Happy Sharing

You are happier if you share and if you are happy you are more likely to share.

“Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, 45 and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. 46 So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.”  (Acts 2.44-47 NKJV)

The above text records the events of the daily lives of the first Christians shortly after the initial preaching of the gospel of Christ and the obedient response of three thousand souls to that message. Of all the things that are said about them, notice two in particular that characterized their lives. I hope our lives today, can be like theirs were then.

The early Christians were people who were happy. They “ate their food with gladness.” They had learned the truth about Jesus. They had learned that they had committed a terrible sin. But, they had also learned that God loved them and wanted to forgive them. Peter had told them how they could receive the forgiveness God was offering. He told them to repent and be baptized for the remission of sins (Acts 2. 38). They believed the message of God that Peter brought and they obeyed God’s commands. The forgiveness and hope that they found when they trusted and obeyed the Heavenly Father caused them to be excited and filled with gladness. We can experience those same emotions today, when we do what they did.

The early Christians were people who shared. They were “sharing . . . with all, as anyone might have need.” I’ve got a feeling, they were so eager to share because of their joy over their new-found forgiveness. They wanted to live the new life in Christ, and this was one way they did it. They were so excited about the cleansing of the guilt of sin from their hearts, that the same value they had formerly placed on material things, just wasn’t there anymore. These Christians valued helping those who were in need greater than their own monetary wealth. And, they acted that way. When they saw a need, they did something about it.

You know, the Christians in Acts were people just like us. And we can be people just like them. We can be filled with gladness, if we’re faithful Christians; and we can share with others from the blessings God has given to us.

Some Thoughts on the Love of God and His Continuing Offers of Salvation in the Bible

Well, it begins in the beginning: Genesis. God’s love is clearly seen in making man like Himself and setting man up in the Garden of Eden. So, what does man do? Man sins. What does God then do? God does expel man from the Garden along with some other consequences, but God doesn’t destroy man, which would have been a just response. He sends man out into the wide, wide world where man can have a very good life if he will only cooperate with God.

Over time man does not cooperate with God and The Flood happens. However, again God does not destroy everyone – He saves Noah and his family. God places a value on human life and sends Noah out into the wide, wide world to repopulate it and use it for his benefit. You cannot read the Bible story and escape being overwhelmed by the love of God and His continuing offers of forgiveness/salvation.

The story continues. Man would sin and God would be patient. Man would eventually repent and God was eager to forgive and accept man back into relationship. God was a thousand times more eager to forgive than to take vengeance. We have made that Biblical point in sermons here.

And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, “keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.” (Exodus 34:6-7 NKJV)

Notice how God’s mercy is associated with the number “thousands,” and God’s vengeance is associated with the number “four.”  God had 1000 to 4 rather be merciful than vengeful.  BTW, this text is sometimes called the “Golden Text” of the Old Testament.

The story continues today. The culmination of it all was Jesus. We can be His disciples today and God will eagerly accept us into a relationship of security and blessings with Him. We can be a part of God’s family right now!

The Lord is . . . longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9 NKJV)

God loves you.  He always has.  He always will.

 

A Gentle Religion

Our culture is often not very gentle.  Our sons are taught to “deliver a blow” in football.  A “hard-nosed” businessman may be admired.  We are eager to seek personal and national vengeance.  “Don’t tread on me,” and on I could go.  If you have been awake even part of your life, you know what I am talking about and you won’t embarrass yourself by disagreeing.

The gospel of Christ paints a radically different picture.  Oh that Christians would believe the gospel and use Christ as their Pattern instead of acting like the nations (people) around them.  Perhaps if their preachers led them more fully in the direction of Christ they would follow.  Recall Yahweh’s statement at the time of the Assyrian captivity:

Turn from your evil ways, and keep My commandments  . . . Nevertheless they would not hear, but stiffened their necks, like the necks of their fathers . . .  rejected His statutes and His covenant . . . and went after the nations who were all around them, concerning whom the LORD had charged them that they should not do like them. (2 Kings 17:13-15 NKJV)

My prayer is that we would stop imitating our neighbor, start imitating Jesus, and thus become salt and light to our neighbor.

I believe you could say that Christianity is a religion of gentleness and kindness.  Go with me on a little walk through the New Testament and let’s see if that’s so.

The Sermon on the Mount encapsulates Jesus’ teaching on the second great commandment, love your neighbor as yourself, Leviticus 19:18.  The Beatitudes are the Sermon on the Mount in condensed version.  I am sure you remember the third beatitude:

Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth. (Matthew 5:5 NKJV)

‘Meek’ is also translated ‘humble’ or ‘gentle.’  Do we believe we will be blessed if we are humble and gentle?  If we don’t, why do we believe anything else Jesus said?  De we believe God will take care of us if we are humble and gentile, or that we’ve got to “look out for ourselves’?  Who do we trust, God or us?

Jesus had the ultimate wrong perpetrated against Him.  He was murdered when He was not only innocent of any wrongdoing, but had spent His entire earthly life helping other people.  As He hung dying on the cross, did He lash out at His enemies?  Did He admonish His disciples to ‘get even’ with those who had done this to Him?  Did He damn His adversaries to hell?  You know, He had the power to do that.  Did He?  You know the answer.  Here’s what He did:

And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left. Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” And they divided His garments and cast lots. (Luke 23:33-34 NKJV)

He asked for their forgiveness.  He loved His enemies . . .  like He told us to do . . .  He practiced what He preached.  Do we?  If Jesus could forgive those people, in that circumstance, what is my problem that I cannot forgive my neighbor, workfellow, schoolmate, or family member; whatever it is they’ve done or said?  I must forgive them and treat them kindly, if I want to be like Jesus, if I want to be His disciple.

Here is a disciple of Christ who acted like Jesus.  His name is Stephen.

And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep. (Acts 7:59-60 NKJV)

Question.  What kind of disciples are we?  Could we do this?  What behavior in our life right now would lead others to believe that we might be able to do what Stephen did?  If we listen to the ‘nations’ around us, we probably won’t be able to forgive like Jesus and disciple Stephen.  See why we need to quit listening to what others are saying and aping how they are acting and start listening to Jesus and begin to become more and more like Him.  “More and More Like Jesus.”  We should sing that right now, because I’m not sure everybody believes that.

Let’s move on to the epistles.  Here’s what Paul says:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23 NKJV)
Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:31-32 NKJV)
Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. (Colossians 3:12-13 NKJV)

I really don’t know how to make that any plainer.  If I can’t be humble, kind, and gentle . . . I can’t be a Christian.  I might be big and bad and command the respect and admiration of my fellow man, but Jesus remains unimpressed.  Whose approval do you  seek?  Who do you want to impress?

And then there’s John . . .

If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? (1 John 4:20 NKJV)

Notice how love of your neighbor and love of God are associated.  Love of neighbor is a prerequisite for love of God.  If you don’t love (think kindness and gentleness) your neighbor, you don’t love God.  If you don’t love your neighbor, you’re not like Jesus.  I want to be like Jesus.  May God help us all to that end.

Jesus, meek and gentle,
Son of God most high,
Gracious, loving Savior,
Hear Thy children’s cry.

Pardon our offenses,
Loose our captive chains,
Break down every idol
Which our soul detains.

Give us holy freedom,
Fill our hearts with love;
Draw us, holy Jesus,
To the realms above.

Lead us on our journey,
Be Thyself the way
Through our earthly darkness
To the heavenly day.

Jesus, meek and gentle,
Son of God most high,
Gracious, loving Savior,
Through earth’s passing darkness,
To heaven’s endless day.

Jesus Meek and Gentle, by George Prynne (1856) and William Monk (1861)

 

Stewardship of the Past: The Past and the Heart

It is hard to forget the past.  I guess you could say that is a good thing and a bad thing.  Successes of the past could give us confidence for the present.  Failures of the past could motivate us with the thought, “It won’t happen again.”  Maybe that’s what UA was thinking in LSU II.  Or maybe not.  On the flip side, recalling success could make us arrogant and remembering failure could make us defeatist.

The effect of the past on the present is determined by the heart. 

If my heart is on Jesus, I will learn from the past and those lessons will help me improve my efforts to be more like Him.  If my focus is on me, I may become depressed or (depression’s opposite) overconfident as my past continues to affect me.

Whatever effect the past has on me, one thing is clear:  I must not live there.  I must live where I am in what I can control – the present.  I must personally cause the effects of the past on my life to be positive by focusing on Jesus and not myself.

. . . forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13-14 NKJV)

Paul had a lot of failure in his earlier life, and he didn’t realize it was failure at that time.  I guess he could have dwelled on the lost time and opportunity of what went before.  But, he didn’t.  He wanted to be a good steward of the past by not living there.  He lived now.  He lived to his fullest potential in the present.  This gave him a forward momentum, not a backward slide.

It can be the same with you and me.  We can get lost in the “could have’s” and “should have’s” and miss opportunities now (thus repeating past failures instead of learning from them).  Remembering the past is ok.  Living there isn’t.

Look forward.  Live now.  Win the prize.

 

Calmness

My dad's place in Sulligent, summer 2011.

A personality that is calm is a desirable trait that may be overlooked when listing the markers of a person with good character.  I bet you like to be around people who are of a calm demeanor rather than ones who are “wound up” most of the time.  They probably tend to calm you down and thus help you feel better.

Children who are calmer would seem to have an increased ability to focus on the task at hand and would therefore be able to learn better.  I think the ability to focus or concentrate is one of the main indicators of a smart or potentially smart child.  It is good to be smart, because it increases your opportunities to serve.

Adults also need to calm down.  Not only does a calm or quiet personality affect your kids/grandkids (and anyone with whom you interact), it helps you feel better and be more focused on what you need to do.  Calmness increases discipline.

You might think this topic is not addressed in the Bible, but here are three scriptures from the Epistles where it is:

… But we exhort you, …, to aspire to live quietly, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we charged you; (1 Thessalonians 4:10-11 RSV)

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way. (1 Timothy 2:1-2 RSV)

Let not yours be the outward adorning with braiding of hair, decoration of gold, and wearing of fine clothing, but let it be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable jewel of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.  (1 Peter 3:3-4 RSV)          

How calm, quiet, peaceable, and gentle are you?  Do you influence others to live this way by your own life example?

 

O God, increase our faith

That we may take You at Your word

That we may believe it and trust it

That we may submit and follow You

And that Your Holy Name may be exalted in the process. 

Man and God: You, Me, and Jesus

  Every person you will meet today started out like God.  They may have defiled His image, but, at birth, they were made like God by God.  This also applies to you and to me.  This knowledge should affect how I view others and how I view myself.  An understanding of my original connection to God, though I am flesh, should also enhance my appreciation of the Incarnation, when Christ (God) voluntarily took flesh upon Himself.

The word of God is clear that God made us like Himself.  This does not mean that God made us “little gods.”  But, that He made us with some of the same characteristics that He has.  God is perfect and infinite in His characteristics.  I am not. I choose how close to perfection I will come as I make daily choices about Christian living.

Look how many times God tells us that He made us like Himself.

…Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him…. (Genesis 1:26-27 NKJV)

… In the day that God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. (Genesis 5:1 NKJV)

… For in the image of God He made man. (Genesis 9:6 NKJV)

“And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth…so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; “for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring. Therefore, since we are the offspring of God… (Acts 17:26-29 NKJV)

For a man … is the image and glory of God…. (1 Corinthians 11:7 NKJV)

… men, who are made in the likeness of God. (James 3:9 RSV)

When I see someone, or think of someone, or interact with someone I need to remember this:  they are made in God’s image.  God made them originally exactly the way He wanted to make them and He made them like Himself.  When faced with improper behavior, instead of taking offense, being condescending, or seeking revenge, I should remember that this is another person created in the image of God, by God, exactly the way He wanted to make them.  Life may have gotten in the way and they may not look much like God now, but that is not the way they started out.  They came into the world like God.  It is possible that they can return there.  I need to help them do that, not hinder or discourage them.

I spend some time (I am sure too much) recalling my past failures.  I can get pretty depressed about them.  What I need to do, and what we all need to do, is to recall who we are because of Who made us and the way He made us.  We need to exult with the psalmist:

For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. (Psalms 139:13-14 NKJV)

By virtue of our divine design, we have great potential.  God has placed it in the palm of our hand.  Open the fist clenched in fear and anger and behold what God hath wrought.  If we were like God once, we can be like Him again.  Let’s reclaim our destiny.  God will help us (He already has).  We can change the world for good, beginning with ourselves.

God identified with man His creation not only in creating us in His image, but in taking flesh upon Himself in the Incarnation.  This was accomplished in the person of God the Son, Jesus Christ.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14 NKJV)

… Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God… (1 John 4:2-3 NKJV)

…(Jesus) emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:7-8 RSV)

The love of God for you and me is revealed in many ways.  The Cross is obviously one of these.  Another is the Incarnation.  God loved us so much that He became one of us to save us and, yes, to serve us.  How can we not love Him back?

 

O Lord God

Maker of heaven, Maker of earth, and Maker of me

Bless me to be more like Your Son

Bless me to live in harmony with Your purpose for me

Bless me to see in others the spark of You they possess.

 

[The image is "A Monk" by A. Kosnichyov, 2006.  Imagine he is contemplating how he can be more like God.)

“…unalienable rights…”

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights….”

The first premise, that all men are created equal, is certainly correct.  But, there is a caveat to that:  “equal” is not equal to “the same,” note the Parable of the Talents and the differences in male and female.

The second premise, about the “unalienable Rights,” is simply false.  You and I have no rights.  We forfeited any perceived “rights” when we committed that first sin.  Our neighbor, however, has all the rights.  We are debtor to them.  We are bondslaves.  When we understand this, we will each be happier and the world will be a better place.  You are not my slave, but I am yours.  Now go home and try that way of looking at things with your spouse.  See if your marriage doesn’t ignite.  Meanwhile, here are a few texts to chew on.

“Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.”And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave– (Matthew 20:26-27 NKJV)

… Yet I am among you as the One who serves. (Luke 22:27 NKJV)

I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise. (Romans 1:14 NKJV)

… I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more; (1 Corinthians 9:19 NKJV)

Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?

Well, I don’t pretend to have all the answers, but it’s not because they are good people.  But, trouble still comes.  Here are some suggestions to help us deal with trying times.

There are trials in the world because there is sin in the world, but that doesn’t mean the trials are because of my personal sin.  My dad spent the last few years of his life pretty much bedridden with very severe pain in his feet.  I remember him asking me more than once, “What did I do to cause all of this?”  The answer was, “nothing,” unless you want to count getting old (he lived to be almost 90).  Things just happen.  Sometimes it’s someone else’s fault.  Sometimes it’s my fault.  And sometimes it’s nobody’s fault.  It’s just life in a world created perfect but corrupted by man not following the advice of his Creator.

Trials do not mean that God doesn’t care.  If you read the Old Testament, you will see repeatedly how God wanted a relationship with Israel.  They were often uninterested in having a relationship with God and pursued the pagan idols of the Canaanite nations or rebelled against God in other ways.  God would allow them to be defeated by their enemies (a trial), but He still loved them and wanted what was best for them, which was the relationship with Him.  In the New Testament, God allowed the ultimate of trials to come on His Son, Jesus.  That certainly did not mean that the Father did not love the Son or care about what happened to Him.

Trials do not mean that God can’t do anything about it.  Trials are here because of man’s bad choices, not God’s inability to stop them.  Now, those bad choices may not be yours, they may not even be from the present time.  We suffer the physical consequences of the sin of Adam and Eve, though not the spiritual guilt, even today.  We experience physical death, and the things that attend it, because of the sin of Adam.  God can certainly control everything if He wishes, but if He did, we would be something like a computer…we wouldn’t be human.  I had just as soon not be a machine.

Trials could mean that God has a lot of confidence in you.  He knows that, with His help, you can handle it.  Paul says God won’t allow us to be tempted beyond our ability to deal with the temptation appropriately.  If there is a temptation out there that we can’t handle, God won’t allow it to happen.  There is a technical difference between temptations and trials, but they are so closely related that I am considering them the same in this article.  If God allows a trial in my life, it must mean that he is confident that I can handle it with His help, which He will always provide.  To know that God believes in me is a great blessing.

Trials help us focus on a better life.  God tells us of a place where there are no trials, where no bad things happen, only good…but it’s not here, it’s in heaven.  When I face the tragedy and grief of the here and now it makes me want to go to the there and then.  God invites me there, and shows me the way through Jesus.  This hope gives us the strength to carry on.

This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, …(Hebrews 6:19 NKJV)

And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. (1 John 3:3 NKJV)

Snow Day

Well, some forecasts have up to eleven inches of snow possible for central Alabama.  It’s still two days out, so maybe, maybe not.  We’ll see.  My wife stopped by the store on her way home for a loaf of bread, because we were actually out of bread, and the shelves were approaching empty.  She had to buy a different brand from her normal favorite.  Only in Alabama . . . where we put football ahead of religion and the hint of a few snowflakes creates a frenzied rush on milk and bread, even two days in advance.  You should see us drive on frozen roads – from a distance, that is.

Should the eleven inches actually materialize, it would be the largest snowfall that I can remember since I was in (guessing) the fifth grade.  That was in the early sixties.

Back then my dad had some sows that were coming in (delivering their little piglets) right in the middle of the snow event.  He had recently built a new farrowing house (hog barn) and the eight sows would do their business there.  Did I mention it wasn’t heated?  Did I mention it was real cold?  I am not sure of the temp, but I think it was in the teens, maybe single digits.  I know I mentioned the snow.  Well, it stayed on the ground for a week (almost), all 12 inches of it.

Dad and Claude stayed up all night with the sows for 4 or 5 nights, till they all came in, I guess.  Then Dad went and ran his insurance agency all day.  He obviously slept sometime, but not very much that week.  He and Claude had about the bottom foot of a sawed-off 55 gallon drum that they filled with charcoal and ignited.  That was their heat source.  There were some heat lamps for the baby pigs.  Dad and Claude would take the pigs as they were born, dry them off, and place them on wood shavings under the heat lamps.

I stayed the first night till about midnight.  When I wanted to go home, Dad couldn’t leave the sows to take me so I walked by myself about a quarter mile through the pasture in the foot deep snow.  I was ten, I guess.  And I didn’t have a cell phone.  But, as evidenced by the fact that I’m now typing this, I made it.

Dad learned a valuable lesson.  He would never have sows come in in February again – and he didn’t.

I’m not sure of the details, but I think a significant amount of the expense of putting me through college was paid from Dad’s sideline hog operation.  The old farrowing house is still standing, though it hasn’t housed hogs in years and years.

If it actually snows, I hope you can enjoy the beauty of it from a warm place . . . and I hope your animals don’t decide to give birth in the middle of it.

Resolutions 2011

I think living a Christ-like life starts with humility.  You have to admit that you are a sinner, and thus in need of help.  You have to look in the mirror with humility to do that.  Then you have to humble yourself to actually seek the help that is constantly and readily available in Jesus.

And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. (Matthew 23:12 NKJV)

Jesus talks about love, love God and love your neighbor, but I think His statement here assumes that a person wants to do the right thing, that is, wants to improve themselves.  That attitude begins with humility.  Love begins with humility.

As Jesus is an icon of the Father, I am to be an icon of Jesus.  When people see me, they are supposed to see Jesus – in me, in my life.  They are supposed to see Jesus in what my life reveals about my attitudes and values.  They are supposed to see Jesus in my interactions with them.

He is the image [icon] of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. (Colossians 1:15 NKJV)

To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27 NKJV)

How can I do a better job in 2011 showing everyone I interact with Christ in my life?  Here are some resolutions.

• The ability to show restraint – I will show more restraint when I feel wronged

• The ability to show aggression – I will aggressively engage the Christian life

• The ability to examine myself – I will truthfully evaluate my own heart

• The ability to radiate love – I will love those that are dear to me

• The ability to look like Jesus – I will be an icon of Christ

 

Elijah’s Grave

I visited Dad yesterday.  I do that every Christmas and yesterday was the day.  I did all the talking, as usual.  He was the same.  Nothing to report.  There had been three new arrivals since my last visit for his birthday in late August.  That number is unheard of for a time that brief.  The neighborhood where he stays is not that large.  The main thing its got going for it is that it is quiet.  I like quiet.  I think Dad does too.

We sang “Wayfaring Stranger” at church Wednesday night.  That song, and my visit to Dad’s place, formed an image in my mind.  I know I can be a bit eccentric, but that kind of thing happens from time to time.  There’ll be some event.  That event – it could be something someone said, or something I read (that happens with Faulkner a lot), or something that happens that reminds me of something else – whatever – but the event will cause me to imagine a scene so vividly that it seems I am there.  Even the smells and feels seem to be present in my head – like the damp smell of a cold rain and the presence of the wind-blown raindrops stinging my bare face.

I promised (kind of) that I would write about the pictures in my head.  So here goes.  The time is now, the present, that is.  Elijah Campbell’s heirs worship each Sunday at a rural church not far from here.  It’s constructed of native limestone quarried a few miles from where the building sits on a ridgeline overlooking a valley of the Buttahatchie River where the old community of Campbell Springs was developed by Elijah and company in the 1800′s.  There are twenty-something of his descendants assembled this Sunday.  The Campbells are worth billions through the Shiloh companies.  At least people assume that, but, no one actually knows for sure because all of Shiloh is privately held.  Shiloh Financial – which supplies a big hunk of Wall Street’s investment money: privately held.  Shiloh Transportation – whose trains and trucks regularly visit most every town in America: privately held.  Shiloh Medical – whose pharmaceuticals are in most every medicine cabinet in the country: privately held.    No annoying shareholder meetings for them – at least none that aren’t all family.

Before returning to their homes, The Campbells always gather at the cemetery adjoining the church at the old patriarch Elijah’s grave and sing “I am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger” together.  No witness to this event would ever guess the Campbell heirs were any different from anyone else in the matter of earthly accouterments.  This Sunday it’s December.  It’s also cold, raining, and windy.  The Campbell group gathers resolutely near Elijah’s tomb rock.  The wind sweeping the ridgetop, ruffling their clothing, and struggling to invert some of their umbrellas – is unknown to them.  The cold rain droplets stinging their faces – unfelt.  The numbing coldness of the moisture saturated chilled air that seems to penetrate to the very core of their bodies – unnoticed.

Micah, one of Elijah’s great-grandsons, starts singing the old hymn in his tenor voice.  In a moment or two, his female sisters and cousins join him with their alto voices.  Then the other males join in and the Campbell Family Choir is complete.  The minor key melody is carried by the north wind southerly to the valley below and beyond.  Perhaps it penetrates Wordsworth’s “narrow houses” where the ghosts of Campbells past slumber.  Maybe it enters through  a parlor window that was mistakenly left open.  Maybe it imbues every molecule of the room’s air with an elusive, glowing, shimmering, pulsating link – present to past – and hovers there, for just a time, like the reluctant morning fog.  Maybe unseen hands reach out for each other and clasp firmly, linger for a few seconds, and then release as present realities rudely reassert themselves.

Maybe.  I guess you would have to be a Campbell to know.  Or, maybe not.  Maybe something akin to that happens with all of us.  Our ridgetop may not be in Lamar County, Alabama.  It may not even be a ridgetop.  But it’s ours.  And what goes on in our heads is ours too.

Maybe the Campbells are just our proxy.  Maybe we are all in this together. May the peace of God rest with  us all.

Gratitude, Humility, and Mercy

One problem the religious leaders during Jesus’ ministry had was majoring in minors.  The statement of Christ:

Matthew 23:23 NKJV 23 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.

Which echoes:

Hosea 6:6 NKJV 6 For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

Micah 6:8 NKJV 8 He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?

Gratitude is the foundation for what follows.  When It finally dawns on me: what God has done for me, how can I not feel thankful, profoundly so, and want to show Him that I appreciate His kindness?

1 Corinthians 4:7 NKJV 7 For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?

James 1:17-18 NKJV 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. 18 Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.

Humility is the result of gratitude.  If I am created by God (in His image BTW) and blessed by God – then what is so special about me because of something I have done myself?  Perhaps it is time to revisit the parable of the Pharisee and publican.

Luke 18:9-14 NKJV 9 Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men–extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ 13 And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

I have listed humility in the middle of this trilogy, and I think it is pivotal.  If I am humble, I will probably do the other two.  Here are some “Humility Helps”:

• Begin listing your own shortcomings
• Spend more time thinking about your blessings than about your perceived needs
• Do not wear your feelings on your sleeve, determine that you cannot be offended
• In a time of conflict, carefully evaluate your own thoughts.  Is this a true issue, or simply some drama I want to participate in?  Is it that big of a deal?  Does it really matter?  Is this my way of getting attention?  Be ready to ‘move on.’
• Try real hard to remember the example of Jesus.  Meditate on Him.

Mercy is what I will naturally feel toward others if I have mastered gratitude and humility.  It should come automatically for the thankful, humble Christian.  By definition, the person needing mercy is undeserving of it.

Ephesians 4:32 NKJV 32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you.

1 Peter 2:21-23 NKJV 21 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: 22 “Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth” [quoted from Isaiah 53.9] 23 who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously;

Mercy and Sin

We must not confuse showing mercy and condoning sin.  It is easy to unintentionally do this when we show mercy/compassion to a sinner.  We must impact the sinner with compassion, while the sinner is guilty of wrong.  Keeping the two separate – mercy and sin – can sometimes be a challenge.

God clearly loves the sinner and wants us to do the same as we imitate Him.

Be like God:

Ephesians 4 ESV 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Ephesians 5:1 NKJV 1 Therefore be imitators of God as dear children.

1 Peter 1:15-16 NKJV 15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”

Who loves sinners and offers to save (forgive) them:

Matthew 9:13 NKJV 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.

Luke 19:10 NKJV 10 for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.

1 John 3:5 NKJV 5 And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin.

In some cases we keep our distance from condoning sin, perhaps because we may feel little mercy toward the sinner.  Two examples:

(1)  The drunk driver who murders an innocent person

(2)  The shooter or suicide bomber who murders a group of innocent people

In other cases, we may be tempted to go beyond showing mercy and compassion (which God does) to implying that the sin is not wrong (which God never does).  This is more likely to happen when socially and culturally “acceptable” sins are committed.  Two examples:

(1)  Adultery, where two consenting adults have sex outside of marriage

(2)  Homosexuality, where two consenting adults of the same sex have a sexual relationship with or without “marriage”

Drunkenness, murder, adultery, and homosexuality are all condemned in the New Testament, but we may have different attitudes toward the individual sins because of current cultural sensitivities which may often be promoted through the media, especially television.

Now, in the two sets of cases I gave above: each set has a problem.  In the first set of two cases, probably no mercy/compassion is going to be shown to the sinner.  That is not being like God, who is “merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth” (Exodus 34.6).

In the second set of cases, sympathy for (and perhaps identification with) the sinner may cause an overflow of mercy, perhaps even becoming emotional – while the reality of the self-inflicted wound of sin becomes muted (IMHO due to cultural influences).

Here is an example from the life of Jesus.  In John 14 we have the story of Jesus healing a man who had been crippled for 38 years.  Jesus told him:

John 5:14 NKJV 14 …See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.

Jesus clearly showed compassion to the man by healing him, but Jesus warned him about the continued practice of his sin.

Why do we sometimes have a tendency to say that sin is not that bad?  Well, I don’t know, but here are a few ideas.  (1) We have allowed the influence of Babylon to get into the church.  “Babylon” is code for the sinful things of the world: worldliness in the church.  (2) We become emotional and allow our emotions to erode our reason and cloud our judgment.  Someone says, “poor me”, and we agree with them.  (3) We may be tempted with the same sin ourselves and so we make a preemptive attempt to save face in case we succumb to temptation and are discovered.  “This” sin is not really that bad.  An example would be a straight person saying adultery is not that bad because it is not unnatural.

The Christian life is in some ways easy:

Matthew 11:28-30 NKJV 28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.

And in some ways hard:

Luke 14:26-27, 33 NKJV 26 If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. 27 And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. … 33 So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.

But it ALWAYS requires commitment to the way of Jesus:

Luke 9:23-26 NKJV 23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. 24 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. 25 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? 26 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels.”

We have no choice but to live “in” our culture.  Yet, the Christian must in the ultimate sense live “above” it, because he or she is living the life of Christ.  Let’s hate sin – and love the sinner.  We were created in God’s image.  Let’s work to restore it by living in God’s image.

Humility = Weakness?

You will recall Moses, of Mt. Sinai and 10 commandments fame.  Yes, that Moses.  Do you remember the events that transpired back in camp while Moses was on Mt. Sinai with Yahweh receiving the Torah?  Ah yes, the sordid golden calf debacle.  Do you remember the details of that story?  Allow me to refresh you.

God told Moses that the people had corrupted themselves by making and worshiping the idol.  It is an easy inference from the Exodus text that they also committed fornication before the calf.  These two things, worship and fornication, were often associated in Canaanite idolatry.  Moses pleaded with God, who had determined to destroy the existing Israelite nation and start afresh with Moses.  Moses successfully convinced God to spare them.

When Moses returned to camp and beheld the spectacle, to employ some English understatement, he was disappointed.  Here’s what he did.

Then he took the calf which they had made, burned it in the fire, and ground it to powder; and he scattered it on the water and made the children of Israel drink it. (Exodus 32:20 NKJV)

Moses directly  confronted his older brother, Aaron, who had been complicit in the calf episode.  Aaron wanted no part of the wrath of Moses and, attempting to shift the blame from himself to the  people,  responded thusly:

So Aaron said, “Do not let the anger of my lord become hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil.” (Exodus 32:22 NKJV)

Though there is no extant video of Moses, Clint Eastwood’s icy stare may closely resemble the look Moses gave Aaron. 

Well, we could go on from here and recount how the Levites, at Moses’ behest, slew 3,000 of the unrepentant Israelites with the edge of the sword, but we’ll leave that for another time.

To say Moses was strong and assertive would be an understatement.  And yet, amazingly, we read this of Moses:

Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth. (Numbers 12:3 NKJV)

Moses was not weak – he was strong – and he was humble.

Moses was fearless in taking a stand for what was right, while at the same time keeping the best interest of the people he was leading before his own personal credit.  I believe that is a key.  Moses cared about God’s rights,  but he didn’t care about his own.  Therefore, he could be humble and this is what is meant by humility.

So, can I be like Moses?  Can I put others before myself in an attempt to help us all be more like Jesus?  Paul had something to say about this:

Let no one seek his own, but each one the other’s well -being. (1 Corinthians 10:24 NKJV)

Again:

Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. (Philippians 2:4 NKJV)

And then, the example of Timothy:

But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, that I also may be encouraged when I know your state. For I have no one like-minded, who will sincerely care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 2:19-21 NKJV)

Let us all show true strength by humbly putting Christ first and others before ourselves.

Faulkner and I

…I discovered that my own little postage stamp of native soil was worth writing about and that I would never live long enough to exhaust it… William Faulkner, 1956

As everyone at White’s Chapel is by now weary of hearing, William Faulkner, of Oxford, Mississippi and now deceased, is by far my favorite secular author.  This is in part because he is a master teller of tales and in part because I can identify with so much of what he wrote about from my childhood,  lived 90 miles from Faulkner’s Oxford and fictional Jefferson, county seat of Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi.

Many think William Faulkner was the best American novelist of the 20th century.  Hemingway and Fitzgerald would complete the triumvirate – but Faulkner is Caesar.  Conrad, Tolkien and Rowling (if you consider Harry Potter serious work) are all British.

Encouraged by his friend, Sherwood Anderson, Faulkner decided to focus his writing on what he knew best – his “own little postage stamp of native soil.”  Most of his work is set in Yoknapatawpha County which is patterned after his home county of Lafayette.  The county seat of Lafayette is Oxford, which basically becomes Jefferson in Faulkner’s stories.  If you have ever read Faulkner, you know those two words: Jefferson and Yoknapatawpha.

Now to the lecture at hand.

I spend some time (probably too much) thinking about things I can’t change.  I can get upset, and even emotional about them.  A photo, with accompanying story, in a newspaper I read online sent me off again a couple of days ago.  As I pondered things, I decided I needed to do with my life what Faulkner decided to do with his writing.  I need to concentrate on what I know best, my own little postage stamp.  I need to work to change the things I can actually change.  So, I wrote this:

I Cannot

I cannot stop all the wars.  I cannot end all the dying and suffering.  I cannot stop the hurting of the injured and the suffering of the families of the injured and the dead.  I cannot look at the photograph in the newspaper of a young fallen soldier, who reminds me in his physical appearance of my own sons so much there even seems to be a physical resemblance – and wish him back to life.  I have no words for his parents to make his death somehow “worth it,” to explain to them how it is better that he is now dead rather than alive.  If I had those words, I would speak them.  If I knew where the button was that would end the suffering and death, I would push it.  But, I cannot do it.  I am powerless over events in the big picture.

I cannot make people live like they are supposed to live.  I cannot force people to give like they are supposed to, to keep themselves sexually pure, to show mercy and forgiveness, to stop getting their feelings hurt over trivia.  I cannot make people compare their suffering to what Jesus endured and understand how easy their life is.  I cannot put an end to greed, selfishness, and arrogance.  I cannot make people really put Jesus first in their lives.  I just can’t.

I Can

I can live in personal peace with my neighbor.  I can be easy to get along with.  I can turn the other cheek, go the second mile, and freely give to those who would forcibly take from me.  I can believe the Beatitudes – and actually try to live them.  I can seek and pursue peace in my own life, my own family, and my own congregation/church.

I can do my best to set a good Christian example before my fellow man.  I can teach others by my life that there is a better way to live than to follow the crowd.  I can try to make my personal world a better place for all in it – because I am in it.

I can do the best I can.  You do the best you can.

Thinking About My Rights

These are a few thoughts that have come to mind as a result of a discussion some of us had on my Facebook page.

I possess no lien on God.  He is not indebted to me and by extension, neither is His creation.  You are not indebted to me.  No one on the planet is owed anything by God.  On the contrary, everyone on the planet is owed everything by me.  I am indebted to God and I am indebted to you.

We love Him because He first loved us. (1 John 4:19 NKJV)

…And what do you have that you did not receive? ….(1 Corinthians 4:7 NKJV)

… it is required in stewards that one be found faithful. (1 Corinthians 4:2 NKJV)

I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise. So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel…. (Romans 1:14-15 NKJV)

Paul felt a debt to his neighbor, whoever that neighbor was and whatever that neighbor looked like.  He felt a debt to show them Christ.  He felt that debt because he knew that everything he had was given to him by God and he wanted to act like he understood that and appreciated that.  Paul did not teach wanting more, but giving more.  Paul learned that from Jesus.  Paul felt this way because he had some small sliver of an idea of what it meant to be loved by God.  He knew he would never in this life grasp completely the fullness of the reality of God’s incomprehensible love for mankind, and especially for him personally, but, he knew God’s love was there.  He could feel its fire in his heart.  Paul loved God because God first loved Paul (as John would say).  Paul understood that the practical, day-to-day manner of showing that love for God was to love his neighbor as himself, as his Lord had taught and modeled.

Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him,” ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ “This is the first and great commandment. “And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ “On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:35-40 NKJV, emphasis mine, John)

My mission is not to try and make my neighbor feel guilty because he is not loving me enough, but to show my love for him, whether he loves me back or not.  Remember this?

Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. (Matthew 7:12 NKJV)

Jesus didn’t say to treat others right if they treated you right.  He didn’t say to treat others right to get them to treat you right.  He just said to be good to people: to treat others like you would want to be treated, to love them as yourself.  You know, that’s not real hard to understand.  But, it takes an outward focus.  If I am thinking about “me” all the time, I’ll never be able to focus on you.  The more I think about receiving, the less I can think about giving.  Jesus wants givers.  He wants us to be like Him, the One who GAVE.

…the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. (Matthew 20:28 NKJV)

[Jesus] emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:7-8 RSV)

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! (2 Corinthians 9:15 NKJV)

The desire to be served gets in the way of the desire to serve.  I cannot empty myself if I am constantly trying to fill myself.  If I want to give gifts, I will have to forget getting and concentrate on giving.  I will have to do what Paul did.

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me….(Galatians 2:20 NKJV)

Which is what Jesus taught…

…If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. (Luke 9:23-24 NKJV)

…and what Jesus did.

…I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself.  (John 10:17-18 NKJV)

Do I have rights?  Not me.  When I sinned the first time I forfeited all of them, if I ever had any in the first place.  Does my neighbor?  Sure they do…they have all the rights…not with God…but with me.  I owe them, because of what God has done for me and because the way He said to say “thank you” is to go serve them.  If my emphasis is on them serving me, I will never get around to serving them.  I will never even begin to love my neighbor as myself, which is the very thrust of Christian ethics.

My emphasis on my rights, at the expense of yours, is spiritual suicide for me.

Thinking About Mercy

We humans sometimes act a lot like dogs.  We are often given to overestimating threats and overreacting to perceived injuries.  If Jesus had acted like we do – would there ever have been a Cross?

That’s a serious question.  As I continually evaluate my personal efforts to imitate the life of Jesus, I need to think about that.

We humans also are frequently selfish.  We don’t have time for the one in need of mercy because we are pursuing our own “needs” for consumption.  After all, I’m making it fine, why couldn’t the other guy do that too.  See, it’s all about me.  What if Jesus had felt that way?  Really.

If my neighbor is in need of mercy, they may indeed not deserve it.  That’s what mercy is.  It involves helping someone who doesn’t deserve it.  That’ what Jesus did for me on The Cross.  I must do the same.  I must take up my cross and follow Him.

It will be easier for me to show mercy if I will meditate on what Jesus has done for me.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, (1 Peter 1:3 NKJV, emphasis mine, John)

God is merciful to me.  I could not receive His salvation without His mercy because I am so undeserving.  If I have difficulty showing mercy to someone else, maybe it is because I don’t realize how much mercy God has shown me.  Maybe it is because I don’t appreciate the mercy God has shown me.  Maybe I don’t think I need God’s mercy because I am “entitled.”

I do not understand how one can comprehend the mercy of God and not be a merciful person.  I need to meditate on God’s amazing mercy.

Even an elementary grasp of the beauty of God’s mercy towards me should help me see the divine wisdom of pursuing a life of mercy myself.

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, … (James 3:17 NKJV, emphasis mine, John)

A wise person is one who shows mercy.

I guess it all comes down to this: if I want to go to heaven when I die, I will need mercy to get there.  I will not recieve mercy if I do not show it. These words of Jesus below may be so familiar that we just read right through them.  Slow down and think about what Jesus’ saying means.

Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy. (Matthew 5:7 NKJV)

When I realize more fully God’s mercy to me, it becomes easier for me to show mercy to others.  When I show mercy to others, my understanding and appreciation of God’s mercy grows.  Knowing mercy produces mercy.  Showing mercy increases personal joy and shows Jesus to the world.

Thinking About Worship

Any attitude that focuses on what I wish to receive instead of what I wish to give will hinder me in my worship.  I want to worship God because I believe Him to be real and because I believe Him to be good.  Attitudes of humility, gratitude, and reverence will help me in my worship.

My worship should focus on who God is and what He has done for His creation.  I am so grateful that He loves me and shows mercy to me.  I want to tell Him that I am aware of His love and appreciate it.  Worship is one way I can do that.

Jesus teaches us that God wants us to worship Him in “spirit and truth.”

…true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:23-24 NKJV)

I worship in truth when I worship as the church did in the New Testament period.

I worship in spirit when my attitude is correct in worship.  My attitude would include such traits as humility, gratitude, and reverence.  One direction of my attitude should be inward, to purge my heart of any emphasis on the things of this earthly life.  However, the main direction of my attitude should be outward/upward, to concentrate my thoughts on God in His holiness.  I must be acutely aware that as I worship the Father, I am in the very presence of His throne.  Though I remain on earth, it is as if I have entered heaven itself and kneel before my Maker.  Awe and respect must characterize my being.

In proper worship I may keenly experience the blessing of 2 Peter 1.4:

His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. (2 Peter 1:3-4 NKJV, emphasis mine, John)

Jesus has promised that where His people are gathered, He is present with them.

For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them. (Matthew 18:20 NKJV)

Surely God’s blessing that we may be “partakers of the divine nature” is fulfilled when the faithful church assembles together and worships in spirit and truth.  Surely one of the greatest blessings I can know in this physical body is reverent and devout worship.  What could be more serious than this time?  What could call for a more diligent concentrating of all my mental and emotional energies? Am I giving proper thought to my worship?

If I view my worship the way I view a trip to the store, or to a concert, or to a ball game, or visiting a restaurant – that I am a consumer and the purpose of the events of the worship time is to meet my needs – I will most certainly be disappointed.  I will be disappointed because I did not worship.  I was there, but I did no more than occupy a pew.  I might as well have been an inanimate song book that someone left on the seat from the last service.  I gave nothing – so I received nothing.

It is rather simple to get the outward forms of worship correct.  But remember God’s chastisement of His people in the Old Testament (who had the form right and thought that was good enough).

For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. (Hosea 6:6 NKJV)

Yes, I am aware that that is Old Testament.  Would it be better if Jesus quoted it?

But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance. (Matthew 9:13 NKJV)

He even does it again three chapters later.

But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. (Matthew 12:7 NKJV)

The Jews thought God was obligated to bless them because they had the outward forms of worship correct.  But, their hearts were all messed up.  God would except neither them nor their worship.  It is the same with me in 2010.  If my attitude is not pure, holy, sincere, serious, grateful, humble, reverent, etc. – my correctness of outward form will be meaningless to God.  Partaking of the divine nature will be something I will never know.

Worship is not play time, visit time, daydream time, nap time or any kind of time except God time.  I shall take nothing in my life more seriously than my approach to God in worship.

Give unto the LORD the glory due to His name; Worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. (Psalms 29:2)

Thinking About Gratitude

I have nothing that I did not receive.  I did not earn the Christian family that raised me.  I did not earn the privilege of receiving an education.  I did not earn having a more than adequate house in which to live or having more than enough food and clothing.  I surely did not earn the fine wife I have lived with for 37 years or the three good children she bore me.  Above all, I did not earn The Cross.

For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? (1 Corinthians 4:7 NKJV)

I must be grateful for all these good things, for what would my life be without them?  How rude I would be if I were not thankful.  I must constantly focus on the Source of the incomprehensible goodness that my Father continually rains upon me.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. (James 1:17 NKJV)

Every morning I will praise You, o merciful God.  Every noon I will rejoice in thankfulness for Your tender mercies.  Every evening I will thank You for the gift of my salvation and the protection of Your love.  Every night I will pray for wisdom and strength to be more and more like Your holy Son that my life may show Christ to my neighbors and gratefulness to You.

Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. (Psalms 103:2-5 NKJV)

Every one of my “possessions” is evidence of the goodness of the Lord.  If I were to count His blessings, I could never stop.  I would run out of numbers and my life would surely end before the full extent of His kindness was duly noted.  I cannot look in any direction that I do not see His love.  Even that which appears at first indifferent, or even unfortunate, will show His love if I look at it properly, recognizing His sovereignty, my insignificance, and yet His interest in me.

Why does the All-Mighty desire a loving relationship with me?  Who can fathom it?   This fact, revealed clearly in the Bible, is beyond my ability to comprehend.  Why?  Yet, He does.

I will meditate on the goodness of my God.  I will thank Him with my prayers.  I will do so without ceasing.  I will thank Him through the words of kindness I offer to my neighbor.  I will thank Him through acts of mercy to those who seem undeserving.  I will thank Him with the choice to form Christ in my life.  I will never stop thanking the Good Lord. I will remember to:

pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thessalonians 5:17-18 NKJV)

Thinking About Humility

Admitting the enormity of my own personal sinfulness is the first step toward humility.  If I am unwilling to admit my own personal sinfulness, I will never know humility.  Contemplation of the perfect life of Jesus helps me understand just how sinful, how imperfect, I have chosen to live my life.  Even though I may have the desire to always do, say, and think the good thing, my will often fails me.  The fault for that failure lies with me and me alone.

Why do I fall so short of the life of my Lord?  Why do I allow the words and deeds of others to influence me to be more like the world and less like the Christ?  Who do I want to please or impress?  Why do I care what others may say or think?

I am far, far from perfect.  If I will admit that, I can begin to grow humility.  Humility begins with understanding my sinfulness and confessing my failure to be what I ought to be.  I must compare myself to Jesus, not to my friends.  Even though I may be closer, even much closer, to Jesus than I used to be – still, a great chasm separates my lived life from the life He lived as my Example.

When I truly contemplate Christ, humility overwhelms me.  I have so much yet to learn.   I have so much yet to believe.  I have so far yet to go.  Who will help me?  I thank God: Jesus Christ Himself.

If I will become a humble person, God will reach for me and lift me up.  If I will know humility beyond talking and thinking, if I will know it – the debilitating disease of fear will vanish from my body and I will find myself free to serve, love, and forgive.  When the recognition of God’s mercy toward me causes me to humble myself, I will find a peace and a joy that I never knew existed.

Humility causes the heart to glow.  Humility causes me to see my neighbor in a new and clearer light.  Humility crushes paranoia.  Humility helps me understand who I am and the purpose of my being.  Humility is forgiveness.  Humility is power.  Humility is love.

God is love.

Epistle to Diognetus – c200 A.D.

This is a letter thought to have been written in the late second century.  It is a description of typical Christians of that time.  

"CHAPTER 5
 5:1  For Christians are not distinguished from the
rest of mankind either in locality or in speech or in
customs.
 5:2  For they dwell not somewhere in cities of their
own, neither do they use some different language, nor
practise an extraordinary kind of life.
 5:3  Nor again do they possess any invention
discovered by any intelligence or study of ingenious
men, nor are they masters of any human dogma as some
are.
 5:4  But while they dwell in cities of Greeks and
barbarians as the lot of each is cast, and follow the
native customs in dress and food and the other
arrangements of life, yet the constitution of their
own citizenship, which they set forth, is marvellous,
and confessedly contradicts expectation.
 5:5  They dwell in their own countries, but only as
sojourners; they bear their share in all things as
citizens, and they endure all hardships as strangers.
Every foreign country is a fatherland to them, and
every fatherland is foreign.
 5:6  They marry like all other men and they beget
children; but they do not cast away their offspring.
 5:7  They have their meals in common, but not their
wives.
 5:8  They find themselves in the flesh, and yet they
live not after the flesh.
 5:9  Their existence is on earth, but their
citizenship is in heaven.
 5:10  They obey the established laws, and they
surpass the laws in their own lives.
 5:11  They love all men, and they are persecuted by
all.
 5:12  They are ignored, and yet they are condemned.
They are put to death, and yet they are endued with
life.
 5:13  They are in beggary, and yet they make many
rich. They are in want of all things, and yet they
abound in all things.
 5:14  They are dishonoured, and yet they are
glorified in their dishonour. They are evil spoken of,
and yet they are vindicated.
 5:15  They are reviled, and they bless; they are
insulted, and they respect.
 5:16  Doing good they are punished as evil-doers;
being punished they rejoice, as if they were thereby
quickened by life.
 5:17  War is waged against them as aliens by the
Jews, and persecution is carried on against them by
the Greeks, and yet those that hate them cannot tell
the reason of their hostility." 

 Source:  www.earlychristianwritings.com

Taking a Wife

Jessica, Eric, Debbie, me. Austin was somewhere else at the moment.

Outside of the fact that we both are sincere about our Christianity and love our family, my wife and I have virtually no common interests.  Yet, we get along marvelously.  How is that?  O yeah, we like to go out to eat together, but that’s pretty much it.

I can’t imagine being married to anyone else.  We have been married 37 years.  If I could go back in time, I would marry her again.  Really.  Absolutely!  To enhance your boredom (if you’ve got this far), here are a few examples.

I just tried to read her something (which I thought quite interesting) off the internet – she walked out the door to water her flowers – which I have no interest in.  She is all up into George Strait (I spelled his name right, didn’t I?), I wouldn’t walk across the street to hear George Strait for free.  She likes loves adores country music.  That genre does nothing for me.  I prefer rock and classical (no opera though).  I don’t see the country stuff bringing a tear to my eye (it’s too predictable).  But if “Battle Cry of Freedom” is played really, really slow on a piano or Pachelbel’s “Canon” is played properly with a violin – I’ll just about choke up every time.  Figure it out….

She doesn’t enjoy reading, I do.  She likes ‘Wheel of Fortune’ and ‘Dancing with the Stars,’ I don’t.  We actually both like Alabama football.  But, truth be told, she probably likes it more than I do (she is an ex high school cheerleader and UA alum).  We both sat in bleachers countless hours watching our two sons play ball over the years.  She would scream and holler, I rarely opened my mouth.  She never missed our daughter’s “cherrie” leader games (she was the cheer coach, but she would have gone anyway).  To my shame, I only caught a couple of them over the three years she cheered on varsity.

Permit me a slight digression.  The cheerleader thing has reminded me.  When my daughter cheered, they had a number of  different outfits they wore.  One had an opening in the back of the top that was apparently surrounded by elastic to cause it to gather in, or squeeze in.  We were the Blue Devils and the girls called that outfit “Squeezy Devils.”  My sons and I thought that name was so funny.  We would always ask her on game days if they were going to wear “Squeezy Devils.”  That was a cue for her to roll her eyes and turn her head.

It takes my wife a good hour and a half to get ready, me: about 20 minutes.  I love to cook, she doesn’t.  She likes to stitch things, like afgans (if she ever has the time, which is rare).  Not me.  Doing something like that would drive me crazy in about 5 minutes max.  I’m a thinker, she’s a doer.  She’s slow, I’m  fast.  I like cows and stuff (though I no longer own any).  She’s not into that.

So, do opposites attract?  Works for me.

Reward Your Friends and Punish Your Enemies

Perhaps you have heard that saying before.  Or, maybe this variation of the Golden Rule:  Do unto others before they do unto you.  Both have the idea of doing something to the other person that the other person is not going to like.  The statements are both rooted in selfishness.  They lead to a desire for vengeance.

What is the relationship of the Christian to vengeance?  If someone wrongs you, do you want to “”get them back”?  Do you feel a need to “get even?  Who are you thinking about when you experience a desire for vengeance?  Yourself?  Think about these questions.  You don’t have to tell me.  But, tell yourself.  Tell God.

What does God say about vengeance?  That’s not hard to find:

Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. (Romans 12:19 NKJV)

Like those Bible verses that talk about forgiving someone who has wronged me or showing mercy to someone who is undeserving, this one can be hard to obey.  The verse that follows it can be even harder:

Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.” (Romans 12:20 NKJV)

I told you so.  Given the context, those are probably coals of purification, not coals of pain.  The rationale for these two verses is the third one, which follows:

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:21 NKJV)

Perhaps we could rewrite our title statement like this:  “Reward your friends, and convert your enemies.”

I believe people will present as candidates for conversion to Christianity when Christians begin to act like…well…Christians.  When others see love, mercy, forgiveness, and humility in us – I believe they’ll want to be a part of a group that lives that way.  On the other hand, if we draw a line in the sand and start looking for a fight – I believe we’ll get one.  A lot of fights end with both sides coming away losers.

If we want to fight, here’s how we should do it:

• Fight evil with good
• Fight hate with love
• Fight arrogance with humility
• Fight injustice with mercy
• Fight sin with forgiveness
• Fight war with peace

We don’t usually fight this way because to fight like this is hard.  Pulling the trigger on arrogance, hate, and war is easy.  That’s the simple way.  That’s what people expect.   Humility, love, and mercy is hard.

You know, it takes two people to argue.  Can you say, “It’ll be hard to argue with me”? Can you look for solutions that don’t involve fighting?  Here is some good advice:

For he who would love life And see good days, Let him refrain his tongue from evil, And his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good; Let him seek peace and pursue it. (1 Peter 3:10-11 NKJV)

Can you “seek peace and pursue it”?

When you think of 9-11, do you have thoughts of vengeance, or purifying good works?  Do you glory in war, or seek peace?

Forming Christ in Me

The checkout line in Wal Mart was moving slowly.  It was obviously the cashier’s first time on the register.  She had made a mistake and had called a supervisor to fix her error.  The supervisor must have been on break, because it had been at least a full minute and no help for the struggling cashier was in sight.  William, who was a member of the local church of Christ, was becoming more frustrated by the moment.  Why didn’t they hurry up?  He was here to give them money and he deserved a certain level of respect.  And, to add insult to injury, the person in front of him in line had only one item.  Did that poor soul not know there was a different line for people with only a small number of things to buy?  Everyone was out to get him, and he had done absolutely nothing to them.  Poor William.  He was going to give that cashier a piece of his mind as soon as he got the chance.  Why didn’t people do better?  What was their excuse?

Our friend William ( a fictitious name) reminds me of a few people I know, and, more painfully, all too much of myself.  I don’t know what was eating William inside, but he sure didn’t have Christ in his heart.  He felt he “deserved”?  He thought people were out to get “him”?  Since when is it all about you, William?

What we have here is a perfect opportunity for William to show grace and kindness.  He blew it.  I betcha he blew it because his understanding of what Christ had done for him when he became a Christian was pretty near zero.  Why should he show mercy when no one had shown him any mercy?  I’m thinking that was what was in his head.  How clueless can one get?  I will always believe that the way I show mercy is in direct proportion to the way I believe mercy has been shown to me.  If I believe God has been good to me, then I will be good to other people.  If I believe God has not been good to me, then…well…you know.

What William really needed was Christ in his heart.  Ol’ Will is not the first one to experience this problem.  Note Paul to the Galatian church:

My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you, (Galatians 4:19 NKJV)

That is the purpose before me every day: the formation of Christ in my life.  If He is there, I will show mercy, because that’s what He did.  If I fail to be merciful, or kind, or peaceable, or forgiving, or generous, or…you pick up from here…it must be because Christ has not been formed in me.

This is serious folks.  It doesn’t just happen.  I must work at it, pray about it, study over it, meditate upon it – Christ-likeness must be my very life – there is nothing else.

Here’s another verse:

He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked. (1 John 2:6 NKJV)

If I walk like Jesus from 10 to 12 on Sunday morning, I’m not done yet.  There is (much) work left to do.  Showing Christ in me is sure important on Sunday.  But, it is equally important all the other days of the week, including, in the checkout line in Wal Mart.

Inconvenient Questions

If everyone were a Christian, would we have wars?  Why would a Christian desire to participate in a war his/her government has declared?  When we pray in a Christian worship assembly for those in the military, should we use the phrase “fighting for our freedom”?  If we do so, are we making a political statement in our prayer?  Do you agree with Jesus’ statement “Blessed are the peacemakers”?  How would you define a “just war”?  Should a Christian seek vengeance?  If you are a soldier at war and a fellow Christian is in the opposing army, would you shoot him?  Is your religion Nationalism or Christianity?  Can you picture Jesus leading a physical army into a physical battle?  Does “Love your neighbor as yourself” involve a rifle?

Elijah Campbell Letter to Hadassah, March 15, 1866

This is a letter my civil war novel protagonist, Elijah Campbell, wrote to his deceased wife’s younger sister in the late winter of 1866.  He discusses his anger and violence and how he eventually subdued them with his Christian faith.  There are some hints to what will happen in the novel, should I ever actually write it.  There are also hints to the romantic interest that will develop between Elijah and Hadassah in the (unwritten) sequel to the (unwritten) novel.

March 15, 1866

Campbell Springs, Alabama

Dear Hadassah

It is cold and rainy here in Alabama.  There is a hint of snow in the air.  We had snow last week, enough to almost cover the ground.  That is not common for this part of our state.  Snow is not unusual north of here in the Tennessee River valley, and even on the upper Buttahatchie in Winston.  But, here on the lower Buttahatchie we get very little.

The day is so dark.  I miss your sister terribly on days such as this one.  Judith always liked the snow so much when it did come.  The last few days have seemed especially hard.  I just thought I would write you.  I hope I don’t upset you with my letters.  I know you miss your sister as much as I miss my wife.  I only have the one picture of her that I always kept with me.  All the others were lost in the fire.  I am constantly looking at my one photograph.  It is getting quite worn now from handling it.  I even kiss it.  I am afraid I will ruin it, but I miss her so much.  It is all I have left of her that I can actually touch.

You remind me so much of her, Hadassah.  Judith would always write you on your birthday.  I do not recall the exact date, but it was about this time of year.  If the day has already come you should be nineteen now.  Judith was only twenty-one when I lost her.  You know all that.  I don’t know what I am saying.  I should quit writing you.  I guess I see Judith in you, and that is not right.  I need to stop bothering you and move ahead with my life.  You are 200 miles away in Tennessee and Judith is not coming back.  I need to think about the crop for this year and the people here at Daddy’s settlement.  I must stop thinking of myself.  People here depend on me and I waste time feeling melancholy.  I must get over it.

It is my faith that has kept me going, Hadassah.  When I have those times that I droop around so, it is because I am not thinking about my faith strong enough.  When Mr. A. Campbell baptized me in Montgomery, Jesus became the most important part of my life. I could not have been more serious than I was.

As you know by now, I was so filled with anger when Judith was killed that I became terribly violent.  What I did to those three Yankee deserters when Claude and I caught up with them was an awful, awful thing.  We could have captured them.  You already know all this.  How many times will I retell it?  We surprised them and could have easily taken them prisoner.  But that would not satisfy me and my honor.  Honor is a terrible thing, Hadassah.  It makes men who are intelligent and sensible act like animals, like wild dogs.  That’s what it did to me.  Only Claude knows completely what I did, and he is the only one who will ever know.  I am ashamed of it.  It seems that if I am not dreaming about Judith when I am asleep, that I am having a nightmare about the scene at the Yankee soldier’s camp.  You cannot know what happened there.

I think my anger and violence was what drew the men to me at first.  They saw in me what they wanted to see in themselves.  They thought I was some conquering knight, straight from the Middle Ages, complete with shining armor and a gallant steed, who would right all the wrongs, real and imagined, committed against them, who would avenge the loss of their loved ones, set the globe back on its pedestal, and return their lives to before Fort Sumter and Shiloh.  That’s what I thought too, for a while.

Then my faith began to return.  It was almost lost in the flames and smoke and imagined screams when Claude and I arrived on the scene of our burning house with its roof all falling in and Judith and Isaac inside.  When we returned from our bloodletting mission , I found that my faith was right there in the ashes.  But, thankfully, the foundation survived.  After a few months, my faith began to rebuild itself.  That was my salvation for the second time.  The first time was when Elder Campbell baptized me.  The second was when my faith began to recover from losing Judith and our child.

You know it’s strange, Hadassah.  If I had not been so violent at first, no one may have followed me.  But then, after my faith returned and I started trying to be like Jesus again, well, I don’t think Mr. Lincoln would have listened to me that day in the White House if I had still been the old Elijah.  He trusted me because he knew I was sincere.  He would have just ignored me without that trust.  We both knew the Federal troops would retake the city in a matter of hours if Lee did not attack from the south.  After three or four hours it became clear that he was not going to.  But Mr. Lincoln still agreed to my proposal.  Jeff Davis had the telegraph.  Everything was laid out for him.  He would lose the slaves, but not the land.  The war was already lost.  But the Yankee army would have turned north and marched home.  Mr. Lincoln would have given the order within a week.  But Davis still lingered.  He was bereft of the manhood it took to do the right thing.  He would have lost face.  He sacrificed his people in an effort to recover his vain pride.   That war could have ended a full year before it did.  The blame for that not happening is at the feet of Jeff Davis and those who put him in power and kept him there.  But, I cannot dwell on that now.

See Hadassah, I succumb to memories of Judith or thoughts of what could have happened in Washington.  I must think about Jesus and let these other things go.  They will be the death of me if I do not release them.  I know what happens when I purge my mind of these disturbing thoughts.  I feel a great weight, like a blacksmith’s anvil, lifted from my chest.  Anger drains your strength, Hadassah.  It makes you stop being human and turns you into a wounded animal who has been hunted into a corner and will kill anything that approaches because it thinks everyone is against him.  I know.  I have been that animal.  Believe me, it is not a good life.  I do not want to live that way.

The way to live is love, love like Jesus showed.  Faith and release is the path to love.  When I love I become a good person again.  I help people without fear.  I do not care if helping them will help me or not.  I just help, I just serve, I just try to show others Christ living in my life.  People then trust me.  They love me back.  I want people to trust me, Hadassah.  They trusted my dad.  I want them to trust me.  They do when I love them.

Talking to you helps the anger go away.  I feel better now.  I know you are tired of reading my letters.  This one is much too long.  There is no other woman I can talk to.  I have said too much.  I will go now.

May God bless you, Hadassah.

Your obedient servant,

Elijah Campbell

Getting it Right

- This is from my old blog which is now inactive. -

Most of us in the South enjoy turnip greens. Have you ever tried to grow them? Turnip green culture is a rather simple and straightforward matter. Scratch up the ground a bit, introduce a few turnip green seeds and perhaps a little fertilizer, provide your greens field with a drink of water, and before very long you’re in the turnip green business.

Harvesting your bounty is no big deal either. I grab a few leaves near the top, select a spot on the sheaf of greens where the leaf to stem ratio declines to favor the stem and apply the edge of a sharpened blade leaving most of the stem with the roots. If you’re doing this for the first time, watch your fingers.

Cooking your greens is another matter. Only those uninitiated into greens cuisine would simply throw them into a pot and boil till the greens are limp, lifeless, and acquire that nauseous dark olive drab color. Nosiree! If your palate longs for taste and texture, boil them just long enough for that glorious bright green color to appear and then remove at once from the fire. Five minutes may be too long if you want to max out the flavor. I put a double pinch of sugar, and maybe a bit of oil, in the water before introducing the greens, but that’s optional. The presentation must include the obligatory pepper sauce. Not the red stuff, clear pepper sauce works best with turnip greens. Don’t forget the cornbread…and a wedge of raw onion…and some buttermilk for sipping if you’re in the mood.

Now, my little story has a purpose. While I have yet to meet a brother or sister Southerner who couldn’t grow turnip greens, getting the cooking part (just) right may take a while. It may take years of practice to “get it right.” That is, if you take a good, traditional southern plate of turnip greens seriously, as my friends and I do. Furthermore, I think it is self-evident that the more seriously you take it, the better results you will have.

As a student of the parables of our Lord, I think I see some parallels between getting it right with turnip greens and getting it right with our Christian lives. The keys are an appreciation of the seriousness of the matter and an understanding and practice of specific behaviors that will support ultimate success. I want to focus on the specific behaviors part in the rest of this essay.

Here are a few suggestions:

· Allow yourself room for growth. While perfection is your goal, don’t get discouraged and quit because you realize that your Christian life is in constant need of work. God says: as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, (1 Peter 2:2 NKJV). If God commands growth, He surely allows it!
· Cultivate an attitude of seriousness. Your Christian life is all that really matters. Period! That’s it. Everything else doesn’t just not really matter. It doesn’t matter at all. Family life is included in your Christian life. Health is good. But you don’t have to have it. Money can help out. But you don’t have to have it either. Education is a good thing. But education in the Bible is all that will ultimately make any difference. God says: But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers. (1 Peter 4:7 NKJV). Would you be a better person if you took your Christian life as seriously as you take sports? If Alabama or Auburn win (or lose) every game they ever play, what effect will that have on your life? In case you’re having to think about that, let me answer the question for you – it won’t have any. Let’s get serious about what is serious.
· Practice doing good. Compile a list of Christian character traits. Pick one and work specifically on developing that trait today. Look for opportunities to manifest that particular character. Be creative, and pay attention to your surroundings. Plenty of opportunities are out there if you are alert for them. At the end of the day, think about what you have done. How could you have done it better? What opportunities did you miss? What chances to be salt and light would you have missed if you had not been looking for them? Pick another trait for tomorrow and work on it. Do this every day. After a couple of weeks, is better Christian behavior becoming a habit? If you’re sticking to the plan, it will. Here’s a good starter list of Christian attitudes and actions. There are lots of lists like this in the Bible. God says: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23 NKJV). If you want to experience purpose and fullness in your life, when you get dressed every morning, put on these.
· Do the unexpected. Pick out someone you don’t like. Perhaps they have wronged you in some way. I imagine that’s what the Bible means by your enemies. Now do this. Forgive them. Even though they haven’t asked for it. Even though they don’t deserve it. Even though it’s hard. Just do it (thanks Nike). Don’t allow them to control your mind. You control it, and forgive them. You’re not finished. After forgiving them, pray for them. Go before God and petition Him on their behalf. You can ask Him to help them change their behavior if you want. But, think about their needs, and not yours. You’re still not done. Do something good for them. It can be a kind deed, or a good word. But it needs to personally impact them. Just having good thoughts about them won’t get it done. When you have finished doing something good for them, even though they don’t deserve it, you have acted like God – who sent His Son to die for you – even though you didn’t deserve it. Here’s a Bible text. Again, there are lots of them. God says: For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (Matthew 6:14-15 NKJV). Kinda scary, isn’t it? Here’s another one: Therefore If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head. (Romans 12:20 NKJV). I’m not sure what the “coals of fire” mean. But I’m highly suspicious (note especially verse 19) that they are not coals of vengeance, but coals of purification.
· Work on your thoughts, you deeds will tend to follow. What do you think about? When you drive to work tomorrow, what will occupy your mind? Bathroom humor from the depraved radio? You can do better. Garbage in, garbage out applies to more than computers. Maybe you own some Bible audio CD’s. That’s a great start. Remember that list of Christian character traits you compiled in bullet-point three? Try thinking about those. What does each one mean? Who in the Bible effectively modeled those traits in addition to Jesus? How did Jesus demonstrate them in His life? Who is someone that you know today that shows what Christianity is like with their life? How do they do it? Have you seen times when they acted like a Christian when it was surely hard for them to do so? How is the Christian life the best life there is? How are you using your Christian life to influence others? How can you do a better job as you change other people for the better with your Christian example? The list of good, positive thoughts is endless. God says: Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy–meditate on these things. (Philippians 4:8 NKJV). Another: Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night. (Psalms 1:1-2 NKJV). Who is the person that God says He will bless? The one who meditates on His word. What are you thinking about?
· Know where you’re going. “All roads lead to Rome,” but there is only one highway to heaven. Make sure you’re on it. The Bible teaching on how to become a Christian and how to live the Christian life is not rocket science. Meaning, it’s not hard to understand, though it may be sometimes hard to do. I am convinced that to a very significant extent, it’s as hard as you make it. If you try to hang on to the world and be drawn by the word of God at the same time, it will be hard, and you will ultimately fail. But if you let go of the world, if you can get to the point where, regarding the things of the world – you just don’t care – then the Christian life becomes doable. Even, at times, somewhat easy – at least, easier than it used to be. God said He would get the faithful Christian to heaven. Believe Him. Trust Him. Live a Christ-controlled life. You’ll get there. God keeps His word. Here’s your text, God says: And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. (1 John 5:11-13 NKJV). Ban doubt from your mind. Run over it with your Christian life and leave it dead on the side of the road as you drive confidently down the highway charted by God’s word, the highway to heaven. The devil will try to manipulate you any way he can. He will mess with your mind. Don’t let him. Let God own your mind and your life will follow.

Getting it right means following a recipe, and we have the perfect recipe book – the infallible word of God. God gave you all the necessary ingredients when He created you in His image. You just need to follow the correct procedure to complete the preparation. The end product is Christ in you.

My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you, (Galatians 4:19 NKJV)

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. (Galatians 2:20 NKJV)

To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27 NKJV)

The Water and the Bridge

Taken from Sipsey River bridge near White's Chapel Church of Christ. You can see the remains of the old bridge in the background.

I was enjoying my lunch the other day at one of the local eateries.  A creek crossed the road nearby and I had just driven across the bridge traversing it.  That experience got me to thinking.  We sometimes look back over our life, perhaps to some distant event that was a part of it, and say, “A lot of water has gone under the bridge since then.”  So, here’s what I got to thinking.

The water just keeps on moving.  You often wish it would slow down and not move so fast.  You wish you could grab it with your hands and hold on to it.  But, when you try, it just slips right away.  It doesn’t slow down at all.  You want to hit pause and make the moment linger, make it last so you can milk it for all its got.  You want to savor it, but the water won’t stop.  You long for a bucket to at least catch part of it.  But when you put the bucket in the water, it acts like a sieve, everything goes straight through.  It won’t even slow down, much less stay put for awhile.

You keep struggling.  If the water won’t stop, maybe it will just move more slowly.  If it won’t move slower, maybe you can catch some of it in your bucket and take it with you.  But the bucket is full of holes and your efforts are futile.  There is nothing you can do.  The river rolls on.

The water under the bridge is our life moving through time.  We can’t stop it for awhile, revel in the present, and then make it pick back up again.  The water keeps moving.  The clock keeps ticking.  Time won’t cooperate by kindly stopping and waiting while I enjoy the moment.  Time won’t back up and allow me to revisit the past, either to correct some ill-advised blunder, or to linger for a time in those lost days that I can never reclaim.

How I would like to go back and date my wife again, or change one thing I failed miserably at in high school because of my own stupidity and fear, or redo some of the time spent in college, or make some business decisions differently, or play with my kids when they were growing up, or ask Dad some things I couldn’t think of while he was still alive, or . . . the list goes on – it’s endless.

But the water keeps moving, right on under the bridge.  Why won’t it stop for me?  I’m not that bad of a guy.  Can’t I just get it to back up a few miles . . . a few years?  The water just flows on, ignoring my questions.  If it would just talk to me, I think I could convince it by reason.  But the only response I get is silence.  The river is mute, and apparently deaf.

So, what do I do?  If time won’t stop for me, much less back up, I guess I’ll just have to stay in my boat and make the most of the ride.

This all reminds me of the words of the Old Testament prophet Amos:

But let justice run down like water, And righteousness like a mighty stream. (Amos 5:24 NKJV)

As I sail down the stream which is my life, let me leave in my wake the honorable treatment of my fellow man and an abundance of Christian good deeds.  The main thing is not to stop the river, but to determine its proper course.

We must not forget the words of the Lord to the woman by the well in Samaria:

…whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. (John 4:14 NKJV)

Jesus is that Water of Life.  My brother sees that water when he sees Jesus living in me.  This must be the constant daily goal of my life – that others will see Christ in me.

I cannot stop the water from passing under the bridge.  But I can sure determine its quality.  If I let Jesus purify my life, the water in which my boat is sailing becomes pure along with it. The goal is to make every liter of my water that passes under my bridge to be pure . . . because it comes from Jesus.

Sermon on the Mount – Matthew 7

Here is the final “targum” on the Sermon on the Mount.  I am offering my expanded paraphrase only this time.  The Bible text is Matthew 7.1-29.  The purpose of paraphrasing is to make the words of Jesus our own, to understand what He was saying, and to contemplate how I can better incorporate these truths into my personal life.  The words of Jesus bless me to the extent that I live them out day by day. The Master’s words will do that for anyone.

I have divided the text into sections and omitted the verse numbers.  Here is my paraphrase.

- Instead of always being ready to condemn someone else, look at your own behavior first.  If you are always finding fault with others, they will tend to find fault with you.  People have a tendency to point out some minor bad behavior in someone else’s life, when there is major bad behavior in their own life.  This is an attempt to shift the attention from themselves to another person.  You don’t be like that.  Let it be obvious to all that your own life is one of constant humility and repentance, and that you are seriously trying every day to improve your Christian life.  You will then be in a better position to help others improve their Christian lives.  As an individual disciple, you will want to help everyone, but simply won’t have time to personally minister to every person you see.  Some that you will try to help don’t want to be helped and won’t let you help them.  You would have to fight them to help them.  Don’t fight them, just move on to someone else, who wants to be helped, and minister to them.

- I want to bless you so bad.  If you will ask Me, I will give.  If you will try hard, you will be rewarded.  If you will keep at it, your life will be a blessing.  I have the ability to bless you without limit.  If you will live as I teach you to live, this is the best way for you to live, I will overwhelm you with blessings.  If your own children ask you for something they need, you don’t fuss at them for asking, you give them what they need.  You are imperfect, yet you do these good things.  How much more will your Father in heaven, who is infinite in His perfection, give you the good things that you need.  Make your life a life of prayer.

- The way “Love your neighbor as yourself” looks in practice is this:  you treat others the way you would want them to treat you if your situations were reversed.

- There are two highways.  One is a narrow gravel road.  The other is a broad interstate.  Most people are flying through life along with everyone else on the interstate.  But, the bridge over the river on the interstate is out ahead.  They have been warned repeatedly, but have chosen to ignore the warnings and race ahead.  The narrow, winding gravel road isn’t fancy and most people miss it, but it leads to a peaceful farm in the valley where sits a white house with a big front porch and supper cooking in the oven – and no bridge is out.

- Not everyone will teach the truth.  Watch out for people like that.  They will present themselves as completely innocent, but they are very dangerous.  You can judge them by their lives, carefully examining what they say, and by the results of their teaching.  You would not expect to gather grapes or figs from a briar bush.  A good fruit tree will give you good fruit, but you won’t get any from a bad tree.  It just doesn’t work that way.  The bad trees are eventually cut down, piled up, and burned.  You will know a teacher by the results of his teaching.  Not everyone who says they are a Christian, really is one.  A real Christian is one who obeys the will of God.

- Let me tell you what the person is like who lives like I am teaching.  He is like one who builds a house on a carefully prepared foundation.  The winds and floods rage against it, but it remains standing, because of that solid foundation.  The one who ignores My teaching is like someone who builds his house without a proper foundation, he just builds on the ground.  When that house faces the winds and floods, it will fall, quickly and violently.

- This is the end of Jesus’ sayings on this particular occasion.  The people were amazed because Jesus, unlike the rabbis they were used too, knew what He was talking about.

Sermon on the Mount – Matthew 6

I am worried that many Christians do not really believe Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.  In this sermon Jesus presents a way of living marked by humility, mercy, and service to others.  I am concerned that these Christian character markers have become merely talking points and not living points by many who loudly profess to be followers of the Master.  Such will simply not do.  If Christians are to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, there must be something distinctive about our lives – not just what we claim and preach, but what we actually do.  The Sermon on the Mount is an excellent summary statement of the way Christianity is to look in the daily lives of its adherents.  I just wish we truly believed it.

In an attempt to help us (myself included) better understand the Lord’s teaching in this sermon, I am continuing my expanded paraphrase of it.  Hopefully, a better understanding will lead to a better faith and a better practice.

Below you will find the Bible text first in regular type with my thoughts under it in italics.  The text has been divided into sections.  I would like to have your comments as it is important to me that I get this right.  Thanks.

Matthew 6

1 Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven.

2 Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.

3 But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,

4 that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.

- Don’t just do good things when others are around because you think you will impress them.  This won’t impress God.  When you do something good, don’t make an announcement of it.  Only hypocrites do that.  And when they do, they get what they were seeking: the praise of men.  When you see an opportunity to do good, just do it.  Don’t care if anyone knows about it or not.  Even if your good work or good word is known only to God, He will reward you.  Live to please God, not to please men.

5 And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.

6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

7 And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.

8 Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.

- And when you pray, don’t show off.  If the purpose of your prayer is to impress others, then that’s the only reward you will get.  When you pray, it is to be between you and God.  If your prayers come from your personal relationship with God, everyone will see how He blesses you.  Also, in your prayers don’t keep repeating the same phrases over and over.  People who do that are not thinking about God, but themselves and how they think God is impressed with their many words.  Don’t be that way.  God knows perfectly well what you need, even before you ask for it.

9 In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.

10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.

11 Give us this day our daily bread.

12 And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.

13 And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

- Here’s a model of how you should pray.  “Our Father in heaven, we praise your name.  May Your kingdom increase.  May Your will be done as perfectly here on earth as it is in heaven.  Bless us with the material things we need.  Forgive us of our sins, as we remember to forgive those who have sinned against us.  Help us to avoid temptation and give us strength when we have to face it.  The kingdom is Yours, the power is Yours, the glory is Yours – now and forever.

14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

15 “But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

- You must forgive those who wrong you if you expect God to forgive you, for you have certainly wronged Him.  If you are forgiving, you will be forgiven.  If you are not forgiving, you will not be forgiven.

16 Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.

17 But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,

18 so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

- When you fast, don’t try to look like you are suffering, but clean yourself up.  God knows what you are doing and He will bless you if it is good.

19 Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal;

20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

- Don’t make your main investment in this life, too many things can go wrong here and the things here don’t last very long.  Instead, make your main investment in heaven, where nothing ever goes wrong and nothing ever wears out.

22 The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.

23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

24 No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

- You see with your eyes and go where you wish to go.  If you have good eyes, you will see clearly and successfully move about.  But if your eyes are bad, there is no telling where you will wind up.  You could easily hurt yourself.  If your eyes are poor, it is a terrible thing.  There are two kinds of masters: the world and the Lord.  As your eyes will be either good or bad, with predictable results, you must choose the correct master.  You can’t have it both ways.  If you love the world, you don’t love God.  You cannot serve God while pursuing the world.

25 Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?

26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

28 So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin;

29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

31 Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’

32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.   (NKJV)

- Just don’t worry about this life.  Don’t get all caught up in eating and drinking and having.  Your life is more than what you eat and your body is more than what you dress it in.  Look outside at the birds, they neither plant nor harvest; But God takes care of them.  Aren’t you worth a lot more than they?  Does worrying about things change them?  So why do it?  Look at Solomon in all his wealth.  He wasn’t clothed as well as the wild flowers along the side of the road. They are mowed down and left where they fall.   God provides for them and He will for you.  Where is your faith?  Don’t worry yourself about food or drink or clothing.  Those who don’t know God are chasing those things.  Your Father in heaven knows very well what you need.  Here’s what you do:  you chase God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness, you pursue that, and let God take care of your worldly needs.  Don’t worry about the future and what trouble it might bring.  Concentrate on today, there are plenty of things that need your attention right now.