbed to see his own obituary in the paper, but it was especially so to Alfred Nobel, because he saw himself as the world had seen him, "the dynamite king". As far as the public was concerned, the entire purpose of his life was to make money from destruction. He was a merchant of death.

As he read his obituary with horror, Nobel resolved to change his image before the world, and the result was that the most valued of all prizes is now given for one who works hardest for peace. It is called the "Nobel Prize".

What do you suppose the public would include in your obituary? It's a strange question, but makes us think whether we have made it clear to all what our central concern in life really is.

"Here is a man who loved the Lord" would be a good epitaph. Or "Here is one who loved all people" would be another. Or what about the phrase, "In kindness she moved, in mercy she walked, in humility she lived."? Why not write your own obituary? Make it the way you want it to sound, and then ask God to help you live so it can come true.

Nobody has to be a stinker! There is absolutely no reason anyone has to have a reputation for being evil, or a bully, or cruel. It is only as we will to do His will, that we achieve the great change in life that transforms our lives and makes it possible for our loved ones and even our enemies to say noble things about is in our passing.

I wouldn't want to be caught dead with some of the things folks might say about me. How about you? Maybe it's time, we started to make some changes right now while we still have time.

Try Kissing A Frog

2008-09-14T06:13:00.001-05:00

Did you ever try to kiss a frog? Not easy, is it? Maybe not even much fun! But all around our neighborhoods are froggy people, feeling slow, and low, and ugly, and droopy, and down in the dumps! Maybe you feel that way too now and then. What is a person to do?

In the Church, when we talk about "the Priesthood of Believers", we mean quite literally that we are to be "priests" to one another...or to minister to one another...to be really caring folks!

So...down the great river of life, come froggy people, on drifting lily pads, feeling frightened and disgusted, and too froggy to budge.

Once upon a time, there was a frog. But he really wasn't a frog. He was a prince, who looked and felt like a frog. A wicked witch had cast a spell upon him, and only the kiss of a beautiful maiden could save him. But cute chicks don't really enjoy kissing frogs, and there he sat, un-kissed and unhappy. Miracles do happen now and then, however. One day, a beautiful young lady grabbed him up and gave him a big smack. And there he was, a handsome prince. Now, you know the rest...they lived happily ever after!

Bruce Larson, the author of this interesting illustration, asks the question, "What is the task of the church?" and he gives as his answer, "to kiss frogs, of course."

The apostle Paul said: "bear one another's burdens, and thus fulfill the law of Christ." (Galatians 6:2) Is it possible, that if we just looked around, we might find a prince or a princess in a froggy mood, who needed to be kissed? Sounds romantic, doesn't it? But it also sounds like one of the hardest things, and yet one of the most Christian things we could be doing!

Strike An "A"

2008-09-13T07:50:00.002-05:00

Have you ever heard someone say, "That gives me good vibrations?" Have you ever considered that life, all of life is designed to move and vibrate according to a certain frequency?

After all, music is like that. So also is electricity, sound waves, and radio and T.V. The very chairs we sit on, the tables we work at, the pencils we hold, the telephones we speak through, all of them are seething movements of molecules, energy in motion!

Everything is moving, vibrating, according to the created principle of the Creator! What if my life is out of sequence? What if my sins have changed the harmonies? What if I am making a discord in God's amazing symphony?

Once upon a time, there was a sheep herder who wrote to a New York Radio station. He explained that he lived a simple life in the country, with only his dog and sheep for companions. "I get my greatest pleasure from my radio and my violin," he wrote. "But recently my violin has become badly out of tune. Would it be possible for someone there to strike the note 'A' on the piano so that I could hear it on my radio, and tune my violin by it?"

The disc jockey read the letter to his audience and announced that the program would be delayed for a few moments so that he could strike the note "A" on the piano for the man to tune his violin.

What happens when I get out of tune with my Creator? Then I need to "be still" and wait for that Some One to pluck the strings of my heart, and put me back in tune again.

My Church provides worship for me this week. I need that! I need the good vibrations of the Savior to start me moving right again. My life tends to get discordant, angry, out of shape, moving in the wrong direction! Study of the Scriptures, faithful attendance in worship, more time in prayer, and a new tuning of the strings of my heart puts me in sync with Eternal love, and the frequencies of the Savior.

The Psalmist was right..."the ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away". "The Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked shall perish." (Psalm 1:6) It's just a matter of logic: goodness works...evil does not! Vibrate in tune, or rattle away into oblivion!

What If God Sued Us?

2008-09-12T10:28:00.001-05:00

I've been thinking about suing God! Everybody else is suing somebody...why not me? It seems to me that God really didn't make me as bright as some of the folks I know. I think He might have neglected me somewhat!

I heard once about a lady who sued God for letting lightning strike her home. As far as I know, God never showed up for the trial...As far as I know, the lady never collected either.

But on the other hand, I wonder if God shouldn't have a few law suits pending on His own? After all, we took His beautiful world, and turned it into a waste land. We burned up His fuel oils. We muddied up His beautiful rivers and streams. We allowed His children in many parts of the world, to go hungry, because we never cared enough to teach them to farm their barren lands.

Looks to me like God has a pretty strong case against us. We've taken the good bodies He gave us, and filled them with black coffee, and deadening alcoholic drinks. We've turned the noses He gave us into smoke stacks. We've eaten all the fat-producing desserts, and left the spinach behind.

How can God put up with us? We are law breakers, spoilers, destroyers, contaminators, offenders.

But there is good news. In spite of it all, He cares. He doesn't sue us...He saves us through His great love. He saves us for all eternity, if we come to Him. We are not worthy, but still He pours out His love. What a wonderful, marvelous God we have!

The King Is With Us

2008-09-11T09:36:00.000-05:00

There is a story coming out of ancient England, that says that workers in a factory one day were amazed to discover that their king was working alongside them at a lathe, and had been doing so for a long time without being recognized.

When the news got out, it sent a thrill through the people. "The King is working with us," they said. "The King is working with us!"

Let us never forget that Jesus our King came to earth and walked the lowly problems of life with us. He did then, and our resurrected Lord is with us now.
Doesn't it change your daily routine to believe that "the King is working with you"? He is!

The Supreme Judgment

2008-09-10T06:44:00.002-05:00

There is a strange story in the New Testament (John 8) about a woman brought to Jesus, accused of adultery. Her accusers wait for Jesus to do what the law says he must do...namely condemn her to stoning. Instead, he tells them, "He who is without sin, go ahead and throw the 1st stone." And then he stoops to write in the sand.
Did Jesus actually write something that day? We have no record of any writings by Jesus. Some say that he wrote each man's besetting sin in the sand, and as they saw it, they were stricken by guilt and left.

Perhaps he wrote in the sand simply to cool his anger against the Pharisees. How they irked him! But the sand was more than likely his way of letting them ponder a bit. But the woman too, saw the scribblings in the sand. Here she stood, condemned to die. At any moment, a stone could come hurtling through the air. The law was on their side. Who was this person before whom they had brought her?...a judge...and yet he wasn't judging her.

If Jesus had condemned her...had he said, "You sinful, unregenerate woman!", then she might have justified herself. "It wasn't my fault...he forced me into it. Why don't they bring him? A person has to live...you have to eat!."

But Jesus wasn't condemning her. Could she run away? And yet her sins would run with her. Sin does that! You can run away from the person you have sinned against, but you cannot run away from the sin itself.

What an amazing thing...the wages of sin for this woman, were death. The law said so. But Jesus insists that grace is always greater than the law, and that forgiveness of sins, brings a person from death into salvation.

Whereas others condemn, we who are Christian must learn to forgive. Forgiveness in our world is so limited, so partial, so arbitrary. But God does not dole out forgiveness by degrees, or piece meal, but through Christ, He blots out our whole debt.

Each of us stands before Christ, condemned. Our accusers are on every hand. Our own memories arise up to speak of our shortcomings. We are worthy of death. There is a spiritual law that says so. But what a marvelous release from the guilt which fills us as we look into the wonderful eyes of Jesus, and hear him say, "Neither do I condemn you...go and sin no more."

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Getting Your Magnitudes Mixed

2008-09-09T06:48:00.002-05:00

In Matthew's gospel, Jesus told the story about those who were invited to the marriage feast, and he said: "but they made light of it and went off, one to his farm, another to his business," etc. (22:5)

We are prone to exaggerate the importance of our own problems. It is like holding a penny in front of your eye, and blotting out all that is beyond it. And yet, get that penny but a few feet away, and it is almost invisible.

Sometimes we make mountains out of mole hills...that spot on the rug, that broken plaster above the door, the blemish on the side of your face. Tiny things that upset us, and keep us from centering in on the really important things.

But there are also times when we minimize greatness...when we take mountains and turn them into mole hills. Such people never see the Lord, high and holy and lifted up. When they go to church, all they seem to notice are the mistakes of the organist. They are critical of the way the choir is dressed, and are disturbed by the cry of a small child.

Some do not ever find power in worship, because they surround themselves with little things that are of no consequence. They do not want to confront the enormity of the knowledge of God, because it will tax their imagination, it will stretch their spiritual grasp, it will tug at their heart strings, and they are much more content to grovel in their present condition of half hearted righteousness.

To know God and the greatness of fellowship with Him, is this not the Mt. Everest of human experience. And yet it is possible to make a mole hill out of it. So intent are we to consider the intricacies of our business, and the demands of our day by day activities, that God is lucky if He gets a passing "howdy" from some of His constituents.

And if we do this with God, we are likely to do it with other things as well...to hate instead of love...to speak lies instead of the truth...to see evil instead of good...to bend to iniquity, instead of walking in righteousness. Here are mountain peaks which some folks carve down to mole hills.

Some things we ought to minimize: our complaints, the slights that are cast our way, minimize our fears, and our worries. But don't cut your horizons down to your level...leave some big mountains in the landscape.

Jesus said that in the invitation from the King, some "made light of it, and went their way." What a commentary on crudeness...to make light of the invitation of the king. And yet is this not what some of us are doing as we lightly pass by the invitation of God to feast at His banquet table?

Bull Session Supreme At Nazareth

2008-09-08T06:53:00.002-05:00

John the Baptist, before his death, pointed to Jesus and said to his disciples, "Behold the Lamb of God. Follow him."

Two of them...John, and Andrew, did. Together with Jesus, they walked and talked along the pathways and when they reached the home of Jesus in Nazareth, Jesus said, "Why don't you stay?" And they did.

I don't know what they talked about that night, but I can imagine...lying on mats, or seated in a circle about a fire. The Bible doesn't tell us, but it must have been vital talk, for as the result of this wonderful bull session, John said, "Surely this is the Messiah". And Andrew, filled with excitement, went and told his brother, "We have found the Christ."

What did they talk about?...surely they talked about God, for although every Jewish boy knew the law, and the prophets, questions of the sincere heart were still unanswered. God was still a mystery. Why doesn't God do something about his world? And Jesus answered, "God has done something...Into His world, He has spoken His Word. You know it. You have been familiar with it from your childhood. It is eternal. It was in the beginning. It is true. It was with God. It is authoritative. It is God. God's Word gave the light, and that light has shined into the world. It shines in the darkness and the darkness has never been able to put it out.

It would almost seem that the 1st chapter of John's Gospel may have come directly from that night time conversation.

What has God done in His world? What better way to save a world in darkness, than to send the Light of His truth? How better to relieve the icy atmosphere of suspicion and mistrust, than with the warm Gospel of love?

Perhaps we need to do more bull sessions about our belief in God. Too sacred you say? Too much chance of getting off on the wrong track? Too much likelihood of making God seem earthy and bringing Him down to our level?

The answer is that God is not on precarious footing. He will not be put down by our little thoughts. The anvil will not be spoiled by our insignificant hammers. Better to get a hazy glimpse than no glimpse at all. And God loves to be brought down to earth where He can walk with us and talk with us and tell us we are His own.
Christianity is real and is practical. It makes sense. It ought to be part of our every day language. It can be talked about over the coffee cups as well as over the theologian's table. Our faith is reasonable. Jesus Christ came to make the things of God real. But does the Word take on flesh through you and me? That's the real question for today's conversations.

Hitherto And Henceforth

2008-09-05T06:30:00.001-05:00

If my mother were still living today, she would have a black board in her kitchen. And on it would be a favorite Bible verse, or a special thought for her day.

I remember two words she put there: "Hitherto" and "Henceforth". When I asked her the meaning, she said, "Hitherto the Lord has helped us" (I Sam. 7:12)...and "Henceforth he shall." That was the kind of God she believed in. And that became my faith as well.

I stand between the "Hitherto" and the "Henceforth". And my praise becomes the great "nevertheless"! No matter what happens, no matter how bad things may become...I will trust him, and I will praise His name. And give thanks to God that He is God.

We have a coffee cup we received from the Dr. Schuler T.V. program that on one side reads: "Life's not fair." And on the other side it reads, "but God is good." And sometimes life isn't fair...but that does not stop me from trusting, from praising, or giving thanks. "Hitherto" the Lord has helped me..."Henceforth" He shall. This I believe.

Our Church Has Filters

2008-09-04T05:00:00.002-05:00

For years, smoking has been suspiciously alien to human needs and physical health. "There are dangers here," all reports have said. But the tobacco companies replied, "No danger. All the harmful things have been filtered out!"

Every preacher will sooner or later, preach a sermon on "Love". It is the theme behind every theme in every sermon. All the Gospel is summed up in it. "God so loved the world."

But in reality, the Church has often lived a life totally un-related to the kind of love Jesus talked about. So much of the time, we have gone around sputtering at, and spitting at, and clawing at each other, much like cats in the back alley.

Why is the Church at times devoid of love, when it is the proclaimer of love? Why is there more of a welcome sometimes, at the corner tavern, than in the Church pew? Why is there more sympathy from the man on the street, than from some committed church goers?

Perhaps we are dealing with people in a make believe world. We have heard the dynamite of the Gospel, but like the cigarette ads, we too have a built in filter. We filter out the really significant parts of the Gospel until what gets through is really kind of a sentimental, mushy, harmless emotional feeling. It is something that doesn't hurt us, but neither does it help us.

And so, Christianity becomes a kind of harmless thing that everybody believes in, but nobody does much about.

In Romans, Paul said that we are to be indebted to no one except the debt to love them. (Ro. 13:8) And we are to owe everyone more than we can possibly pay. Love is not only one duty to add to our other duties, it is the framework into which all other duties will fit.

Love is the most comprehensive of all principles. We need to bring everything we do and say before the bar of love!

There is a story about an old violinist. He was a poor man, but he possessed an instrument with the sweetest, mellow tones. As he played it, it always awakened responsive chords. When he was asked to explain it, he would hold his violin, tenderly caressing its graceful curves, and say: "Ah, a great deal of sunshine must have gone into this wood, and what goes in, must come out!"

Let us never forget that a great deal of love: the love of God, and the love of parents and friends, has been poured into these careless lives of ours. And we must let it come out!

The Power Of A Child

2008-09-03T08:16:00.002-05:00

Today's news headlines again and again describe the plight of tiny children. The adult world takes such unfair advantage of them. They are often disregarded as insignificant in the world around them.

"Any news?" asked a villager one February morning. "Oh, nothing", another replied, "Only a boy baby was born at the Lincoln's last night"
.
In 1809 most people would have thought that the greatest thing happening that year, was that Napoleon was the master of all Europe. And yet, only God and a few mothers here and there realized the possible power of the new born in the births that year of Darwin, Lincoln, Gladstone, Tennyson, Edgar Allen Poe, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Cyrus W. McCormick.

When the Boy Scout movement began in America, a big camp had been arranged which was to include the youngest boys...boys of eight years.

At seven o'clock on the first evening one of the little boys came to the officer who was chief of the camp and said, saluting,

"Please, sir, my mother said if I came to camp, I was to go to bed at seven o'clock."

"Very well," replied the chief, "go to bed!"

"And please, sir, my mother said that if I came to camp, I was to say my prayers."

"Very well, my boy, say your prayers!"

"Please sir," said the scout, with his hand still raised in salute,"I always say my prayers at my mother's knee; can I say them at yours?"

"The chief was so touched that he took the boy aside in the woods, and there they prayed together. From that time the Boy Scout movement became a religious movement, although it had not started along those lines." Taylor Smith

Who can measure the potential of one single life? Even a child might outweigh the strength of one modern Atlas.

How To Die Well

2008-09-02T06:31:00.002-05:00

What is it like to die? Does it hurt? Can we do it? Do we need any help? Will we be scared? Many years ago, I asked those questions before going into surgery, not knowing what the end results might be. My life continues, and I am grateful.

A fellow pastor by the name of John Bouldin had the funeral service of a 38 year old man by the name of Jim McGlaughlin who had written his own funeral service.
In it, he said if he had life to live over again, he would want

"To love the unlovely...
To touch the untouchables...
To pray for those who had persecuted him...
To do good, especially to those who had done evil against him...
To be more concerned about mercy, and have less concern about money...
To pray more and play less...
To give himself to worship rather than to worry...
To be kind to all...
To be more generous with what God had given him...
To help lift the fallen...comfort the sorrowing...
heal the broken hearted...
To see that to live on a God standard is more important
than to live on a gold standard, and to
Put first things first."

"He then said:
You say you want peace of mind? You can have the Master's peace.
You say you want joy? You can have the Master's joy!
You say you want power? You can have the Master's power.
It's an exchange your little all for His great all. Try it."

And then, in conclusion, Jim added:
"I hope to clasp your hand and smile into your face,
when you too have come up higher
where one has only one true delight—
to share life with Jesus.
Do not think of your loss; think of my gain.
Do not be sad because I have died; truly, I've just begun to live.
Do not mourn because I died so young; I had five more years
than Jesus did on earth.
Do not just sit and weep for me; save your tears for those
who don't know Jesus.
Do not go into mourning for me; rise up and use your strength
and devotion so that the hearts of others may sing.
Do not think you have lost me; I have just moved a little higher
and I'll be here to smile and say 'welcome' when you pass
through the curtain.
And say...be sure to come or I'll be disappointed."

Thank God for Jim. Thank God for all who can look into God's marvelous future and simply trust. That's the way I hope to die.

Many of these thoughts come from
my book called "Pebbles On The
Pathway". If you like them, please
place an order with a free call to
1-888-280-7715. Your book is printed
"on demand" and will be at your home
in 2 or 3 days.

The Kingdom Is An Uphill Road

2008-09-01T06:36:00.002-05:00

There is a statement in the Bible that reminds me that I must work out my own salvation "with fear and trembling."(Phil. 2:12) Why does it say that? I have confidence in my God. I have an assurance that all is well. Why should I have "fear and trembling"? Why this uncertainty?

Perhaps it is because finding the Lord, making Him part of our lives is always a progressive thing. When we are absolutely sure that we have all of Him, then we are most certain to lose Him. If we experience the Lord today, and then lie down in our spiritual endeavors, we discover upon arising that we may have lost Him.

This is the one thing that most of us lack...that insatiable, hungering and thirsting after righteousness. To want the Lord, with all of our mind and heart, and soul and strength. And not only to want it once, but to desire it forever...this is the acid test of the Christian.

The story is told that a man one time came to Gautama Buddha seeking the true way. Buddha led him down to the river. It was at bathing time, and the seeker assumed that he was to undergo a ritual of purification. When they were some distance out in the stream, Buddha suddenly grabbed the man and held his head under water. Finally, in a last gasp the fellow wrenched himself loose, and his head came above water. Quietly Buddha asked him, "When you thought you were drowning, what did you desire most?" The man gasped, "Air." Back came Buddha's reply, "When you want salvation as much as you wanted air, then you will get it." (Sockman The Higher Happiness)

When we are content with our faith. When we believe that all is well...when we are sure that we are a Christian and the gates of heaven are simply waiting to open up before us...then perhaps all is not well. Beware, lest the Lord come as a "thief in the night" and find us unprepared to deliver our souls for scrutiny before the Almighty.

And so, this comes as an unending task. Each morning, we must approach the Great Supervisor for new instructions; each evening, we must end our day by committing the solemn trust of life to Him who never sleeps. Each Sunday, we must enter the Holy of Holies to feed therein upon the Bread of Life, and to learn new lessons at the Master's feet. The Kingdom of God is reached on an uphill road, and he who falls asleep at the wheel is not wise. "My little children, how hard it is to enter the Kingdom of God."

Getting A New Perspective

2008-08-31T06:46:00.002-05:00

Every so often, we need to get a new point of view. We have pushed back the frontiers of first one science and then another, until we stand awed and inspired by the immensities and complexities of the world around us.

Science, instead of removing us from God, has sometimes drawn us closer to Him. It has forced us to our knees to behold...the still unexplored...the still unknown parts of this mighty universe.

A minister said that once each year, he preached on astronomy. He didn't know much about it...but it made him think big! And it does!

Who can comprehend the vastness of outer space? For example, if you could ride a light beam (186,000 miles per sec.), you would pass the sun in 8.6 min. Continuing at this same rate of speed, you would reach the nearest star (little Proxima Centauri) in about 4 years. And then, still moving at the speed of light, it would take you 99,996 years to reach the edge of the Milky Way (which is our own galaxy). Beyond this, there are at least 500,000 other galaxies already chartered, and more being discovered all the time. That's a "wow" in my book!

And then, look in the opposite direction and there are equally amazing discoveries in the micro world. The atom, eg.,...so tiny, that 2,000,000 of them in a row, would cover a space no larger than the tiny dot over the letter "i" on my printer.

In the midst of this, we are tempted to ask with the Psalmist, "What is man that thou art mindful of him?" (Ps. 8:4)

Does this put us in our place, and yet it gives us a place. God, who has made the galaxies of outer space has also arranged the minuteness of inner space. Can we then believe that He has ignored or overlooked the all important activities of those He has chosen to call His children?

He created us. He gave us a place. He has exalted us to a high degree, but He has also humbled us, lest we lose our sense of values and balance.

In a world already existing for over 2 billion years, can incidents that happen to you and me for one day or for one year, or even for one lifetime, actually affect God? Where upon the records of the universe, will be recorded the disappointments of John Smith, or of Joe Blow, who became discouraged one day in May and almost gave up the battle?

And yet the assurance keeps coming, that although what happens to me, doesn't seem to matter much, and the world goes on pretty much as usual without my small contribution...that it is recorded! And it does make a difference, and that God does care, and that He cares for you and for me.

I rejoice that the God who made us, is big enough to know the disappointments of each person, and if we put our trust in Him, He will set us high upon a Rock, and put a new song in our hearts, and will help us not to stumble or fall.

When My World Falls Apart

2008-08-30T07:50:00.002-05:00

Does the Lord lead us?...every step of the way? Do we really believe that? Perhaps we cannot accept this...cannot be truly sure, until we can learn to thank God even when our world starts to fall apart!

The Bible writers seemed to fully believe this. And it is hard for us to understand their way of speaking, unless we see their point of view.

Maybe this illustration will help. Back in the year 1965, I learned a great deal about pain and suffering. I was in the hospital for three major surgeries in 6 months. Until that time, I could visit people in the hospital, and not fully appreciate what they were feeling. I thought I could, but not really!
But now, I began to feel that I had shared somewhat in the suffering of mankind.

Paul once said, "We must learn to give thanks to God in all things." And I wondered, could I thank God for this? I would not have asked Him for it. I would not ask for it again. But having had it, it became a blessing in my life.
And so, I can look back upon it and say, "Thank you, God, for giving me pain, and suffering...for exposing me to this difficult experience."

At this point, I could even say, "The Lord led me into suffering. He led me into pain...that I might know how to praise Him. Blessed be the name of the Lord."
I don't believe that it was the Lord's intentional will that I should go to the hospital and have suffering...but under the circumstances of need, it became not only within His will, but directly a part of it, that I should go to be made well.
And so I say, "The Lord gave me a burden, so that I might better understand the burdens of others."

Has your world fallen apart recently? Have things gone from bad to worse? Then just hang in there...God hasn't deserted you. The day will come when you will be able to look back with perspective, and say, "Thanks be to God...for now I see life differently than ever before. I may even be wiser and richer now because of this burden I've been forced to bear."

Is Everything Vanity?

2008-08-29T05:30:00.001-05:00

Is it wrong to enjoy the good things of life? There was a "Playboy" of the Old Testament who wrote:"There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and find enjoyment in his toil." (Ecclesiastes 2:24)

He was honest. He could not see much for the future. Heaven and hell were not ideas with which he was familiar. Death for the writer was mostly a nothingness. And so he believed that life was meant to be enjoyed while you had it.

Perhaps he has a good lesson for us to learn. Why do we get so tense with one another...so upset...so irritable? Is it not because we have our noses to the grindstone and do not take time to just enjoy the moments that we have, and the friends that we can enjoy. Sometimes we do not even have fun with our children while we have them. At times we ignore good health while we have it. We are always pushing for that time in the future when we can enjoy ourselves and that time never comes.

What does life mean? Are there things of significance, of value? One of the conclusions that Ecclesiastes comes to is that we ought to learn to love life...not indulge life, or glorify indulgence, but to glorify Him who gave us life. You see, life was meant to be enjoyed. Jesus said, "I am come that you might have life, and have it abundantly." (John 10:10)

Ours is not to be tearful preaching, but cheerful teaching. Ours is not to be doleful proclamations, but soulful exclamations. We are to love life!

We make the tragic mistake of believing that our task is to make a living, whereas our task is to make a life that is worth living. We might even say: "What shall it profit a man to make a darn good life in the future, and not be able to have good living now?"

Is it wrong to enjoy the good things in life? No. The question is: do we know what the good things in life really are?

Enjoy your children while you have them. This is good. To be obsessed with only your security for the future is vanity.

Enjoy your neighbors. This is good. To be so busy with day by day pursuits that you do not learn to know them is vanity.

Enjoy your faith. This is good. To put it aside as a luxury to be had when you are older, or as a chore to perform, is to miss the glory of life. It is vanity and emptiness.

Enjoy the privilege of giving, of sacrifice. This is good. To hoard and to keep everything to yourself is like cancer. It eats out the heart and meaning of life and is vanity.

Enjoy your God. This is good. There is an old creed that says: "Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever." All else is vanity.

How To Live All Day Long

2008-08-28T06:35:00.002-05:00

How do you live all day long? It isn't easy is it? There are times when a person despairs...when he cries out, "My God, My God...why?"

A despondent man went to an old sage. He said to the wise man that he wanted to be released from life, because it was too hard. The sage picked up some herbs of healing that he had...gave them to the man and said: "Go find 7 persons to whom you can give this herb. After you have helped them, return to me, and I will give you release from life."

The story goes that the man did so, but by the time he had returned, he no longer wanted release. He wanted to live. In the healing of others, he himself had been healed!

A doctor announced that he was a "Cure for the Blues Specialist". When a person came to his office, he gave him a card with the formula: "When you feel yourself getting blue, something for somebody else go do." It wasn't great poetry, but it was a good philosophy.

There is seldom a day goes by, without some pain or hardship for you to bear. But, if it is true of you, just remember, that it is happening to everyone else too.

When you see your own problems, and cry your own tears, and feel your own pain, the day is hard indeed. But if you help to carry the load of others, somehow your own becomes a bit easier to bear.

Someone has defined "sympathy" as: "your pain in my heart!" The Psalmist reminds us that there is One who is forever sharing our burdens. "Blessed be God, who daily bears us up." (Ps. 68:19) God takes our pain in his heart. He bears us up. The apostle Paul says: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God." (II Cor. 1:3)

Awhile ago, an Alka seltzer commercial had a man saying, "I can't believe I ate the who-o-o-le thing!" If we live each day with the comfort and under-girding of the Almighty, we will be able to live the who-o-o-o-le day, and do it well.

You Cannot Live In Tomorrow

2008-08-27T06:36:00.003-05:00

It is good to dream and plan wisely for tomorrow. But we cannot live on that street today. Worrying about the future will only sap our strength for this moment.

Jesus said: "do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day's own trouble be sufficient for the day." (Matt. 6:34)

As we look back, we discover that the Past has changed us greatly, and the Future will change us some more. So, welcome to the Future. In a sense, the Christian has an Aladdin's lamp, and we ask, "Show us tomorrow." And the answer comes back, "Emmanuel: God with us!"

We know not what the future holds, but we do know Who holds the future. And we are content. The past has changed us, and the present is full of change, but there is One who never changes. The hymn writer has said it well:

"Change and decay in all around I see
O Thou who changest not...abide with me."

God daily imparts His grace to us. We need no rehearsals. The play is already going on. And each day that we live is a time to live, to love, to serve, to weep, and to laugh. We must not wait for tomorrow, because tomorrow may never come.

And so, today is a gift carefully wrapped. It may have surprises crammed into the corners and crevices, but God is sufficient, and I must not worry.

There is an ancient poem, based on the Sanskrit (of 1200 B.C.) that goes like this:
Look to this Day!

"For Yesterday is but a Dream,
And Tomorrow is only a Vision;
But Today well lived makes
Every Yesterday a Dream of Happiness,
And every Tomorrow a Vision of Hope."

Look well therefore to this Day!

The Aroma Of Christ

2008-08-26T06:20:00.002-05:00

I'm not sure I ever thought of myself as an aroma. Paul in II Cor. 2:15 said, "we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved."

There are a few people I might call "stinkers", and at times, I might even concede that I qualify for that name too, but to be a good "aroma"...that is quite a challenge.

Paul also goes on to say that we are to be a "fragrance from life to life" (vs.16) so that through our example, others might find new life. Unfortunately we can also be a"fragrance from death to death". Because of my failures and my weaknesses, other folks may stumble and fall. What a horrible thing!

Unlike those in the animal world, we do not have the power of tracking others through smell. Our pets can apparently do it to an amazing degree, as well as most creatures in the animal Kingdom.

But what if I could leave such a fragrance of love, such an aroma of forgiveness, such a redolence of compassion, such an odor of mercy, that my journey through history would leave a vapor trail suggesting the spirit of Christ? That would be my highest privilege, my greatest tribute, my most resounding epitaph on the spiritual trail markers for my children and the world to see.

I may not qualify as one of the great movers of history, but if I could be registered among those who revealed the "aroma of Christ"...that would be all I desire.

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Running With The Horses

2008-08-25T06:35:00.002-05:00

Jeremiah the prophet, believed he had heard the Lord giving him a direct command:

"Before I formed you...I knew you
Before you were born, I consecrated you.
I appointed you a prophet to the nations..." (Jer. 1:4)

But although he spoke the words of the Lord with conviction, using imaginative devices and illustrations, he was hated by the people and despised. He complained to the Lord that things weren't going well and he was tired, but the Lord's response was as follows:

"If you have raced with men on foot, and
they have wearied you, how will you
compete with horses? And if in a safe land
you fall down, how will you do in the jungle
of the Jordan?" (Jeremiah 12:5)

Not very encouraging, was it? Almost like saying, "Cheer up, the worst is yet to come!"

Someone has defined happiness as "a state of going somewhere, one directionally, without regret, or reservation." This was Jeremiah, and the pioneers of the early faith.

The zeal of the early church pioneers was incredible. John Wesley in his diary wrote: "Leisure and I have taken leave of one another." Christian Newcomer made more than fifty trips on horseback across the Appalachian Mts., his last after he had passed his 80th birthday. Many of the early pioneers of the Church literally lived on horseback. They were very ordinary people who above all things wished to be faithful. They were footmen, who through the years had learned to run with even the horses!

The Church can use more such persons today, who run not only with their fellow brothers and sisters, but have been conditioned to run against the devil himself.

God made an oyster to be safe in its shell. It was destined to be safe, but doomed to forever being an oyster. God took human kind, and placed all the protective bone on the inside, exposing raw nerves to a cruel world. We were not destined for safety, but destined to subdue the world, and bring all mankind to the love of God.

Some of us are still looking for an oyster shell. Above all else, we want to be comfortable. No so, Jeremiah and the great pioneers. They were conditioned by the grace of God to run with the horses, taking the jibes and taunts of life. They got the victory. May we also run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.

The Authentic Person

2008-08-24T06:20:00.002-05:00

Is everyone a hypocrite? Are we playing with life and religion? Are we wearing masks and going through the forms? What is vital Christianity? What about integrity and authenticity? Are we being honest? How much of the time are we pretending? Can we be genuine?...Can we "tell it like it is?"

Young people think the adult generation is hypocritical...two faced...shot full of holes. It undoubtedly is! But so will it be probably when they get older too.
It was so in Jesus' day. And Jesus was the young upstart who had the audacity to "tell it like it is"!

Jesus' followers didn't observe the rules. And they didn't I suppose, because Jesus didn't! But the rules they broke were the man made variety...not God's rules! When they ate, they didn't go through all the ceremonial rites, or the certain prescribed way of washing their hands. The Scribes and Pharisees asked, "Why? Why don't you go through the formula? Why don't you follow the rules? Why don't you play the game...like the rest of us?"

And Jesus caught them at it, and exposed the game they were playing. They were playing at religion. And Jesus attacked the hypocrites because they were so self righteously convinced of their goodness. Their blindness actually set them in opposition to God!

Everybody plays roles, and this is not necessarily bad, but as Christians, we are also subject to playing games. We make spectacular pronouncements for justice and equality and go on living as though it weren't so. We worship the Prince of Peace, and yet teach man made acceptance of bombing villages and people. We worship the Creator who made the earth with its abundance for all, and yet teach the doctrines of men, keeping this abundance for a few. We worship the Father of all races, and teach the commandments of mankind that tell us to keep other races in their place. The tragedy is that we are consciously sincere in these matters. but we are unconsciously insincere as well.

We are the "almost Christians" or as T.S. Eliot described it...We are the "Hollow Men"..."stuffed men...heads filled with straw, and dried voices". We live on the outside as Christians, but inside we are almost nothing at all.

The disciples followed Jesus, because he was real...genuine...authentic. The fact that he overlooked some of the man made traditions somehow didn't seem too important. In Jesus, they saw the kind of men they were meant to be. In his presence, they became aware of sham and hypocrisy and self centeredness in their own lives.

In the presence of Jesus, and the fellowship of the loving community of the Church, we can believe that we are accepted and forgiven. And with that assurance, we can be honest, drop the masks, and forget the pretend roles we feel obligated to play. And then, stripped of pretense, we become free enough to be ourselves as God made us...whole persons....no longer playing at religion, no longer counterfeits, but real, genuine, and authentic.

Good Grief

2008-08-23T06:45:00.002-05:00

How inappropriate can you be? How can grief be good? And after tragedy strikes, and the newspapers share all the shocking details, who would dare to say "Good Grief".

On the other hand, even as lights seem to be going out all over the world, we Christians have the audacity to say, "God is not dead, nor has He left us alone."
A president is assassinated, fire storms destroy hundreds of homes, a plane crash results in the loss of all lives, an earthquake kills hundreds of people, and destroys an entire city. More people die of AIDS this year, than ever before. On and on the tragedies continue.

Does grief bring us to our knees? Does the burning of churches in the south, unite people? Out of black Fridays, can there sometimes be glorious Sundays?
As a people, we are often in grief. But God has a way of turning it into "good grief"...of changing sorrow into greatness, of transforming sadness into gladness. The tears of a people are for the cleansing of their eyes.

Strange, isn't it, that the really great and significant things that take place in our world, cluster around tragedy and self sacrifice. What do we do with tragedy? We turn it into "good grief". That's what we must do! The apostle Paul said "We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us." (Ro. 5:3)

I'm not happy about "grief". But when I confront it through the Lord's eyes, I am able to find my way through.

Good News Becomes The Bad News

2008-08-22T06:05:00.002-05:00

Through the years, Christians have been rejoicing in the "Good News". "That's what the Gospel is all about", they say.

That's true. The good news is that God loves us, and that He has sent Christ into the world to reconcile the world to Himself. But along with that comes the fact that He has entrusted to us the message of reconciliation.

This gospel says that we are all brothers and sisters in the Lord, and that I must be reconciled to them. But I don't want to claim some of my neighbors as part of my family. I don't want to love folks whose jobs cut into my pay check. I don't want to accept freaks who paint their hair and wear rings and jewels in every part of their body. I don't like people who talk differently than I do. I have no interest in being friends with people of different color. I just want to live my own life, and let the rest of the world go by.

But here is the bad news!...Christ calls me into a caring and reconciling relationship. I have to try to learn to love even those who are hard to love. I must try to reach out to people who are different, and folks who look at life in a different way than I. I don't have to agree with them, but I have to try to love them.

Woe is me! There goes my complacency. If Jesus was willing to live and die for me...then the least I can do is try to live for Him. That's the good news for today...but sometimes, I must confess, it puts me to the test.

What Really Moved Jesus?

2008-08-21T06:16:00.002-05:00

At a meal one day, in Simon's house, with a group of super critical religious leaders, Jesus sat alone and misunderstood. Every word he said was challenged and twisted by those who were trying to dis-credit him.

To the amazement of all at the table, a woman of the street came in, and taking an alabaster jar of costly ointment, she poured it out upon Jesus' head.

We do not know what Jesus had done for her...but she needed to do something for him. It was as though she saw the storm clouds gathering. It was like the shadow of the cross upon him.

Why did she do it? Was it an impulse? Did she want to do something to show that she cared? Some have said she may have been in love with Jesus. She didn't pour out just a few drops of this valuable ointment...and say, "I guess that should be enough for the occasion." No, it all went.

Her unblocked impulse moved Jesus. It was not smothered with caution. She was lifted clear out of arithmetic into love...where one no longer counts the cost.
The record says that Jesus was moved, deeply stirred by this extravagant action. We remember a few other times: a Centurion asking for his son's recovery. Jesus was impressed by his faith. Or the widow who put her whole living into the treasury box...the widow's mite. Jesus spoke in glowing terms about her gift.

And now this. There was a kind of excitement in Jesus as he spoke about it. The only measurements some people have for values are those of the market place. This oil...what a waste!..."it could have been given to the poor," they said. But they really didn't care so much about the poor...it just sounded good.

To some people, worship is waste. What good is it? Beauty is unnecessary. You can't eat it! It butters no bread...It builds no barns...It yields no compound interest. To these persons, a life of sacrifice is always a waste. The life of David Livingstone...what a waste! Or Dr. Schweitzer..."think of what he could have done with those 4 Doctor's Degrees, instead of going as a missionary. What a waste!"
Perhaps we have a clue here as to why Christ had to die..because there are so many in our world, who care more for things than for people.

Come Fly With Me

2008-08-20T06:30:00.002-05:00

Have you watched the birds, and the soaring eagles, and sometimes thought, "How wonderful to be able to soar above the grime and slime and weariness of this old world, and see life from a different perspective."

A good friend gave me lessons years ago, and I finally did the big "solo" thing. "I could fly!...but I couldn't afford financially to continue, so I haven't done much since." John Gillespie Magee, Jr. in "High Flight" said it so well:

Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter silvered wings;
Sun-ward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun split clouds and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of wheeled and soared and
swung...
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
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 un-trespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

I'm not an angel, but the Bible tells me that I was made "just a bit lower than the angels". I may not have wings yet, but the potential is there. This world is my home, but it is not my only home, and there is another dimension to this flat existence. A lot of my life is lived with my nose to the grindstone, and that's where it has to be much of the time. Nobody promised me a rose garden. But one of these days, I'm goin' to fly!

And Sunday after Sunday, I practice the process...of loving, and giving, and forgiving, and caring, and lifting my eyes to Him who can deliver me from this bondage of death, until with Jesus, I can fly.

Our Faith has regular "Fly ins". Our Lord invites you and me to take the ground course, and "lift off" is possible, whenever we need Him, and whenever we cry out in desperation. Come fly with the Lord Jesus. Here is the only air line that can give you an eternal guarantee.

It's School Time Again

2008-08-19T06:39:00.001-05:00

I’m for the kids! Jesus was too, you know. He said, “let the children come unto me and forbid them not, for of such is the Kingdom!”

It occurred to me that our kids aren’t getting ready to go to work! They are at work! School is just as much going to work for them as punching the clock is for us. Theirs is almost an 8-hour day. And by the time they ride the bus for an hour each way, it is more than that.

Consider the environment of a school child for 12 years: The child sits in a desk, lined up in rows, with 20-30 other children. Any office with desks and secretaries that close to each other would bring a protest of violation of human space and rights! Day after day, the children sit in that same room, looking at a blackboard in front of them, or to their side. Bulletin Boards break the monotony. An American flag is to one side; a school clock is somewhere in the room; a pencil sharpener is there for all to use. There is surely a world globe, and a few other typical items. Almost the same monotonous items in every classroom for 12 years! In recent years, the addition of computers has changed a major part of the environment.

Day after day, a child raises his or her arm eagerly to answer questions the teacher may ask. Day after day, that arm is cushioned in the hand while the student waits for recognition…an arm is a heavy thing to hold! There is probably no carpet on the classroom floor. The room is most certainly not air-conditioned…sometimes overly hot…sometimes overly cold!

Consider the lines that child must go through: a line waiting for the bus, a line waiting for a drink, a line to go into the lunch room, a line in the fire drill, a line waiting for the bathroom. A child has a regimented day, perhaps not as much as years ago in the school room, but it still is: up early in the morning, be there on time, stay there, with only a few times out of the classroom for a short science class, or gym, or lunch break. And then, home at night, with the possibility of home work. And then back at it again the next day and the next and the next!

Children are not preparing for life’s work. They are doing it! And thank God, for dedicated teachers who can take this regimented day, and make it a shining star!...and can take these young laborers, and turn them into excited searchers for truth!

Jesus loved the children. He said they were not to be minimized. And we as adults must not “turn them off”. We must set them an example of conduct, and charity, and faith, and life-style in keeping with God’s will, rather than against it. It could involve prayer at school, but it most certainly must involve prayer at home.

I Went To School Once!

2008-08-18T06:44:00.001-05:00

Once upon a time, I went to school too! Good old one room country school…nothing like it anymore! Kids just don’t learn like they used to!

Of course, today, everything is being done on computers, and we are taking pictures of Saturn over one billion miles away; and television is beamed on satellites around the world; and what used to be world geography to us, is now daily newspaper material!

Too bad, the kids today couldn’t have the advantages we had of those gas lamps and outdoor plumbing. Boy, were those the good ol’ days!

Come to think about it…they weren’t all that good! Maybe I am rationalizing a bit. Education today can’t be all bad! After all, doctors go back for more of it…ministers have requirements for continuing education…school teachers must take extra classes to keep in shape!

Is it possible my skills as a Sunday School teacher could be improved with a little extra training? Would I as a church member benefit by recent understandings of Scripture? Is it possible that I’m just getting too judgmental about others, and really need to do some growing myself, in order to keep up with this rapidly changing world?

How about a little up-to-date school for some of us too? Who wants to let the kids get all the credit? Think I’ll check into one of the fine Sunday School classes today, or find a Bible course that meets my needs, or a Lab School to sharpen my skills. After all, education isn’t just for kids!

Selfishness Is Dangerous

2008-08-17T08:04:00.002-05:00

Sometimes I get scared when I think of the dangers of selfishness. What does it do to my personality? What does it do to my family? How can I teach them to give, and to give gladly and generously…to learn to trust in something other than materialistic things?

This is one of the tasks of the Christian Faith. I must learn “FAITH” for myself, before I can teach it to my children. I must learn to give to God without penny-pinching in the assurance that when I give up my “hoarding” and give up my faith in “material things”, I begin to launch out in faith with a God who has assured me that He will ”open the windows of heaven, and pour down an overflowing blessing”. (Malachi 3:10b) An old rhyme goes as follows:

“If I get mine.
And God gets His
Then everything will be just fine
But if I get mine
And keep His too
What do you think God will do?”

And someone has added the answer, “We believe God will collect!”

I’m not sure I know how God “collects”, but I do believe I understand the spiritual law of giving. A lake that receives but does not give out is a stagnant lake. By that same token, a life that receives without giving back just as generously, becomes a dead soul!

I do not want to make the mistake of not giving! I believe God has given me the privilege of giving to keep me from becoming absolutely selfish. Here then, is a law of my being…”giving is living.” Have I really understood the “health-cure” my church offers me when it asks me to give?

As a Christian, I have never felt strange about asking people to give. Not to do so, would be an act of unconcern on my part!

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Where Is Your Faithfulness?

2008-08-16T07:38:00.001-05:00

What does a farmer think about when he sees the grain tumbling from the combine into the wagon…thousands of kernels, pouring into storage bins? Does he think about the blessings of God? The prophet Malachi said: “Put me to the test and you will see that I will open the windows of heaven and pour out on you in abundance all kinds of good things.” (Malachi 3:10) Does that farmer think about God’s goodness? No? Then he should!

What does a mother think when she sends her children off to school, and watches them…healthy and strong, learning and growing? Does she think about what Jesus said: “You know how to give good things to your children. How much more then, will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?” (Lk. 11:13) Does she think about what Jesus said? No? Then she should!

What does the average person think when he goes to work in the morning, and puts in another 8-hour day and collects a full week’s pay check? Does that person think, like the Psalmist, “Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation.” (Ps. 68:19) Does he think about the Psalms? Or do you? No? Then you should!

How does God put up with our indifference, when He has been so good to us? Where is our faithfulness? Where are we on Sunday mornings? Are we in God’s House to praise Him? Where are we when it comes time to give an extra offering? Are we giving of the first fruits of the land, or the first portion of our pay-checks? Are we reflecting His goodness to us through our gifts? Where are we when the difficult times come? Are we the first to complain, or do we remember the good times, and say, “Thanks be unto God, for His inexpressible gifts.” (II Cor. 9:15) Where are we when someone needs a greeting or a friendly word? Are we so busy with our own little problems, that we cannot see beyond our own nose?

Let us remember to praise the Lord! As the Psalmist has said: “Praise God in his sanctuary.”...”Praise him for his mighty acts.”…”Praise him with the sound of the trumpet.”…”Let everything that hath breath, praise the Lord.” (Ps. 150)

What Is Your Life?

2008-08-15T06:01:00.001-05:00

The writer of James has some simple, practical wisdom. He writes: “What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live and we shall do this or that.’ As it is you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Whoever knows what is right to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” (James 4:14-16)

This morning, the air was heavy with fog…it was hard to see the highway and other cars. Suddenly a car would loom out of the fog, and then just as suddenly it would move on. Life is like that in many ways. Each of us must live a kind of solitary existence. We move through the fog, briefly encountering other lives. Our two lives cross and we influence each other briefly…but then on we go into the fog again.

Several of my neighbors have moved recently to distant communities. I realize how briefly our pathways have crossed. For others, there is the agony of sickness and death. For some, there is the joy of birth and new life. But how brief and ephemeral is our existence. Our life is like a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

But out of the fog, and through the mists, comes the light of the Savior. The warmth of His Presence dissolves the confusion and the fear and then we are able to see clearly. We are so tiny in this great universe! We have little reason for boasting. Much of the blessings and mercies of God, we have turned into confusion…but thank God for Jesus, the light of the world. He takes away our fear of tomorrow, and of dying, and he gives us courage for living. He helps us to make sense of a seemingly meaningless existence. Following Him, we can know what is right to do, and through Him, we have the strength to do it. May He give you strength to live this day at your very best.

He's Keepin' Score

2008-08-14T06:37:00.001-05:00

Every baseball game, every football or basketball game tends to bring up some questionable calls by the umpires and referees! The “Instant Playback” helps us to see the gross errors and mistaken “calls” that are made. But it’s just a game, and the players learn to live with it!

But there is also a “game of life”. And day after day, you and I see people getting hurt, we see injustice and unfairness. The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer! Many times, bad people do not get punished for their evil, and criminals go scot-free. At the same time, there are good people who are unjustly accused, and righteous folk who suffer more than their share! Where is the justice of this old world in which we live? Why do the righteous suffer, and the evil prosper? These are questions as old as time itself.

A good friend of ours puts a unique kind of slogan in his front lawn weekly by careful mowing and hand-trimming of the grass. One week, it said: “He’s Keepin’ Score”…I like that! There is an absolutely fair and unimpeachable Referee. Not all the scores are settled in this world! Not all the rewards and punishments are meted out during this brief existence! The Psalmist said it rightly, “The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away”. But those who live faithfully, who walk in righteousness, are like a tree, planted by streams of living water, and yield fruit in their season. (Psalm 1)

God has His own “instant Play-back”. He is not fooled by what some people get-away-with! “He’s keepin’ Score”, and I’m glad! I may get “fouled” in the game of life! I may have “three strikes” on me unfairly, but the Lord knows, and He is my ultimate Judge! I’ll take my chances with His score-card!

It Is A Strange Sign

2008-08-13T06:45:00.001-05:00

If a person with three eyes and four arms flew in on a space vehicle, and came to observe Holy Communion in our church, there would be one puzzled alien! But maybe you are confused too. Does it really mean something? Why in the world, has the Church from century one, observed this phenomenon? Let’s take a look.

1—It is drama: the gospel is acted out here. “God so loved that He gave.” Everlasting life is given through the sacrifice of Jesus. That’s drama and powerful stuff!

2—Sins are forgiven here as well: ours, and all who ask for it from the Giver of forgiveness. Good news, if we just believe and accept it.

3—There is atonement in this observance. Jesus brings at-one-ment. The wall that sin made is broken down. Through confession and forgiveness of sins, I am no longer separated from my neighbor or from my God.

4—And here is magic! As we lift up in memory the one who is more precious than silver, and worth more than all the treasures that earth can produce, we count the coins of our spiritual bank account, and remember Jesus, and what he did for us, and said to us. And that remembrance is magic.

5—In a terribly divided world, this sign tells us boldly that there is no exclusiveness. We must be of one accord. We may not go into rapture at the thought of loving all races and all cultures, or even of loving some of our immediate brethren, but we either learn to do just that, or find ourselves consigned to the Pit! “Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity”, Jesus said. (Lk. 13:27) It’s a bit scary, this food and drink given to us.

6—But finally in this sign, we find ourselves living between two worlds. We look back into the world in which Jesus was crucified and then we look forward to the world in which he is to be crowned Lord of all.

Fortunately, if we have grasped its meaning, we end up taking the “bread”: and the “wine” as we should. We may even find ourselves standing next to that three-eyed, four-legged creature from outer space, or that two-legged hard-to-love neighbor from down the street, and discover that we can get used to it. You see, our God is the Father of all, and Jesus Christ is the Savior of all, and we who go by His name, must be the friend of all.

There’s no doubt about it. It is a strange sign. But I hope we stay in the ranks of those who find life-transforming power in taking “the bread” and drinking “the cup” as new citizens of that brave new world of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Somebody Touched Me!

2008-08-12T06:31:00.001-05:00

When the President comes to town, or a movie personality, or a rock-artist of fame, the crowds throng the guest, reaching hands out to touch. They want to shake hands, get an autograph, or even touch the person’s clothing. Why?

The New Testament tells a similar story of crowds, thronging our Lord, and especially of a woman, who reached forward to “touch” Him.

Again and again, we read of Jesus touching someone: the blind man, the lame, the leper. The touch of the Savior brought healing, wholeness, the woman who reached out to touch was healed!

His touch was like a miracle! How many times Christians have rejoiced in their newness of life with the simple statement of faith, “He touched me!” Touching is life’s best communication. It is better than a thousand words. What can you say in those hundreds of instances when words just don’t come, or when words are simply inadequate? The warm handshake, the friendly hug, the touch of someone’s hand is often the only thing that will do the job!

Please touch! Life is lonely when people walk around in a wilderness of words. It is easy to feel rejected, left out, “out-of-touch” in today’s world.

Many churches take a moment for folks to “give the peace”…a handshake, a greeting, or the words: “the peace of God be with you”.

John said in his epistle, concerning Jesus: “that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen, which we have looked upon, and touched with our hands.” (I John 1:1)

Whenever we take the Last Supper, or the sacrament of Holy Communion, we are allowed to take the bread, to hold it between our fingers, and to receive the grape juice (the Wine), and it touches our tongues. The Word does become flesh, and in the act of sacrament, we have touched Him, and He touches us, to make us whole!

Take Life

2008-08-11T06:34:00.002-05:00

Several books have been written about life after death. Doctors and others have collected information about those declared dead, who returned to life, and shared their recollections of what had happened to them in the process. Interestingly enough, nearly all of them had similar experiences: a feeling of leaving their bodies, of seeing themselves and others from a distance, and then of seeing a great light, and experiencing a strong Presence, who gave them a feeling of joy and happiness.

This is nothing new to us! For centuries, Christians have believed this truth about life after death! We may not have analyzed it in quite this same way, but we do believe that there is a marvelous existence beyond that last breath! The really big question we think may be just as important is: “Is there life before death? Is there life during life?”

All of us know, for example, of people who are alive, but not really living!...who have all the characteristics of living bodies, but who are really dead in their relationship to God and others.

We hope to live again after death. We believe God has provided this assurance for those who trust in Him. But to truly live for Him now…while we are yet alive, is even more critical!

In the sacrament of Holy Communion, Christians dramatize the sacrificial death of our Lord Jesus Christ, so that we might have life, and have it more abundantly. The cross is a pointer that directs us to the future…but if it does not make us joyous and triumphant in the present…then it was all for nothing!

“Take life!” Jesus said, “Take it now!” Come to Him as a beggar…leave as a King! Come with your poverty. Leave with His great treasury of Life!

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Have A Yeasty Heart

2008-08-10T06:33:00.001-05:00

Home-made bread is a vanishing species! But every so often, we have it!

How unpromising that little roll of grayish dough looks in the pan. But, give it a few hours, and it rises above the confines of the pan that had so completely buried it. Somewhere, within that mass of inert-looking stuff, there is a vital spore that begins to multiply, and a kind of miracle takes place!

Somewhere within each of us, there is a seed, a yeasty piece, just waiting to be re-born and brought to life! There are a lot of church members among us, inert, at a stand-still in their spiritual lives, but with a good yeasty heart.

“This is my Body,” Jesus said. Let us praise God, for the “Body” of the Church of Jesus Christ. And let us pray that each of us may let the yeast of Christ’s spirit bring a miracle within us, as we work together in His miracle-filled world.

Where In The World Is Everybody Going?

2008-08-09T06:34:00.001-05:00

Sometimes in the summer, one gets those “left-behind” blues. Everybody else is going someplace! Packing up for Florida! Fishing up in Canada, flying over to Hawaii, Alaska, the ocean, Niagara Falls! What a variety of spots to go!

Most of us get vacations, and we have no reason to complain; but I do think of those many persons in our community who are not able to go, go, go! In my Chicago church, there was a lady, so crippled by arthritis, that she could never travel! She never went anywhere! But one day she told me, “I’m going to Mexico next week, and I’m all excited!” I knew better. She was not going, but she did so vicariously through friends. She found out all about the places they planned to stop; she read up on these spots, and she ended up knowing more about the trip than those who went!

In many ways, going to church can be an exciting venture. Or, how about going to visit a neighbor, or making a phone call? Here’s some close-to-home activity. Need some excitement?...go to the library…read a book… read the Bible, and meet the Eternal!

My day can be exciting, because today, I am going to meet the King! Who can out-boast my experiences when I tell my friends I have been walking with, and talking to the Lord of the Universe, the Creator of the world!

No need to have those “stay-at-home” blues! Just get your ticket for today’s gift of life. You can really go places with God! Pleasant traveling!

Don't Turn Off The Clouds!

2008-08-08T05:59:00.001-05:00

Years ago, my nature photography lacked character. But I have discovered a secret: when you take pictures…if possible, get some clouds in the sky!

Most of the time, we think we don’t want clouds. Clear blue skies seem nicer. But out west in the mountains, the majestic peaks seem to draw the clouds to them at least once a day. The lightning flashes, the thunder rolls, and the rain descends. The mountains have learned that the clouds are necessary to keep life fresh and alive.

There is a kind of daily classroom for all of us, and the Teacher of life requires discipline, growth, and study. Business isn’t always that great, and day after day needs sacrifice, hard work, and faith from our business-people. Farmers watch their crops grow with bated breath. Will they survive? Profits are never guaranteed.

God put us in this world with no absolute assurance of clear skies. Life is difficult, but storms and problems appear to be necessary to build character. Jesus said, “If you are not willing to take up a cross and follow me, you are not worthy of me.” (Matthew 10:38) There is a toughness that our Lord requires of all who would follow Him.

Today, He invites you to come to Him. He promises no life of ease, but He does promise an abundant life, and an eternal life for all who take up the disciplines of the Cross and walk with Him.

It is not easy to be a Christian in today’s world; but we are the people of God, who are pledged to be loyal and faithful to Him. Accept these disciplines, and you will find that even the clouds make life more interesting, and troubles have a way of turning into opportunities.

Clouds and problems are not that bad. Indeed they may even be good. In the book of Romans, we read that we are to “rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts.” (Ro. 5:3-5)

Count Your Many Blessings!

2008-08-07T06:39:00.001-05:00

The devil got his grip on me last week! Did everything he could to make me miserable!...covered my body with chiggers and sores!...thought I would die!

“Why me?” I thought to myself. “What have I done to merit such grief?” And I pondered the old story of Job and his boils. In the 2nd chapter, we read, “Satan made sores break out all over Job’s body. Job went and sat by the garbage dump.” (Job 2:7-9 T.E.V.)

I’ve found myself sitting by the garbage dump fairly often haven’t you? So many times, my problems, and my griefs and my distress become greater in my mind than God’s mercies and God’s love, and God’s marvelous provisions!

Can’t say we don’t have a right to complain now and then…but why cry those salty tears so often, when you can change your tune, and change your life by concentrating on the good things God has heaped upon you? Count your many blessings! See what God has done! And like Job, you too will find victory over Satan’s wicked darts!

Got The Summer-Time "Blahs"?

2008-08-06T06:29:00.002-05:00

How does it happen that all winter long, we wait for summer, and then when summer comes, we suddenly find ourselves wrung out, done out, sort of numb and hung-out?

Could it be because we’re looking too much at our world, and not enough at God’s? Our world is tiring, boring, sometimes meaningless and so we get the “blahs”…those ugly, troublesome “blues” that are called “blahs”!

But take a look at God’s world, and we hear the Psalmist saying, “The heavens are telling the glory of God….the law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul…the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart…More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold.” (from Ps. 19) On and on the writer goes, suggesting that if we get hung up on ourselves, it is fatal, but if we take a look at God’s world, it is like tonic for our souls, like treasure to our spiritual pocketbooks, like life for our summer-shriveled spirits.

There’s no cure like the prescription of the Great Physician: take one or two doses of Bible study and worship each week. Attend church, where the summertime “blahs” become acts of praise, and depression turns to a resounding “Amen”.

It Takes Obedience

2008-08-04T06:16:00.001-05:00

One of the special parts of vacation-time is sitting along the lake, and just doing nothing at all!

I did that one morning along Lake Michigan, just as the sun was coming up about 5:30. It was beautiful! A few moments before, and the lake was dark and calm. But suddenly the sun arose and every tiny wave responded, reflecting the sun in a golden pathway stretching from my seat to the opposite side of the lake.

The waves didn’t question their need to reflect the sun…they just did it, in perfect obedience.

I thought to myself…”Why can’t we as God’s children do the same? Why are we so concerned about reflecting our own glory, or making the almighty dollar, or being so busy in doing nothing? Why cannot we too be obedient to the rays of God’s love and simply reflect them to make a golden pathway for others to see His glory?

Maybe it’s not a profound idea, but it seems as though I should do a better job in reflecting his Glory rather than being so concerned about my own.

I Saw God At Work Today

2008-08-03T06:30:00.001-05:00

I saw God at work today! And He’s looking for workers! No unemployment in His Kingdom!

I saw Him in the sky, upon the earth, under the waters, cardinals flashing by, geese honking on the wing, geodes rolling down the creeks, onions sneaking their fragrances into gardens, while dandelions are having their come-uppance in yards all over America!

Over in the play-ground, wall-to-wall kids, growing, learning…fully employed in the process of becoming like their elders, but hopefully a little wiser. Back home, moms and dads, struggling with the task of bringing up Johnny, and wondering where they’re bringing him up to! And over at old First Church, church members are gathering to bring the sacrifice of their hearts, to place upon the altars of God’s will.

Yes, in these days of unemployment, I’m glad I’m fully employed for Him. No other task demands so much! No other work pays such beautiful dividends!

Are you getting all the dividends God wants to give you?

Has The Pollination Taken Place?

2008-08-02T06:22:00.002-05:00

How fast the corn is growing! An old farm saying when I was a boy was, “knee-high by the 4th of July!” Would you believe it…now it gets that high by at least a month earlier? And today, it is tall and fully tasseled out

Years ago, a friendly farmer showed me the pollinator corn being planted between every 4 regular rows of corn to produce high-grade seed corn. Later, after it has done its job, these rows are sacrificed and cut down.

How we have controlled the development of our plants…we can make the stalks tall or short; we can determine the number of ears per stalk, and the size or length of the ear. We can plant special corn for dry areas or wet spots…early spring or late spring. In that tiny kernel of corn, we can store the facts to determine exactly what it will do!

Why are we so slow in developing that more perfect human being? Oh, we’ve developed taller people, stronger and faster people; but somewhere along the line, we have not developed nicer people, more loving and peaceable people.

Jesus came as that perfect pollinator-person we were meant to be! He made that complete sacrifice so that we might be able to go on living more abundant lives. Why not take the beauty of his life, and the perfection of his spirit to pollinate and hybridize your own? How could you talk about salvation in more specific terms?

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Feel The Tug

2008-08-01T15:49:00.001-05:00

There are so many times that I wish I could be sure! If only I could be sure that right would prevail; that goodness really was worth the effort; that tomorrow would be better than today.

Sometimes I envy the certainty of the scientists and the mathematicians, and those independent church groups who “have all the answers”! Wouldn’t it be nice to be absolutely sure about everything?

Sometimes God seems so far away. Why couldn’t He give me some absolute assurances that He is still in control? I’d like some miracles, please God.

I like Paul’s words to young Timothy when he says: “I know whom I have believed, and I am sure that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him against that day.” (II Timothy 1:12)

And yet there are few absolutes in our world. Faith is a risky business.

There are a host of things for which we can reach no scientific conclusion. Are these therefore irrational? No, I think not. Probably the most important truths in the world cannot be reached by the scientific method. I can look up ”courage” in the dictionary, but the definition is nothing compared to knowing or experiencing an act of real bravery. Love is something I can read about in books of poetry, or see in T.V. dramas, but it cannot compare with actually being in love. I can try to explain a kiss in scientific terms by saying, “a kiss is the anatomical juxtaposition of the obicularis muscles in the state of contraction”, but who would ever accept that in lieu of the real thing?

A young boy was out flying his kite one day, and the wind had carried it so high, that it was now almost out of sight. When a friend asked him how he knew the kite was still there, he said, “By the tug on the string.”

In our world, there are persons who have been changed, beautifully, radically, marvelously…not because of a set of acts, but because of a “tug on their heart-strings”.

God sent Jesus into our world to help us to know for sure that He loves us, and to feel the “tug”. Thanks God, for helping me feel “sure”.

Evil--Is It Good Or Bad?

2008-07-31T21:33:00.001-05:00

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

2008-07-29T08:11:00.001-05:00

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

2008-07-27T06:53:00.001-05:00

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

2008-07-26T06:29:00.001-05:00

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!

2008-07-25T06:11:00.000-05:00

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

2008-07-24T06:38:00.002-05:00

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

2008-07-23T06:49:00.001-05:00

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

2008-07-22T06:40:00.001-05:00

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?

2008-07-21T06:19:00.001-05:00

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?

2008-07-20T06:14:00.001-05:00

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

2008-07-19T06:35:00.001-05:00

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

2008-07-18T05:59:00.001-05:00

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

2008-07-17T07:22:00.002-05:00

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

2008-07-16T08:32:00.002-05:00

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!

2008-07-15T06:33:00.001-05:00

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

2008-07-14T06:27:00.001-05:00

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?

2008-07-13T06:40:00.001-05:00

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

2008-07-12T07:37:00.002-05:00

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?

2008-07-11T06:10:00.000-05:00

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?

2008-07-09T06:30:00.002-05:00

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"

2008-07-08T06:29:00.001-05:00

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

2008-07-07T06:29:00.003-05:00

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

2008-07-06T06:30:00.001-05:00

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?

2008-07-05T06:40:00.002-05:00

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?

2008-07-04T06:41:00.001-05:00

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

2008-07-03T07:41:00.002-05:00

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

2008-07-02T06:36:00.001-05:00

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

2008-07-01T06:21:00.001-05:00

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.

In Process

2008-06-30T06:36:00.001-05:00

Many of us have wrong ideas about the book of Job in the Old Testament. We have always said the primary theme was that of “suffering”. And yet, more correctly, it seeks to help us decide “what is the meaning of faith?”

Also, we believed that Job represented the epitome of patience. In reality, he was at times a man of terrible impatience.

We have declared that this book says, if you trust in God, everything will come out all right, and that if you don’t lose faith, your story will come out with a happy ending. But the “happy ending” people should not look here. For although the last seven verses of the last chapter affirm that God made everything turn out O.K., the author is really saying, “I doubt that!”

His book uses an ancient legend about a great heavenly contest between God and Satan with Job as the innocent victim. The theme of a righteous man suffering because he is being tested by rival deities, or divine beings is an old one. It comes out of several of the ancient religions.

The author concludes the story as he does to keep intact the ancient material, but his basic question throughout the writing is “What is the meaning of faith?” “What is a man’s relation to God?” “Does a man believe in God for nothing, or because it gets him something?”

It calls into question our reason for being Christians. Are we Christian because we think it will be good for us…good for our business...good for our standing in the community? Or, are we Christians simply because we believe this is the only relationship there ought to be between God as He is and people as they are? Are we Christians because we believe that what Jesus said is basic truth, whether it brings us prosperity or adversity? Are we able to say with Job, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust Him”? (Job 13:15)

Do we trust Him, because we believe He will protect us, and shelter us, and no evil will befall us? Do we trust Him, because we believe He will prosper us, and make us great? Doesn’t the New Testament really teach, that if we trust Him and are faithful, that God may even reward us with suffering and persecution?

Rewards? Yes, we will have our rewards. Jesus said, “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so men persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matthew 5:12) “In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) Our reward may be to take up a cross and follow Him. It looks to me like a lot of people are following for the wrong reasons. Perhaps that is why both Job and Jesus scare me a lot.

I am sometimes like the person who cried out in despair, “I wish I had never been made!” And a friend replied: “Just remember, you’re not made yet, you’re only being made. And this is the Maker’s process!”

It's A Heavy Burden

2008-06-29T06:17:00.001-05:00

The Beatitudes make a tremendous demand upon us. “Blessedness” is not an easy burden to carry. “Blessed are the merciful,” Jesus said. “Blessed are the peacemakers,” he continued. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake,” he adds. (Matthew 5:7,9,10)

And the average Christian wails, “I thought a blessing was supposed to be a blessing, but instead it looks like something altogether different than that. We might even get hurt, while being ‘blessed’. Blessedness is indeed a ‘sticky wicket’!”

One of the great saints of the Church once said, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of Almighty God.” It is much like having a tiger by the tail, you see. It can be a dangerous thing to commit yourself to the Lord’s blessings.

In one of the Peanuts cartoons, Linus and Lucy are watching their baby sister crawl across the floor. Linus asks, “How long do you think it will be before Sally starts to walk?” And Lucy in her cynical way answers: “Good grief. What’s the hurry? Let her crawl around for awhile! Don’t rush her! Once you stand up, and start to walk, you’re committed for life!”

When we reach out in faith to God, He gives us the ability to walk. But then, there is no turning back. We’re committed for life.

A Quilt Or A Comforter

2008-06-28T09:39:00.001-05:00

In Genesis 17:10, the Lord talks to Abraham and says, “Walk before me, and be blameless.” This was a major moment in his life, for from that time on, he would no longer be called Abram, but Abraham. It was to be a mark of new beginnings. He took on a new name. From this moment, Abraham was to walk in faith, not knowing for sure, where God would lead him, but assured that he had been in tune with the Almighty, and that this was the One who would call the tune from here on.

This did not mean that Abraham would not make any more mistakes, and in fact, he made some big ones. But it did mean that he had the assurance that the Lord would be with him.

A Seminary student while typing a class essay, used the phrase, “Jesus has taken away my guilt.” His typewriter, however, typed a “q’ for the “g”. When the professor returned the paper, he had written alongside the student’s sentence…”Jesus has taken away my quilt,” the additional words, “It’s O.K. He has promised to send us a comforter.”

Yes, God can take away our mistakes, our guilts, as well as our quilts (“security blankets”) and He gives to us something infinitely better…Himself, the Holy Comforter.

I know that I will not always be able to walk before the Lord, blameless…but with God’s help, I’m surely going to try.

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Brush Your Tongue

2008-06-27T06:09:00.000-05:00

Many of the “body parts” are mentioned in Scripture, but none refers to the “tongue” quite as much as the New Testament writer, James.

“If any one thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue…this man’s religion is vain”, he says. (James 1:26) And again, just two chapters later, he comments, “The tongue is a little member and boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire”. (James 3:5) He then goes on to say, “The tongue is a fire. The tongue is an unrighteous world among our members, staining the whole body.” He says, “Every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by humankind, but no human being can tame the tongue---a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and with it, we curse men.” (James 3:6-9)

Recently, I experienced some dental problems, and along with it, discovered that I had bad breath. The dental work was corrected, but the bad breath continued. What to do? The dentist asked, “Do you brush your tongue? In the grooves of the tongue, bacterial growth can take place”. Strange as it felt, I tried it, and discovered that indeed the tongue can be a “restless evil, full of deadly poison.”

How often do we take to heart the words of James and keep our tongue in discipline to the dictates of Christ’s loving spirit? When was the last time I spoke in anger, or with bitterness, or with scorn or malice? When was the last time I hurt someone needlessly by careless and hurting words? It happens, doesn’t it? Why couldn’t I have made those words helpful? Any reason why words of compliment, or words of encouragement, or words of love might have come from my tongue instead?

Our faith is in vain, James says, if we fail to bridle our tongue, and let it be a power for good rather than something that sets a “dangerous” fire.

You're Taking Quite A Chance

2008-06-26T06:26:00.002-05:00

I did some thinking today about people who take “chances”. Chances on the highway, chances in the lottery, chances in the use of drugs! It’s a risky business!

And then it occurred to me, that some of us are taking an awful chance with God.

Some church members haven’t taken Communion for quite awhile…I wonder if the Lord has noticed?

Some folks just sleep in on Sunday mornings…too tired (they claim)…I wonder if the Lord cares?

Some folks haven’t assumed their church responsibilities for quite awhile…I wonder what the Lord has written on their golden ledger books?

By what line of reasoning do we assume that we can stay away from worship, forget our prayer life, let someone else carry the load, and believe that God isn’t going to hold us responsible?

This week, we received a catalog, with a letter stapled to the front. It said, “This may be the last catalog I can send you, unless you place an order.”

What if this was the last worship service we could attend before the end of the world? What if the Lord held no promise of mercy for us, if we missed another Communion service? What if our church would no longer be available to us when we got sick, or needed a funeral, or counseling from our pastor?

What if God invited us all to a party, and nobody came? You’re right…God is inviting us all to come to His service of worship this week, and all through the year. Will we say “yes” or “no”?

The letter with the catalog, had this additional word, “I wanted to make sure that not one customer missed out on all the good things in this catalog…”

And that’s the message of the Church…we just want to make sure that not one member or friend misses out on the good news of the Gospel. But don’t take chances with the Eternal…you can miss some T.V….you can miss some basketball and hockey…you can miss a little sleep…but don’t miss the invitation of the Lord of Hosts!

Get Out The Camphor Bottle!

2008-06-25T09:31:00.001-05:00

Donald A. Laird, the psychologist, said that whenever his grandmother was over-wrought she would get the camphor bottle and put a little camphor on her fore-head, behind each ear, and on her throat. Then she would sit in her rocking chair, close her eyes, and relax.

Dr. Laird said that the camphor bit was simply a gimmick. Grandma used it as an aid to relax her tensions. Most of us don’t have a rocking chair or camphor bottle handy, but we use sedatives, aspirins, etc. as one of the contemporary remedies to life’s anxieties.

All of this, it would seem is quite unnecessary, if we could just learn some of life’s basic rules.

So perfect have become the computerized lift-off procedures of our modern-day space vehicles, that we sometimes wonder why our own lives cannot run so smoothly? And yet, people are not like rockets and should accept the fact that there are very few times in a person’s life when all conditions are “go”.

No, we must live by an acceptance of our humanness, our limitations, our imperfections. We are tiny specks in an amazingly big universe. We are imperfect, and more than that, we are inclined to self-centeredness, making us sinful and rebellious to the basic rules of life. We cannot make that trip to our space rendezvous, because we are too much “a-go-go” and not enough “go-ye”. Our lives are lived by our feet and our anxieties, rather than by our commitments and our fidelity to our Maker.

The ancient prophet once said, “In returning and rest shall ye be saved: in quietness and confidence shall be your strength”. (Is. 30:15) God is saying to us through the prophet Isaiah, that we should learn to trust in Him more than in our own schemes and defenses.

It is good advice, for so much of our anxiety and tension comes not from actual situations as from nameless dread of situations beyond our control. The unsettled condition of our world is contagious. But we cheat ourselves when we worry, for it does us no good, and certainly no one else. To be concerned…yes! To do what we can…yes! All of this we must do. But beyond that point, let us learn to use either Grandma’s camphor and rocking chair…or, better yet…shift the burdens that are too big for us to God. Then we will find to our amazement that God is able to take that which we have committed unto Him against that day, and care for both us and His world.

Perhaps The Lord Will Still Be With Us

2008-06-24T11:19:00.000-05:00

The Psalmist announced “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world, and they that dwell therein.” (Ps. 24:1)

But the children of this world keep arguing, “No, it is ours! It is all ours, and we will do with it what we please!” And so the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer, even though there is enough here to guarantee that everyone has enough to eat, and to maintain their lives.

We probe the earth miles beneath the surface for oil, we strip the surface for coal, we tap nuclear power for electricity, and then scatter the radio-active by-products, we spend ¾ of all the wealth of the world to pay for past, present, and future wars…and the blood of our brave young men and women flows like a river!

We strip the forests and encourage floods, we are careless about rich black top-soil that took millions of years to produce, we do nuclear testing, and disturb magnetic fields that surround our planet. We can agree with the old commercial, “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature”!

And so, we pay for our folly, until we can learn a new stewardship of the good earth, and lift up the words, “the earth is the Lord’s”. No, it isn’t nice to “fool Mother Nature”. And it is not nice to take God’s good earth, and make it into an insane asylum!

When will we learn the lessons of peace? When shall we learn the lessons of stewardship and give to the Lord what is His due?

Let us bow before Him! Let us confess our sins and our faithlessness! Let us join faithfully to praise His Name. Perhaps He will still be merciful to us, and shower once more His blessings upon the land.

No Gloves On His Hands!

2008-06-18T06:40:00.002-05:00

If we are honest with the New Testament, we discover that Jesus was a lot less critical of some things and some people, than we are. We have established a kind of legalistic morality. We are extremely hard on certain sinners, but terribly lenient of others. And the fact is, of course, that we are all sinners.

Are the drunkards the sinners? Are the sex perverts, the thieves, the murderers the sinners? What does it mean to say that “my sin is less than theirs”? My sin is perhaps more serious, because I ought to know better! Some of us actually “look down upon some people”. We find ourselves sub-consciously saying, “Lord, I thank Thee that I am not like that man over there”.

If there is someone without sin, then let him affirm it! It is not a case of whether we are greater sinners, or lesser sinners. It is just a matter of what kind of sinners we are. And so I guess this means that I am: a conscientious church-going, Protestant, senior-citizen, male parent, trying-to-be-a-good-Christian-type of sinner! And next to the holiness of God, my own goodness is like filthy rags, by contrast.

Have you ever gone into a home, so filthy, so dirty, that you thought you would be contaminated to sit down? I did once. I was invited to eat dinner there. I did so, but with a queasy feeling inside. I confess I ate with self-righteousness, thinking to myself, “I am clean…they are not!”

I wondered how God feels. Our hands are stained, our lives are not clean, and still He invites us to come: “All who do truly and earnestly repent of their sins and are in love and fellowship with their neighbors, and intend to live a new life, come!” He really is inviting us!

There is a delightful story told about the former President Lyndon Johnson, when he was on a tour in Africa. He was riding through the streets of an African town with the local ambassador. In typical style, he reached over the edge of the car to shake hands with the people running alongside. The ambassador grabbed his arm back and insisted that Johnson wear gloves, so his hands, his flesh not be contaminated by the grime and dirt. It is no surprise that our President refused to wear the gloves!

Jesus set the pace! He ate and had fellowship with the outcast, the scorned, the prostitute. He wore no gloves! But how am I any better than the outcast, the prostitute? Are my sins any less, or just of another kind? The wonder of it all is, we were not clean when our Savior invited us. Our sin-stained lives were obvious when He accepted us. He took us, with no glove upon His Hand. And He led us to the center of His love.

Shall we, who profess His name, do any less…be less accepting, less forgiving? For only as we forgive, shall we be forgiven. Only as we accept, shall we be accepted.

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Listen To The Signal From Space!

2008-06-16T16:59:00.000-05:00

A farmer was working in his barn and amidst the hay, dropped his watch. He stomped all over the floor, and raked the hay, and poked into the dark corners with a flashlight to find the lost time-piece, but to no avail. Finally, he gave up his fruit-less search and went in for lunch. His small boy ran out to the barn, and a few minutes later came in with the watch. “How did you find it” his father asked? “I just lay down on the floor and kept very still, and soon I heard the watch ticking.”

There is a lesson to be learned from this simple story. Far too many of us waste our energies with a great deal of stewing and fretting and stomping through life. As we do so, we lose one of our most valuable possessions, namely fellowship and contact with our Creator.

There is a Divine resonance, a holy signal, a faint moving of the Spirit of God, that sets the pace and directs the inner heart to a life of significance, and an inner peace. This beat of the universe is ever present. This “Music of the Spheres” is always there. This still small voice is available. But we have so completely tuned it out by our loud and frantic strivings.

If we would make this day, or tomorrow, one that responds to the beat of the universe, instead of having it shake and tremble in discord, then we must learn to wait upon the Lord, to be still and know that God is God. There is a signal there. There is a still small voice waiting to give direction, give hope, and give peace, if we but listen for it. God has not left us desolate.

A German astronomer, Sebastian von Hoerner, says that there are at least ten civilized communities on planets within one thousand light years of the earth. He thinks that some of these people may be far more advanced than ourselves. He believes our best hope of avoiding disaster is to listen for some message from outer space which might save us and our civilization.

It is an interesting idea. Our amazingly sensitive listening devices have never picked up any such signal or voice. And even if we heard, would we obey?

Man does need a wisdom and a signal higher and wiser than his own. But we have such a message already. It comes to us from the eternal, sovereign God, the Creator of all the universes that may exist. The simple, universal code of love, forgiveness, mercy, and justice has been tapping out its message through the centuries. It has come down to us through the prophets and most perfectly through Jesus Christ.

When we become quiet enough to listen for this Voice, to discover the inner serenity and power of His Spirit, then life may be lived victoriously and meaningfully. The Voice out of Space has come. Will we be obedient to it, now that we know what it is?

Are You Pusillanimous?

2008-06-16T05:35:00.002-05:00

Someone once asked the question whether Cross-word Puzzle fans usually had a great vocabulary? The answer was that most puzzle fans increase their word power, but not their vocabulary. After all, how often every day do you use such words as “erudite”, “Gaelic”, or “matriculate”?

None-the-less, I’m all for it, and especially after my wife came home the other night pondering the word, “pusillanimous”. We weren’t even certain there was such a word, but sure enough, Webster said there was, and it meant “destitute of manly strength and firmness of mind; cowardly…evincing a want of courage”, etc.

I got to thinking about the many times I had been “pusillanimous” and hadn’t spoken out against things that were wrong, and the number of cowardly instances in my own life. I guess I’m not alone, because the world is filled with “pusillanimous” people like me.

And yet, I live with a Christian faith that should help me make right decisions, even if I have to stand alone to do so. Jesus didn’t worry about being popular. He was concerned about being right! He left us with the power of his Holy Spirit, and this has enabled millions of Christians to suffer persecution, and go their lonely ways walking the “straight and narrow”, rather than following the broad path that leads to destruction!

Psalm 27 gives me lots to think about in this matter. I’m not sure I’ve got a new word I plan to use very much, but I’m going to try not to be “pusillanimous”. And I plan to take the Psalmist’s advice to “wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord.” (Ps. 27:14)

Catch The Vision

2008-06-15T06:08:00.001-05:00

This morning, I had another vision! This is not to say that I have them often, like daily, or monthly, or every so many years. Indeed, I am really not inclined to have such things. In fact, I have sometimes been a bit critical of others who made such claims.

But I have discovered that my problem was not the lack of visions, but my lack of eyes! I just had not been seeing what was there to see. Having eyes, I saw not!

My vision this morning was a beautiful flock of geese…an arrow pointing due north…one of those awe-inspiring sights that thrills the soul. “But that’s no vision,” you say…”that was simply a beautiful sight…a token of spring!”

That’s right…but the “vision” was still there…because my vision was of something within the tiny brain of each flying bird that was drawing him like an arrow to his destination!...and each bird responded to that inner instinct.

God is tugging at our hearts. He is calling us to come up higher…to live more perfectly…to love more completely. Here then was my vision: when we come to God to worship, or to pray, or to grow…when we follow the way of the cross…when we look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith…and when we respond to this inner “tug”, we too become a beautiful sign in the sky.

Here is the way! Walk in it! Here is the Savior! Follow Him! Here is Life! Live it to the best of your ability! Like an arrow…moves the Church of God…a sign, a promise, a hope to all who behold!

Noah Was Listening

2008-06-14T06:14:00.001-05:00

In the story of Noah and the ark, we ask ourselves, “Didn’t God care enough to speak to anyone else but Noah?” “Wasn’t there enough wood for a thousand arks?” “Why couldn’t thousands have been saved, rather than just one family?”

And the truth is that God probably did speak to every man, woman and child…but the sad fact remains that only Noah listened, only Noah heard, and obeyed!

God is trying to say something to us! In the message of Easter, and in the power of the resurrection, God is telling us something…there is HOPE, and there is LIFE…life everlasting!

Economic recession and taxes may engulf me, but I am not afraid! I may lose my job, I may lose my health, I may lose my friends, but I have not lost my HOPE! When I am on the side of Christ, I am on the side of victory! When I have been raised with Him, the world cannot harm me! Nuclear warfare may destroy me, but though I die, yet shall I live!

This is a message clearly written for all to see. This is the story of a great stone rolled away from the tomb, and an empty grave. This is God’s answer to all the gloomy predictions and the dismal miseries mankind has brought upon his fellow-man.

God is not dead! God is alive! And that makes my future bright…if I listen, that is, and if I obey!

Is The Lord Watching?

2008-06-13T08:37:00.001-05:00

There is a beautiful old phrase that comes out of the story of Jacob and his father-in-law in the Old Testament. We call it the “Mizpah” benediction. It goes like this: “May the Lord watch between me and thee, while we are absent one from another.” (Genesis 31:49)

Originally, the meaning was somewhat sinister: “remember, the Lord is watching…keep your distance!” But through the years, we have come to think of it in more endearing terms.

One person remembered that her father always concluded his letters to her by using the word, “Mizpah”. This is a greeting that we could say to one another as we leave church, or as we go on a long journey, or as we separate after a family reunion.

“Mizpah”…”May the Lord watch between me and thee.” How beautiful to know that He is watching, that He is there to care for us in our separateness.

It is good to learn to trust our loved ones to God’s care as we leave them, whether it be for a day, or an hour, or many years. As we send our children off to camp, or when they simply cross the street, “Mizpah”…may the Lord watch over them as we are apart. As we lose loved ones in death…”Mizpah”…they are in His care and keeping. We can be sure He is watching over them!

Every day, I ask the Lord to watch over family and neighbors, and the many loved ones we have come to know through the years. Yes, thank God, He never sleeps, never leaves on vacation, never deserts His post! Our Lord watches over us, each and every one. Aren’t you glad?

It Takes A Miracle

2008-06-12T06:30:00.002-05:00

The Christian Church was born out of miracles: the miracle of the miracle-baby born in a manger, and the miracle of the death and resurrection of our Lord. From a peasant woman, and in a lowly manger, came a King; and out of death and crucifixion, came new life. From defeat to victory is the movement of the Christian Church…truly a miracle!

We do not understand how miracles work. If we did, then they would no longer be miracles! But within the faith of the Christian, there is an assurance that in this problem world of ours, we do not work alone! We move our tiny chess player as wisely as we know how, and somewhere, God moves another one. We neither control completely our successes, nor guarantee absolutely our failures. Somehow, there is still another unknown factor in life’s amazing world. Success must never make us vain because God has given us the very breath we breathe. Sin and failure are not the end of the world…because God provides forgiveness and new beginnings, if we ask Him.

There is a beautiful solo, that says: “It took a miracle of grace” to change my life. That is correct! In my natural self, I am vain and proud, and self-centered. But God can correct that, and make me mellow and usable for His purposes.

When a Church believes more than anything else that the Lord’s work must go forward, and organizes itself to do His will, then get out of the way! God is coming through! Our gifts and our tithes and our efforts are suddenly caught up in the whirlwinds of God’s Spirit. It is like holding a tiger by the tail! God’s miracles begin to show!‘

God will bless us. God will multiply our efforts and our sacrifices through the miracle of His grace. But we must be within His will. We must believe and pray for His help.

Will you pray for a miracle of grace, for an out-pouring of sacrificial offerings, and a treasury of souls throughout the Church?

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