Dreams of a White Christmas

The other day, we went to the lake for a picnic dressed in shorts and short sleeve shirts. On December 20. Five days before Christmas. The day before the winter solstice. It was 74 degrees. I’m still not used to the December winter in Arizona. Having spent most of my seven decades in Michigan, December means snow. Christmas is supposed to be white. Even though every horizontal surface and much of the vertical surface in our home is covered with Santas and elves and reindeer and angels and nativities, it just doesn’t feel like Christmas.

As I thought about this incongruity, it occurred to me that I had fallen prey to the ghost of Christmas present: the consumer driven marketing program of this age. It seems harmless on the surface, but even my favorite seasonal movie, White Christmas is about romance and revenue with a dash of philanthropy tossed in for good measure. Having watched it every Friday after Thanksgiving for fifty-some years, I can safely say that the words Jesus, Bethlehem, Savior, or God are not in the script. I’m ashamed to say that all our favorites score a zero on religious theme presentation: Miracle on 34^th Street, Scrooge, The Santa Clause, Yes Virginia; There is a Santa Clause. The only movie we watch every season that hints at a Scriptural meaning in Christmas is Scrooge, and although It’s a Wonderful Life implies that there is another dimension, I wouldn’t recommend getting your theology from Frank Capra.

Unless you tune in a Christian radio station, the same thing holds true in music of the season. Popular Christmas music has nothing to do with Christmas. “Deck the Halls,” “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause,” “Jingle Bells,” “Silver Bells,” “The Christmas Song” aka “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire,” etcetera ad nauseum. It isn’t hard to imagine that in 336 A.D. when the Roman Catholic Church replaced a pagan holiday with the Christmas celebration, the drift from its true meaning began. Emperor Constantine may have thought he was doing Christianity a favor when he substituted it for emperor worship as the state religion, but it hasn’t worked out that way. For all but the devout few, Christmas is for all intents and purposes a pagan holiday today.

Many years ago, I attempted to counter the secularization of Christmas decorations by making a window display patterned after a drawing from the Bethel Bible Series. It showed a cradle sitting below a cross that was overshadowed by a crown. That is the true message of Christmas: cradle, cross, and crown. Believers have a perfect opportunity at this time of year to explain why Jesus came to earth. The cradle stories are warm and fuzzy, but the cross route to the crown gets messy. As I have written previously, most of our nonbelieving neighbors have no concept of sin, so they cannot fathom that a sacrificial, substitutional death is necessary. It’s actually worse than that; most don’t even believe that a Creator God exists, or if He does, they feel no responsibility toward Him.

The true meaning of Christmas is what makes Christianity unique among world religions. Only Christianity has a Creator God who makes the necessary sacrifice to bring people into a right relationship with Him. In every other religion, it is the people who must sacrifice to appease their god. The worst of these involve human sacrifice, but all require giving something of value to assuage the god’s wrath. Our God poured out His wrath on His one-and-only beloved Son on our behalf. That is unimaginable!

The prophet Isaiah was one of the earliest to detail how God’s righteous requirements would be met. The prophet foretold how God’s righteous Servant would suffer and die for His people. His message begins with this imagery: “Even though your sins are like scarlet, they will be white like snow.” There it is. I am dreaming of a white Christmas – one in which the scarlet stain of sin is made snow white, one in which the Babe from the manger changes the swaddling cloths for the white robes of the King of the universe. I know that will not fully happen until the whole world is made new, but I can dream.

Related Posts: Why Witness?; Understanding Salvation; Redeem the Time; What happens to people who never hear about Jesus?; That’s Not God

Why Did God Do That?

I have probably said dozens of times that when something bad happens we should not ask why; we should ask what, not looking for God’s reasons but for our response. I have written many times on this subject, and some of the articles are linked below. I am finishing the book of Acts in my daily reading, and Paul’s life and ministry is foremost in my mind. As far as we know from the biblical record, Paul had the greatest influence on church history of all the Apostles. It was through his efforts that the gospel was spread throughout the Roman Empire, and his writings comprise the lion’s share of the New Testament.

With such a prominent position, you might expect Paul to have been especially blessed: doing God’s work; getting God’s blessings. The biblical record says otherwise. For starters, he was on the wrong side of the new work God began with the introduction of Messiah. Paul was what we would call a staunch conservative when it came to Jewish law. Being a Pharisee, he was in Jesus’ crosshairs much of the time. Perhaps Paul was not among the hypocritical group Jesus criticized, but he was certainly mistaken about the true nature of Jesus’ message of the kingdom of God. Paul’s zealous persecution of the disciples of Jesus make him the seem like the least likely choice for the work God had planned.

But there it is. On his way to arrest the Christians in Damascus, Paul had a one-on-one encounter with the risen Messiah. Blinded and led by the hand into the city, he had three days to reconsider his position. When Ananias told him the plans God had for him, he was sufficiently humbled to take him at his word. After he began meeting with the church in Damascus, you might think his troubles were over. Not so. The Jews he had turned away from came to the city to do what he had been sent to do: arrest him as a blasphemer. He had to sneak out of the city by night.

At this point, Paul’s circumstances become a little unclear. We know from what he told various people in his letters that he travelled home to Tarsus and later to Jerusalem. During these “missing years,” he spent considerable time in the Arabian desert being taught by Jesus Himself. He also reports spending time in “heaven,” but he is unsure whether he was in or out of his body at the time. He was told things during that unique experience that he was not allowed to share with anyone. Imagine that!

When his missionary journeys began, Paul was already a well-respected member of the early church leadership. His supernatural call and his unique time with Jesus would seem to have placed him in a position of privilege. Again, not so. Throughout his journeys, Paul was imprisoned several times, beaten with rods, stoned to death (they thought), and shipwrecked while on his way to trial before Caesar himself. We are told he spent two years in prison in Caesarea, and we believe he spent as much as two years under house arrest in Rome awaiting trial. Yet he was not discouraged. He told the Philippians, “Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else, and that most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear.”

This was not the first time God used less than pleasant circumstances to further His plans. Consider that Joseph spent years in prison in Egypt before he was used by God to save His people. Moses spent 40 years in the desert tending his father-in-law’s sheep before God called him. Jeremiah was detained on more than one occasion for speaking God’s word to the Jewish leaders. One might also question why God left his people without a witness for four hundred years between the last prophet and the revelation of John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Messiah.

The most egregious slight of all would seem to be that God’s own Son was rejected and murdered by the people He came to save. Every Christian is familiar with Peter’s explanation of why that happened: “this man [Jesus], delivered up by the determined plan and foreknowledge of God, you executed by nailing to a cross through the hand of lawless men. God raised Him up, having brought to an end the pains of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.” It was God’s “determined plan” to bring salvation to all who believe through the death and resurrection of His Son. Hallelujah!

Many years ago, I suffered ministry burnout and left my career as a Christian school teacher. I intended to take a short sabbatical but instead I spent twelve years driving a truck. Looking back, I can see that God used that time to reshape my thinking and my behavior. Satellite radio in the truck provided hours of Christian teaching and music, and I did some serious soul searching as well. I asked myself if God had put me “on the shelf” like He did with Paul’s prison time and Moses forty years in the desert. My wife will testify that I am a different person – a better person for having spent that time away from paid ministry. I think I am a better witness for Christ than I was before.

Paul encourages believers to examine themselves to be sure they are living appropriately. God can use every season of our lives for His purpose. We need to be sure we are getting the most out of our circumstances and doing the best we can to fulfill God’s will for our lives. If you are not completely happy with your circumstances, maybe you need to ask not why, but what is God doing that is for your benefit and for His perfect will in your life. One of Paul’s most surprising statements comes after having lived through his many trials and tribulations: “I have learned to be content in whatever state I am.” He could undoubtedly see why God had done all that He had done. We need to imitate Paul.

Related posts: The Goodness of God in the Bad Times; Can You Praise God?; Finding God in COVID 19; Today’s Chaldean Chastisement; Working All Things for Good; Two Pressing Questions; Ask the Right Question; Content in Whatever State I Am

Comfort Ye My People

I have just spent the last few days in bed with a cold and fever that made me miserable. Coughing, sneezing, shivering, and aching all over got me down. Here on day seven, I still have a lingering cough, and my stamina isn’t what it should be, but at least I don’t hurt everywhere. If it sounds like I am whining, I am. If you ask my wife, she will confirm that I have been whining for the whole week.

A couple of days ago, I read about the Apostle Paul’s trials and afflictions during his missionary journeys. You probably know the ones I am talking about – the ones he called “light and momentary.” My immediate response to myself was, “MAN UP, wuss!” The fever may have left me feeling like I had been stoned and left for dead, but Paul actually was stoned to death (they thought), among other physical and verbal insults to his person. If he could call his light and momentary, mine were insignificant by comparison.

Paul puts a positive spin on his troubles by telling the Corinthians that “Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in all affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” Five times he uses “comfort” to explain what God has done so that we can imitate His comfort towards others. It’s my turn. My wife caught the bug I brought home (Isn’t that always the way?). Now I get to take Paul’s advice. (Pardon me. I have to get my wife another dose of Emergen-C.)

I can also think of a couple family issues I have had to suffer that helped me to comfort friends when they had problems with kin. It is good to have someone to come alongside and bolster your strength so that you can find a place of forgiveness that allows healing to begin. Had I not suffered indignity and found that God’s grace could bring me back to loving forgiveness, I think my advice to my friend would ring hollow. “Been there; done that” is the only qualification you need to offer genuine comfort.

This got me thinking about the level of comfort we take for granted in America today. Got a headache? Take a Tylenol. Got a stomachache? Take a Pepto. Got a muscle ache? Take some ibuprofen. Got a heart ache (the emotional kind – not the cardiac kind)? Take an antidepressant. We don’t want to put up with the tiniest discomfort; we want instant relief. We want comfort. That thought led me to the well-known passage in Isaiah, “Comfort ye, my people.” I realized that God's offer through Isaiah was not a Tylenol or a Band-Aid type of comfort. It was more along the lines of “My Servant is going to die, but He will rise from the dead on schedule.” Therefore, take comfort.

In other words, God did not want Isaiah to promise a bed of roses. Actually, He promised a bed of thorns, but His balm in Gilead would salve their wounds at the proper time. This was the conclusion Paul came to when faced with a “thorn in the flesh… from Satan.” He could glory in his discomfort because he knew where his ultimate comfort was coming from. That attitude also put credit where credit is due. He said, “Therefore I delight in weaknesses… for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.”

I am happy to have returned to the state of ridiculous comfort I am blessed with – what most of us in this country are blessed with. But I am reminded that discomfort is not necessarily a bad thing. I have written before that God is more concerned with our character than our comfort. If he allows discomfort, it is likely because He is molding our character into the perfect likeness of Christ. That’s what I want, whether it’s comfortable or not. Can you feel me?

Related Posts: Crown of Thorns;  Friendship With the World; The Country Club Church

When in Rome, Do What the Bereans Do

I saw a Bible tie-in today I hadn’t noticed before. When studying the Scripture, it is interesting to know what Moses or Jesus or Paul did, but it is more valuable to know how their actions tie into our present lives as believers. When I read through Acts seventeen this morning, I noticed that the unbelieving Jews in Thessalonica used the Roman law to accuse Paul. In verses seven and thirteen, they said Paul was teaching what was contrary to the decrees of Caesar.

It is ironic that the Jews would use that approach since God’s first commandment was to have no other gods before Him. That would seem to put them in a position contrary to the decrees of Caesar as well. It is true that there were times in Roman/Jewish relations that Rome allowed the Jews to practice their religion, but it is disingenuous to try to use the Roman law to indict someone with whom they disagreed. The Jews in Corinth tried the same tactic, and the authority there saw through their hypocrisy and summarily dismissed them.

Here's the tie-in. There is a cult of secular humanism in America that is trying to use the law to squelch Christian beliefs and practices. Sometimes they twist an existing law to serve their purpose. They did this years ago when they banned Bible reading and prayer in public schools. They claimed such activities violated the establishment clause of the First Amendment. Ironically, their actions violated the free expression clause of the same Amendment. At our country’s beginning, the freedom to practice one’s religion in public or in private was one of the pillars of the Founding Fathers' beliefs. They were rebelling against the state sponsored religions in the countries many of them had fled. Allowing free expression is not the same as establishing a state religion.

When the secular humanists cannot use an existing law to promote their agenda, they write new ones. Much of the cancel culture we are forced to live under today is based on regulations that were invented to protect imaginary victims – victims who are practicing things that the Scripture forbids. For example, same sex marriage, transgenderism, and all sorts of sexual perversion is now protected by law. Worse, these things are being promoted in popular media and in the public schools at ridiculously young ages.

Sadly, secular humanists are not the only people using their brand of religion to promote an unbiblical agenda. Entire denominations of formerly orthodox Christians have come under the spell of the secular humanist teachings. They have chosen to abandon Scripture and ordain homosexual ministers and bless same sex marriages. Individuals from these apostate churches openly support politicians who lobby for free access to abortion and attack conservatives who attempt to limit or eliminate it.

Unbelievers everywhere are dictating what Christians can and cannot do by twisting or enacting laws that support their views. The media is full of stories of Christians being dragged to court just like the Jews did to Paul. Sometimes we get a judge who, like the proconsul in Athens, sees through their schemes. More often, Christians are forbidden to practice biblical behavior because of some new “offended” class of citizens. This is especially egregious when those who call themselves Christians support that kind of travesty.

We will find ourselves in disobedience to the Word if when in Rome we do as the Romans do. We need to adopt the stance of the Bereans in Acts 17. They listened to Paul, and despite the accusations of the unbelieving Jews, they searched the Scriptures to see what was true. When the Islamic radicals attacked in 2001, many Christians wondered if it was an act of judgment by God. I wondered similarly when I wrote “Today’s Chaldean Chastisement” about the COVID 19 pandemic. At the very least, we must keep our own behavior in line with Scripture. Whenever possible, I believe we do our fellow citizens a favor by attempting to stay true to the principles on which our country was founded. Remember: everyone in Judah suffered when God exiled them to Babylon. We could use a few people like Moses’ friend Phinehas. If we keep acting like Romans instead of Bereans, we will not escape the potential judgment that may be coming sooner rather than later.

Related posts: Today’s Chaldean Chastisement; The Winnowing Fork of God; Paging Phinehas Eleazar

Calvinist or Arminian

I have written previously about the controversy between Calvinists and Arminians. This month is the 405^th anniversary of the Synod of Dort which settled the controversy in the Netherlands: the Arminians were evicted from their pulpits. This explains why the Dutch Reformed Church is staunchly Calvinist as well as the many other denominations that sprang from the same Reformation soil. Most Baptist-type churches are Calvinist to varying degrees. Methodists, Wesleyans, Nazarenes, and Seventh-day Adventists are Arminian.

The controversy which takes its name from the Swiss reformer, John Calvin, and the Dutch theologian, Jacob Arminius, is actually centuries older than these men. Augustine debated with Pelagius over much the same subject in the Fifth century. As I see it, the central issue of the dispute is whether humans can come to faith and therefore salvation on their own, or whether God must do something first to draw them to Himself. This leads to the question of whether people can come to faith but later fall away and lose their salvation. This question is what most people today think of as the Calvinist/Arminian debate.

In “Understanding the TULIP Doctrine,” I briefly explained Calvinism. “The five basic tenets of Calvinism have long been summarized as the TULIP doctrines, an acronym taken from the major tenets: total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and perseverance of saints. There are those who consider themselves “five-point” Calvinists, meaning they hold firmly to each of the TULIP principles. Others pick and choose among the tenets of Calvinism to construct their own brand.” As I said, perseverance of the saints, commonly known as “once saved, always saved,” is the item over which most people debate. Unconditional election also bothers some people; I discussed this aspect of Calvinism in some depth in “Election: God’s Choice.”

It was election that bothered Arminius. It is possible to read Calvin and come away thinking God predestines some people to salvation and some to condemnation. Arminius couldn’t stomach that because he felt it made God the author of sin – an obvious contradiction to Scripture. There are those who do believe in what is called double predestination today and would have Arminius turning over in his grave. Calvin’s teachings have been shaded and shifted over the centuries since he lived making the term “Calvinism” almost irrelevant. You need to dig into what people mean by the label to know what they really believe.

If I haven’t bored you into scrolling on yet (bless your heart), I am going to explain the value of this history lesson – WHAMM. I believe with all my heart that there will be Calvinists and Arminians in Heaven. Like all of us who make it to our eternal home with God, there will be some adjustments and corrections to our theology. Perhaps some of the tears God will wipe away will be from people discovering that, sadly, they were wrong all their lives about some point of theology. The debate I have described that began in the early centuries of the church and continues today is not one that will keep anyone out of Heaven in my opinion. There are radicals in both camps who may disagree with me on that, but I think I have the truth of Scripture on my side.

The reason I plodded through all this is to make a point we all need to understand: Jesus didn’t say the world would know we are His because of our brilliant doctrine; He said our love for one another (and our neighbors) would show that we belong to Christ. I made the point in Lead a Horse to Water that Christians bickering over what seem to unbelievers to be arcane theological issues might be one of the biggest hinderances to faith. It also causes some to doubt our claim that the Word of God is true and infallible. When we air our differences publicly, it appears to outsiders that we are denying that claim.

As I have written previously, sometimes fellow believers must agree to disagree. The final disposition of that agreement must be to continue to behave in a loving manner toward those with whom we disagree. I should clarify this by saying that I am not talking about compromising on essentials. I will firmly disagree with anyone who says God is not the sovereign creator or Jesus is not the co-equal, co-eternal God/Son/Savior, or that the Word of God is not absolute truth, etc. Some things are beyond debate and are essential and necessary to a proper understanding of God.

If you have read this far, you may be asking what I believe. Since I covered that in “Understanding the TULIP Doctrine,” I will leave it to my readers to seek an answer there. I will say this much: I will strive to love all people whether I agree with them or not. As I said in Loving Biblically. “Christian, biblical love must abound in knowledge and discernment if we aim to be sincere and blameless. To know how God loves, we have to dig deeply into the Bible and ferret out the true measure of divine love; it is a mix of caring, compassion and judgment. The most difficult thing to grasp is that God’s love involves discernment – judgment.” I am not God; I do not get to condemn (judge) people. However, if I am sincere in my faith, I must use discernment. That may mean I will disagree with some people. I will still love them – biblically – Calvinists or Arminians.

Related Posts: Election: God’s Choice; Disagree Agreeably; Understanding the TULIP Doctrine; Loving Biblically

Imitation of Christ

One of Christianity’s best-known thinkers and writers is read around the world, yet he never traveled far from his adoptive home in the Netherlands. Thomas Van Kempen, better known as Thomas `a Kempis, lived and died a few years before the Reformation which had strong supporters in his birthplace. He was a life-long member of a group called the Brethren of the Common Life, an early attempt to reform the Roman church. According to one source, “They believed that Christianity should be practiced not only in formal religious settings, but also in everyday life, and they sought to promote a practical spirituality that emphasized personal piety and devotion.”

That sounds strikingly similar to the teachings of the New Testament, one of Thomas’ most frequently quoted sources. Unlike many of his contemporaries in scholarship, he looked for wisdom from Scripture rather than the teachings of the Roman church leadership. Needless to say, that did not sit well with those in authority. Thomas was never granted sainthood by the Catholic Church, but they did erect a monument dedicated to his memory in Zwolle where he spent most of his adult life. That monument was placed there on this day, November 11, 1897, over 400 years after he died. Hmm.

Thomas once said, “"If thou wilt receive profit, read with humility, simplicity, and faith, and seek not at any time the fame of being learned." He balanced that with this, "At the Day of Judgement we shall not be asked what we have read, but what we have done." (The Imitation of Christ, Book I, ch. 3) There is a clear echo here of James 1:25. “But the one who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues to do it, not being a forgetful hearer but a doer who acts, this one will be blessed.” That is “practical spirituality.” That is living the way Jesus instructed in His last words before the crucifixion: “You are my friends if you do what I command you…. These things I command you: that you love one another.”

Enough history. Why does any of this matter beyond remembering a worthy follower of Christ? It is because Solomon’s wisdom is being proven true every day. “There is nothing new under the sun.” What Solomon saw in Old Testament Israel, and Thomas `a Kempis saw over six hundred years ago is still going on today. There are millions of people in America who claim to be Christians, yet the only thing they do differently than their worldly friends is attend church services – sometimes. According to one poll, people who attend church two or three times a year still consider themselves to be “regular attenders.” I am not suggesting that church attendance is the truest measure of one’s faith, but it surely is one measure.

I have often said that if going to church makes you a Christian, then going to the garage makes you a car. We need to revive the spirit of Thomas `a Kempis and the Brethren of the Common Life. Among believers, it should be “common life” to “Live Out Loud” as Merideth Andrews sings. (Song lyrics here.) Silent Christians, secret Christians are not true Christians. “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples—if you have love for one another,” Jesus said. It is clear from the rest of the New Testament teaching that the love Jesus commanded was no secret. Hear the word of John: “Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.”

If we truly believe that Jesus is our only hope, then that belief, that faith must show itself in works. James again: “For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.” James is also the one who said that it is not enough to profess faith in Christ; the demons do that. True faith shows itself in its works. It’s not that the works save us: “not from works so that no one can boast.” However, the Bible is clear: saving faith is testified to by works.

Some people asked Jesus about the works that could save them. His answer: “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.” Couple that with His statement that ^“When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.” The love we have for Jesus, the testimony to our faith in Him demands obedience. If you believe in Him, you will do what He commands. This is the imitation of Christ that Paul spoke of and which Thomas `a Kempis championed. Go thou and do likewise.

Related Posts: Necessary Obedience; The Patience of God; The Church Cannot Save the Lost

Chasing the Almighty Dollar

The Gospels tell the story of rich young ruler who came to Jesus for advice. (Matthew 19; Mark 10; Luke 18). “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” he asked. Of course, Jesus knew the heart of the man, but anyone listening carefully might have detected a wrong motive. The young man used a word from the legal jargon of the day: inherit (κληρονομέω). The word refers to the legal right of someone to inherit their share. He might as well have asked Jesus, “How can I get what’s coming to me?”

When Jesus gave the young man a simple answer, “Obey the commandments,” the response was perhaps a little arrogant: “I have done that.” To that Jesus replied with a scalpel that cut to the man’s heart problem. “Go and sell all you have and give to the poor.” We know the end of that exchange; the man left disappointed “for he was one who owned much property.” As the rich young man left, Jesus turned to His followers and said, “How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!”

The disciples were “amazed” at Jesus’ words. Their amazement revealed their faulty conception of God’s economy of blessing. The Jews of Jesus day believed that a person’s wealth represented blessing by God. Jesus corrected their misunderstanding by saying, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” He had just told them, “Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.” Adults in general would have difficulty stirring up the faith a child would have naturally. Rich adults have an even harder time because they have all their needs met, and abandoning their reliance on their wealth is hard. Hence Jesus’ analogy of the camel passing through the eye of a needle.

I notice that Jesus did not say it was impossible for a rich person to enter the Kingdom – just “hard.” Luke records the incident with Zacchaeus almost immediately after the tale of the rich young ruler. Perhaps the rich young ruler was from Jericho, and he went there after his encounter with Jesus. Maybe he shared his tale with his rich friend Zacchaeus. That might explain why Zacchaeus was so interested in seeing Jesus for himself. It might also explain why the rich tax collector immediately offered to give away his riches. This proves what Jesus said to his disciples on the heals of the rich young ruler’s disappointing behavior: “What is impossible with men is possible with God.” Zacchaeus heard God; the rich young ruler did not.

This helps to explain why the gospel is not being widely accepted in Western society. The gospel, the good news is that people can be saved from a disastrous future. Being comfortable and confident in their material prosperity, few people recognize any need to be saved. Couple this with the pervading opinion that humans are the highest order of being – there is no “higher power” – and you have a recipe for unconcerned unbelief. Compounding this attitude is the lack of belief in absolute truth; truth is whatever one wants to believe is true. The Christian claim to know the truth rings as hollow as the claim that people need to be saved.

My wife and I worked for several years in a ministry that served recovering addicts and persons returning to society after years of incarceration. Many of those individuals recognized the deep need in their lives and found satisfaction in the provision Jesus promised. One of the most compelling aspects of the gospel to these people was the unconditional love represented in the Cross of Christ. Many of them had never known what real love is, and the realization that God had sent His Son to die for their sin was extremely compelling. We saw lives changed, families reunited, new careers begun, and needs met in almost miraculous ways. Those folks came to realize that God loved them, and the love of the church community made it real to them.

 The great challenge for evangelism in a prosperous country like America is to identify needs that are not being met and show how the gospel meets those needs. The best way to do that is found in the biblical command to love God and love your neighbor. You don’t have to be an addict or a felon to need love and acceptance. Even the rich can feel empty and without purpose as evidenced by the fact that many wealthy people have admitted that money has not bought them happiness. Solomon said that every person senses that something is missing. Those of us who hear God know what that missing thing is. Our job is to help people see what they are missing. We need to convince people to stop chasing the dollar and to go after what they really need.

Related Posts: Abraham’s Promises – Solomon’s Rules; Do We Really Need God

Degrees of Punishment and Reward

There is a question that lingers in the back of most Christians’ minds when they think about judgment. Those who know their Bible well know with certainty that anyone who has put their faith in Christ can count on His atoning work on the cross to pay the penalty for their sin – all of them past, present, and future. After all, all our sins were future at the cross, so it shouldn’t be difficult to imagine all of them forgiven. It shouldn’t be.

But the question still nags: am I going to have to give an account – pay in some way – for my shortcomings? The answer is yes and no. As I wrote in “Living in the Light of Eternity” and many other places, our entrance into Heaven is guaranteed by Christ’s sacrifice; nothing more needs to be done. However, if we are truly on the Heaven-bound train, our behavior does matter. Listen to Jesus’ words on the subject: “And that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes, but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more."

Some scholars deny that Jesus is talking about the judgment of believers here, but the context seems to be about believers – those who knew the “master’s” will versus those who didn’t. They were all “slaves” of the master; the only difference is some knew his will and some did not. This fits with the idea Jesus expressed when He said, “But I tell you that every worthless word that they speak, people will give an account for it on the day of judgment! For by your words you will be vindicated, and by your words you will be condemned.” The “worthless” words Jesus referred to are words that serve no heavenly purpose. These are not necessarily evil in themselves; they just do nothing to advance the cause of Christ.

Paul said something similar to the Romans: “each of us will give an account concerning himself.” The context in Romans was about judging others. This echoes Jesus’ criticism about ignoring the log in your own eye while judging another for the speck in his eye. That remark by Jesus was made during the Sermon on the Mount which is presumably about how to live as kingdom citizens – as God’s people. He prefaced that statement by saying, “by what measure you measure out, it will be measured out to you.” Even kingdom citizens will face a type of judgment.

Paul warned the Corinthians that their fleshly behavior – non-spiritual behavior – would have consequences on the day of judgment. He likened unspiritual works to wood, hay, and stubble which would be burned up at the judgment, whereas works motivated by the Spirit would be like gold, silver and precious stones surviving the fires of judgment to be presented to the Lord. He does confirm that the unspiritual works don’t exclude believers from an eternity with God, but He suggests that those guilty of the same will enter Heaven smelling like their coattails were burned.

I am inching out on a limb here, but I think there may be a hint of the idea of a final judgment of believers in the book of Revelation. John records that everyone who makes it to the new Jerusalem will have their tears wiped away because mourning, wailing, and pain will have passed away. Those who believe the arrival in the New Jerusalem is a metaphor for Heaven might ask why there would be tears to be wiped away. I have heard it suggested that the tears are a result of believers’ discovery of all that they might have done for the Master but didn’t. Some have also said they are tears of joy – joy that comes from finally understanding what grace really means: I made it in spite of all I have done or didn’t do.

That is speculation, but the idea that Jesus’ call involves a measure of obedience is not. “If you love me,” He said, “Keep my commandments.” Or again, from the Sermon on the Mount: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and expel demons in your name, and perform many miracles in your name?’ And then I will say to them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness!’”

For those who never place their faith in Jesus, the consequence of their final judgment will be worse than the worst you can imagine. Degrees of worst-ness are irrelevant. For believers, the blessedness of spending eternity in God’s presence cannot be imagined. As Paul said, “That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, ‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.’”

Even if there are degrees of reward comparable to the degrees of punishment as Scripture seems to imply, I am with David when he said, “a day in thy courts is better than a thousand [elsewhere].” The bottom line is that I am not working for a reward; I am working to please my Lord. Because I love Him above all else, I obey His commands. If there is a reward for doing that, I think I will be among the crowd pictured in Revelation and throw them at my Savior’s feet to honor Him who saved me. It never was about me anyway.

Related Posts: Necessary Obedience; Blessings of Obedience; Do What You Can Do

Little Becomes Much

The record of the feeding of the five thousand has several interesting lessons hidden in it. On the surface this may simply be a lesson highlighting Jesus’ compassion for hungry people and His willingness to perform a miracle to feed them. Although Jesus often told the beneficiaries of His miracles not to share, this may have been one time when He wanted to make a declaration. Beyond that, many people have expressed curiosity about the meaning of the leftover baskets of food. It would seem to be more than coincidence that there were twelve baskets left over on one occasion and seven on another; these are two often repeated numbers that have biblical significance, but what they mean here is uncertain.

The fact that this is the only miracle of Jesus that is recorded by all four gospel writers leads me to think it must be of special significance. (Mathew 14; Mark 6; Luke 9; John 6) The lesson that struck me when I last read it was how much Jesus could make of a little. All four evangelists record that there were five loaves of bread and two fishes. This would have been enough for a small family – perhaps just the boy and his parents. I’m reminded of the Boy Scout motto: Be Prepared. Apparently, this young lad’s family was the only one to think they might get hungry. Maybe they were so interested in what the popular rabbi had to say that they didn’t want to miss anything while they went to dinner.

Someone has asked an interesting question: what if the boy’s parents had refused to give up their meager meal? They didn’t. They may have been among those who had already put their faith in the man from Nazareth. It is conceivable that they had witnessed His first miracle – water into wine – at the wedding in Cana which was only a few miles down the road. For whatever reason, they were willing to put their provisions in the Master’s hands. Just like the steward and the wedding, they were amazed at what happened when Jesus took over.

It's like the song “Ordinary People” says: “Little becomes much as you place it in the Master’s hand.” The twelve Jesus called especially had given Him everything they had, although it wasn’t much since most were just common laborers. Regardless of their net worth, they gave Jesus their very lives to follow Him for the three short years of His earthly ministry. When the Master called the fishermen, He promised to make them fishers of men. I doubt they fully understood what that meant at the time, but I am convinced that Jesus wasn’t choosing them for their talents as fishermen or their entrepreneurial skills.

From our vantage point centuries down the trail, we know they were chosen for who they were, not what they could bring to the table. Just consider Peter, James, and John, Jesus’ inner circle. Peter denied knowing Jesus on the night of His betrayal but came back strong as a leader in the Jerusalem church. James was also a leader in Jerusalem, and he became the first martyr for Christ. John outlived all his peers as far as we know and survived being boiled in oil and exile to go on to write the Book of Revelation, one of the most significant books of the New Testament.

It may sound trite, but I would say we are not chosen by Christ because we are great, but we are great because we are chosen. I am writing this in my seventy-third year of life, most of which was spent in some kind of Christian ministry vocationally or otherwise. I will admit with a touch of disappointment that I have not achieved the “greatness” I might have longed for in my youth. Nothing I have done will put me in the “Who’s Who” of Christians in my generation. I have come to terms with that. I’ll wager the little guy who surrendered his lunch to Jesus had no idea he would be remembered to the end of the age. He just did what little he could do at the moment, and Jesus made the moment great.

I love the song Ray Boltz sang many years ago called “Thank You.” The lyrics recall how he put money in a collection plate or taught Sunday School with no idea how his actions affected others. Then, when Ray gets to Heaven, a long line of people come up to him thanking him for what little he gave. There it is. I may never know which of my dollars in the plate brought someone to Christ. I may never know which of my hundreds of high school students were encouraged by my witness. I may never know how many of the thousands of readers of this blog have been inspired to make significant contributions to the cause of Christ. Maybe I’ll be standing next to Ray one day amazed at what has happened. But even if I don’t get that confirmation, I will keep giving what little I have knowing that little becomes much when you place it in the Master’s hand. I hope to meet the little guy who shared his lunch too.

Related posts: Living in the Light of Eternity; For God’s Sake; What’s the Deal With Ninev
eh?; Who Needs God?

Teach Us to Pray

When you read the Gospels, you get the impression that Jesus spent a fair amount of time in solitary prayer. This shouldn’t be surprising when you consider that for eternity past, He was one with His Father and doubtless in constant communication. The Son’s time on earth was a radical departure from His accustomed relationship. No wonder He felt the need to spend many hours in prayer. Apparently, His disciples noticed His prayer habits, and they may have felt their prayer life fell short of His. So, they asked the Master to teach them to pray.

What we have come to know as the Lord’s Prayer is Jesus’ response to His disciples’ question. This well-known model as Matthew records it has five different types of prayer; four are obvious: praise, provision, forgiveness, and deliverance. The fifth prayer category is more subtle. I might call it evangelistic: “Thy kingdom come.” This request is both a confession of alignment with God’s purpose and a determination to see His sovereign authority become known throughout the world.

The usual repetition of the King James “hallowed be thy name” disguises the true meaning of the phrase. “Hallowed” is the translation of the Greek word for “holy” made into a verb. “Holify Thy name” doesn’t quite work, and “hallowed” is antiquated. The original intention was to proclaim God’s holiness – His separateness from all things worldly. According to John, it’s what the heavenly beings around God’s throne say continually: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.” It’s the purest form of praise.

We all understand the prayer for provision: “Give us this day our daily bread.” Jesus made it clear that if we are trying to cooperate with God’s purpose in our lives – first seek His kingdom – all our worldly needs will be provided. This prayer properly understood is less a request than a statement of gratitude for the way God fulfills our needs. I grew up getting a little taste of that at every meal; we always gave thanks before we ate. That was an acknowledgement of where the provision came from.

The prayer for forgiveness is also easy for most of us to relate to. Very few people of sound mind and slight biblical knowledge would say they have no need of forgiveness. We all sin, and if we are honest, we know it. In his first epistle, John reminds us of that, and he comforts us with the promise that through confession our sins are forgiven. The human part of me must be constantly reminded that when Jesus paid for my sins on the cross, He was in my past paying for all my sins past, present, and future. That is not a license to sin. As Paul told the Romans, if we have been baptized into Christ’s death, we have died to sin, no longer to be ruled by it.

What I am calling the prayer for deliverance may be more expansive than it first appears to be. Certainly, we would ask that God keep us from sinning, especially immediately after asking for forgiveness. It is grammatically possible, as some translations render Matthew 6:13 to say, “Deliver us from the evil one.” That’s like asking God to protect us from our common enemy, Satan. And, deliver us might imply that we are asking for deliverance for our brothers and sisters in Christ – or even beyond them to the whole world.

Now we come to the fifth, less obvious category of prayer. It is drawn from the section of Matthew’s record saying, “May your kingdom come, may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” As I wrote in “Bringing the Kingdom,” “It is our responsibility as believers, as God’s chosen representatives in Christ to bring the kingdom of Heaven to Earth. Where we see unbelief, we must share faith. Where we see brokenness, we must bring healing. Where we see sin, we must call it sin. Where we see injustice, we must advocate for justice.”

In this week’s message our associate pastor at Valley Christian Church encouraged us pray this kind of prayer. He noted how Paul prayed that the Thessalonians love would increase and that they would be “established blameless in holiness.” It is right to pray for the health and welfare of the people on our prayer lists, but if we are praying with eternity in mind (the theme of our sermon series on Thessalonians) we must consider the long view – the eternal view.

Several years ago, I wrote a Sunday School curriculum on prayer that I later published as a book, A Life of Prayer. In it I recommended the acrostic ACTS-I as a reminder to pray all kinds of prayer. It stands for adoration/acclamation, confession, thanksgiving, supplication, and intercession. I also included another type I called warfare prayer which takes account of the fact that we are engaged in a cosmic battle with evil every day. Practicing these types of prayer regularly brings a maturity and wholeness to a life of prayer that surpasses saying “grace” at mealtime and “now I lay me down to sleep…” at bedtime.

If we truly believe we have a relationship with our Heavenly Father through Jesus His Son, conversations across the spectrum of possibilities should be normal. If you begin thinking about prayer in this way, I have no doubt that the Holy Spirit will help you grow into a more fulfilling relationship with God. That is our goal: “to be conformed to the image of his Son.” An important part of that image is our Savior in a solitary place on His knees talking to His Father. See Him? Follow Him.

 

Taking the Bible Literally Part 3

 I know I am beating a potentially dead horse, but the subject is so critical to proper understanding of the Scriptures, that I am hitting it again. Many serious, blood-bought, born again, students of the Bible say we must interpret the Word literally. I said it before (see Related Posts), and I will say it again: you cannot always take the individual words in the Bible in a literal sense. The genre, context and plain logic often dictate otherwise. Keep in mind that to say “not literal” does not mean “not true.”

For example, I once heard a preacher say, “All means all, and that’s all all means.” I came across an “all” in my reading this morning that clearly does not mean all in the literal sense. Mark 1:5 says, “And all the country of Judea was going out to him, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.” First, it is highly unlikely that every single person living in Judea and Jerusalem found their way to the Jordan where John was preaching. Second, it is even more unlikely that they were all repenting and being baptized. We know for a fact that John saw through the motives of some of them and called them the offspring of vipers.

So, in that instance for sure, “all” does not mean all. Another example of a phrase not meant to be taken literally occurs when Jesus shows up in Capernaum and Mark records, “And the whole city had gathered at the door.” One source estimates the population of the city in the time of Jesus was 1,000 people, so it is unlikely that a crowd of that size could be “at the door.” Even if we imagine all 1,000 people, “the whole city,” came to see Jesus, they would probably fit in the general neighborhood, but not “at the door.” Not literally.

Some of my readers are bound to be asking at this point why I belabor this subject. Here is why: throughout the centuries, people have taken a literal interpretation of Scripture to deplorable lengths. During the dark years of the Inquisition, the church persecuted cosmologists who believed the earth revolved around the sun, not the other way around as the Bible literally says. It is estimated that between 3,000 - 5,000 people were martyred during the three-century reign of the Inquisition. Many of the heresies they were charged with stemmed from a disagreement over Bible interpretation.

The Crusades are another example of misguided zeal drawn from a mistaken literal interpretation. The desire to free the “Holy Land” from the Muslim conquerors was based on the belief that Jerusalem was still uniquely important to God. During the Old Testament dispensation, Jerusalem was special to God; it was His dwelling place on earth. That distinction ended when the Messiah died on the cross and the veil of the temple was torn. Removing the curtain from God’s holy place symbolized the movement of God from one temple of stone to many hearts of flesh. Soon after, Herod’s temple and the entire city of Jerusalem were destroyed in an act of judgment by God which the prophets had foretold for centuries.

The Bible clearly states that believers are citizens of a New Jerusalem, a heavenly city that supersedes the earthly city. (Hebrews 12:22; Galatians 4:26) Ever since the initiation of the church, the earthly Jerusalem has lost its “holy” status. Admittedly, it has great historical significance, and people may feel especially close to God traveling through the land where most Bible history took place. But ever since God passed judgment on faithless Israel in 70 A.D., Jerusalem became a city like any other populated by saints and sinners.

The Zionist sentiment that fueled the Crusades lives even in our century. It percolated to the surface of Christian thinking in the nineteenth century. Many Christians in that time believed it was important to find a homeland for the Jews who had been dispersed throughout the world. Zionism, the longing to see physical Israel restored, is still preached by some devotees. John Hagee, for example, would have us believe that support for the nation of Israel is one of the church’s most pressing tasks today. He makes the common mistake of appropriating to the church the promises of literal, physical blessings made to Abraham and his descendants.

The New Testament defense for Zionism is largely based on a disputed passage in Paul’s letter to the Romans. Near the close of his impassioned plea for the salvation of his people, the Jews, he makes the statement, “All Israel will be saved.” Zionists believe Paul meant physical, ethnic Israel. To make that case, they must disregard Paul’s extended argument throughout his letters that God’s people are the people of faith, not the descendants of Abraham. As he told the Galatians, “There is neither Jew nor Greek [in Christ].” Ethnic Jews must come to God today the same way everyone else does: through faith in Jesus the Messiah.

It is ironic that Christian Zionists who twist their theology like a pretzel to justify building a new temple in Jerusalem overlook some very clear literal statements that quash their entire argument. Jesus foretold the destruction of the temple. Matthew says that Jesus told his listeners that their generation would not die before the end He predicted came to pass. In the book of Revelation, Jesus told John that when He came in judgment on Jerusalem, those who pierced Him would see Him coming. His coming, according to Jesus Himself was near. The future things John was to write were, “About to [ready to] take place.” The message of Revelation is about the judgment of Jerusalem – physical, literal Jerusalem. God had been warning them about it for hundreds of years.

If we take all those passages literally, there is little support for the expectation of a new temple being built in Jerusalem at the end of the age. If we understand Paul to say that the true Israel is the church, his claim that “all Israel will be saved” makes perfect sense. All those who trust in the Israel of God (Jesus the Messiah) will be saved. Take the Bible literally where it makes sense to do so and embrace the symbolism God intended where that is His clear intent. Genre, context, and plain logic are the guides to proper biblical interpretation. To do otherwise always leads to error.

Related Posts: Take the Bible Literally?; Taking the Bible Literally Part 2;  Understanding the Bible as Literature;

Slow Learners

Sometimes even sensitive, intelligent people have trouble learning some lessons. Take me for instance. I have a natural tendency to be critical. I suspect that it comes from being raised in a home where arguing the finest distinctions of every little thing was a normal behavior. My wife, Karen, on the other hand, was brought up in a home where argument was virtually nonexistent. This contrast in our characters causes Karen to become irritated when I make a critical comment. I don’t want to irritate my wife, so you would think I would stop being critical (at least around her).

But I can’t seem to help myself. I correct the grammar of everyone. I point out inconsistencies in the television shows we watch. I point out the illogical behavior of people we deal with. I frequently disagree out loud with the policies of politicians especially during campaign season. All of these and more irritate my dear wife. I am a slow learner.

I find a lot of company when I read my Bible. It seems that the whole nation of Israel was slow to learn one of the most vital lessons in life. Whom do you trust (and obey)? After roughly eight hundred years of the Law and the prophets, God’s chosen people were still missing the point of being God’s chosen people. I am referring to the situation recorded in the book of Malachi. The prophet spoke to Israel after they had returned from seventy years of exile in Babylon which was their punishment for continual disobedience and idol worship. The seventy-year sentence was not enough to correct their behavior; they were still learning the lesson (or not learning).

We read in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah that illegitimate temple practices were ongoing and people, even the priests, were intermarrying with foreigners. When Ezra discovered the books of the Law and read them to the people, they were outwardly repentant. They swore that they would obey. Yet, when Nehemiah wrote the last of his record, they were still stuck in their old wayward behaviors. That’s what Malachi was chastising them for. Through the prophet, God colorfully described His displeasure with His people. Then He went silent for four hundred years.

There were times in what we call the intertestamental period (between Old and New Testaments) when the people made an effort to do the right thing. The story of the Maccabees is about a time when some of them were zealous for God. The well-known celebration of Hanukkah is in remembrance of the Maccabean restoration. Near the end of the silent years, we know there were people who were waiting for their Messiah. The Gospels record the names of several people who were looking for Him. Zechariah and Elizabeth, John the Baptist’s parents were ready. Mary, though shocked at being chosen gave her pledge of obedience. Simeon and Anna were awaiting His appearance. Doubtless there were others who felt the time for their deliverance had come.

When He finally did come, He was not well-received. The Gospel of John records that although He came to His own things (He was their creator.), His own people didn’t recognize Him. The religious leaders of the day almost unanimously rejected Jesus’ claim to be the Christ, the long-awaited Messiah. He rebuked their unbelief by telling them that although they searched the Scriptures where His coming was foretold, they missed Him. Their failure to recognize Messiah reached its zenith when the religious leaders incited the crowd at Jesus’ (mock) trial to shout, “Crucify Him!” In the first gospel sermon, the Apostle Peter lays the blame for crucifying Christ directly at their feet.

It is worth noting that Peter also said that Jesus was “delivered up by the determined plan and foreknowledge of God.” In other words, God used their rebellion to fulfill His long-standing plan to redeem His people through the sacrifice of His Son. That fact does not excuse their unbelief; it merely proves that God will get done what God wants to get done. He can use the disobedience and failures of people to accomplish His sovereign will. Read the Bible closely and you will find that He does that quite regularly.

That doesn’t excuse disobedience in us either, though God will use our faults at times to bring about His perfect plan for us. I wrote some time ago that working all things together for the good isn’t an escape clause from the bad. The good Paul refers to in Romans eight is God’s good plan; everything we go through works toward the accomplishment of the will of God. What could be better (more good) than being a part of what God is doing? Almost every character we read about in Scripture went through tough times. Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, David and the Apostles all had their struggles. Yet, God never failed to bring His good will to pass.

The lesson we need to learn, the lesson that often has me in that slow learner class is that God never fails. If I can trust Him, I can trust that even my learning difficulty will not deter Him. That doesn’t mean I can wallow in my ignorance or disobedience. It means that I can push through my failures knowing that the outcome is already written in God’s book for me. God seems to be an infinitely patient special education teacher for slow learners. I suspect that applies to all of us at one time or another. You?

Related posts: Who’s Your Daddy; Why Wait?; Lies We Have Been Told

Living in the Light of Eternity

Two sermons I’ve heard recently have struck a chord with me. There’s nothing new or spectacular about either one, but taken together, they remind me of some basic truth about living for Christ. I have borrowed the title of this article from last weekend’s message at the church we attend here at home. Using the first few verses of 1 Thessalonians, the pastor reminded us that our love and faith and hope are predicated on our belief that our lives on earth are only the prelude to the real life we will spend in eternity. We can spend ourselves in selfless love for others because we believe the Word that assures us of a certain hope for eternity.

Nothing new there. But I was reminded of the message we heard from the church our daughter and son-in-law attend back in Michigan. (We are Internet “members.”) The pastor, Joel, has been teaching from 1 Corinthians and is now in the fifteenth chapter—the chapter where Paul makes his strongest case for the literal, bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. Paul told the Corinthians that denial of the bodily resurrection of Jesus puts the lie to everything else about their beliefs. “But if Christ has not been raised,” Paul says, “then our preaching is in vain, and your faith is in vain.” The Greek word for vain means empty, without effect or result, useless.

So, because the Corinthians faith is useless without the resurrection of Jesus, their hope is therefore false hope. Paul continues, “If we have put our hope in Christ in this life only, we are of all people most pitiable.” Indeed, what a pity if we are denying ourselves earthly pleasures in order to follow the tenets of a faith that is emptied of all power. Paul continues his argument: “If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” The resurrection of Jesus not only validated His Messiahship, but it also guaranteed the resurrection of all His followers.

Paul again: “But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.” Pastor Joel made a connection that I had not considered before. The concept of first fruits comes from the Old Testament commandment to offer the first of your crop to God. The Festival of First Fruits was held on the first Sunday after the Sabbath of Passover week. Oh my! What a coincidence! Jesus was sacrificed during the week of Passover and rose on the day of First Fruits. Pastor Joel called Jesus’ resurrection the ticket to our resurrection. He paid the fare. The only reason we have the right to ride the Heavenly Train is because the resurrection of Jesus made it possible.

In the eighth chapter of Romans – my favorite chapter in Paul’s most important letter – Paul says that believers “groan” with all creation waiting for the revelation of the sons of God. “For we know that the whole creation groans together and suffers agony together until now. Not only this, but we ourselves also, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves while we await eagerly our adoption, the redemption of our body.” That “adoption,” that “redemption of our body” is another way of talking about our resurrection. We are destined for a bodily resurrection onto the new Earth to spend eternity in the presence of God.

I will admit (shamefully), I often live as if this life was of primary importance. Is my Social Security benefit secure? Can I keep up with my bills? Will my old cars keep running? How long before my roof starts to leak? What’s on TV tonight? What’s for supper? I spend a substantial amount of my waking hours thinking about such things. That’s natural, right? Then I remember that believers aren’t supposed to be natural; we are supposed to be supernatural, spirit led, God-trusters.

The minute I start to worry about things of earth, I have fallen into sin. Shocked? Worry is sin because it betrays a lack of faith, and anything done without faith is sin. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.” What “things” was He referring to? Earthly things: food, clothing, shelter. The Father knows you need those things, and He’s got you covered.

Seeking God’s kingdom and His righteousness is just another way of saying what Paul said to the Colossians: set your mind on things above (eternal things)… where your life is hidden with Christ in God” I’ve heard it said that some people are so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good. I doubt there are many people who really have that problem; most of us suffer from just the opposite: we are so earthly minded we are no heavenly good. We need to live every moment in the light of eternity because if you are a believer, you already have one foot planted in eternity. Which foot are you going to put your weight on?

Related Posts: Why Heaven Matters

For the Love of Cats – Again!

Several years ago, I wrote a piece called “For the Love of Cats.” What I am about to say will make more sense if you read that before you continue with this. If you haven’t the time to follow the link, I will summarize by saying that I realized back then that God loves His entire creation – even cats – so if I am going to be more like Him, I should love cats too.

A couple years after I wrote “For the Love of Cats,” the cat for whom I had begun my transformation left us. I say that quite literally because she was fifteen years old and had been unwell for some time. As cats often will, she wandered into the desert by our campsite one day and did not return. I searched the area for three days but never found a trace of her. Obviously, Karen mourned her passing, but she and I concluded that it was her time, and in her cat-like independence, she chose when and how to leave. In that time and place I wrote the following poem:

I Heard the Coyotes Sing

I heard the coyotes sing this morning

Somewhere far away up the slope

That rises to the eight-thousand-foot ridge

Where the sun made its entrance an hour before.

 

It’s an eerie sound that coyotes make

When the pack joins in chorus at night.

In the daylight it has a mournful tune

Not as frightening as the black night cry.

 

The river far below my cliff perch

Laughed at me with sparkling eyes

as it wound its way around the ox bows

Thick with sedge grass and oasis greens.

 

I laughed back at the shining river

When the resident frogs began arguing

On the muddy bank warmed by the early sun

Waiting for the next free-range cattle-fed fly.

 

Cheerful birdcalls rose from the valley

As crows rode the updraft above the cliff

And called me names I didn’t understand

With raspy, insubordinate undertones.

 

Behind me in the silent mesquite and sage

I thought I heard the soft mewing of Sadie

Our dear old feline friend who yesterday

Slipped into the desert for her final catnap.

 

I heard the coyotes sing this morning

And I stopped to listen to the sound,

Telling in its way how vast and varied

Is the circle of God’s creation.

 

For the last few years of Sadie’s time with us, I had been saying that when she was gone, our cat owning days were over. It seemed only fair to me. For nearly fifty years I had put up with cats. Surely my wife could live without a feline resident in deference to my desires. She agreed, but mournfully. There were occasional hints, and there was the picture of Sadie as her I-phone wallpaper. I finally realized that she would never not want another cat.

 After three cat-less years, I relented. I did ask that we look for the most hypo-allergenic breed available. The trouble with that was the cost. Russian Blues and Cornish Rexes and such were going to cost upwards of $1,000. Oh, drat and phooey! Let’s just rescue a kitten and be done with it. So we did. Introducing Mademoiselle Arabella Minette – Bella for short.

I am not telling this tale of a cat for self-aggrandizement. After all, this blog is why heaven matters most. Besides my aforementioned discovery that I am required to love cats, I want to emphasize the nature of love – for cats and people. If you love someone (particularly a human someone), there will be times when you must go out of your way to show that love; love without action is not true love after all. Just as faith requires action to prove it is genuine, love that does not act is meaningless.

Imagine John 3:16 ending with “God loved the world.” Without “that He gave His one and only Son,” it wouldn’t have much power to convince us of His love. And remember that He loved us “while we were still sinners.” God didn’t show His love because we were so loveable – quite the opposite. He loves us unconditionally meaning no matter what condition we are in. If you truly love someone, you must love in deed. That’s love indeed!