Month: October 2019

Paul writes to the church in Rome, “And so dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice – the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.” (Romans 12:1)

I’m often reminded these days of one of my favorite quotes from a sports star. About ten years after his retirement from baseball, Mickey Mantle said, “If I had known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself.” I wonder sometimes if this old beat up body of mine is still a living and holy sacrifice that God finds acceptable. Of course, the answer to that question is a resounding YES! Like the widow’s mite, it is all I have and all is what God expects from us.

Jesus referred to his body as a temple. (John 2:18-21) Paul also wrote, “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself.” (1 Corinthians 6:19) Christians don’t go to church on Sunday to visit and worship God – we bring Him with us to that meeting place and share and bask in His presence with other Christians. We don’t go to church – we are the church. God’s Holy Spirit dwells in us 24/7. That is what Jesus was talking about when he told the Samaritan woman at the well, “But the time is coming – indeed it’s here now – when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:23-24)

This temple of clay, which is my body, not only houses God’s Spirit but mine as well. I love the way Dottie Rambo describes it in one of her songs. ”This house of flesh is but a prison. Bars of bone hold my soul. But the doors of clay are gonna burst wide open when the angel sets my spirit free. I’ll take my flight like a mighty eagle when the hills of home start calling me.”  

I have always known that God blesses us so we can bless others. For most of my long life as a Christian, I have pictured myself as a funnel; receiving God’s love, blessings and encouragement through the wide end and passing them on to others through the small end. I have even written about the importance of keeping that funnel tip open; comparing an open funnel and closed one to the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea has no outlet so it can’t take in fresh water and there is no life in it as a result. When we close the tip of our funnel in an effort to keep it all for ourselves, like manna from heaven those blessings become stagnant and useless. The Sea of Galilee does have an outlet so it is continually replenished with fresh water and is abundantly stocked with all kinds of fish. As we pass God’s gifts on to others, we receive fresh blessings accordingly.

I have had what some might call an epiphany – the awesome realization of a truth that I previously overlooked. I now believe my view of the Christian life as a funnel is from a human perspective that selfishly seeks to keep most of the love, blessings and encouragement for myself while still passing some of it on to others. As is often the case, our human perspective gets thing turned around. God is showing me a different perspective – His perspective. We can’t see anything from God’s perspective, but the Holy Spirit within us does and will show us if we pay attention to His guidance.   

There are two other types of Christian lives that please God even more. One is like a pipeline connected to God’s bountiful source on one end and pouring out His love, blessings and encouragement to others from the other end. That kind of life stays full as God’s gifts and blessings continually pass through without end or opportunity to become stagnant.  

Imagine with me for a moment another kind of Christian life where the funnel is turned upside down with the tip attached to a conduit from God’s endless supply. As God’s love, blessings and encouragement quickly pass through to others, the pressure increases to try to fill that wide open void. What was a trickling funnel or flowing pipeline is now a powerful shower head soaking everyone around with love, blessings and encouragement from God. We never have to worry about becoming empty because we can never out bless our heavenly Father.

Whichever type of Christian life we lead, the most important thing is our connection to God, the source of all good things. Prayer and the study of His word every day will keep that life line open and flowing into and through us.

In the early 1950s, my father was president of his local UAW union. I learned about the brother and sisterhood of union members before I even knew about the brother and sisterhood of Christian believers. All union officers back then were volunteers who continued to work in the plant every day and only received expense money from the union. I witnessed my father meeting with fellow workers in our home and weeping with them over their grievances. It was before OSHA and Federal safety laws or employer medical insurance and retirement plans, so safety and benefits were even more important during contract negotiations back then than wages. It was during those negotiations that I learned the importance of a mediator. When the union and management were still far apart, they would agree to bring in a third party to hear both arguments and come up with a compromise both sides would agree to accept. That process was called binding arbitration.

Since the fall of Adam and Eve, there has been a chasm dividing mankind from God. In the wilderness, Moses became a mediator between God and His chosen people when they were too afraid to approach Him themselves. (Exodus 20:19) Job prayed for a mediator to bring him and God together. (Job 9:33-34) God worked things out with Job, but centuries later He answered Job’s prayer with a mediator in the form of His Son. “There is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity – the man Christ Jesus.” (1 Timothy 2:5)

A mediator between God and man has a different job than someone bringing an employer and workers together. God is perfect, omnipotent, omnipresent and unmovable; so the task isn’t bringing the two sides together, but bringing mankind back to God like the Prodigal son of which Jesus spoke. That chasm between God and man as a result of our sin can only be spanned by Jesus, who is 100% man and 100% God. The symbolism of the curtain in the temple separating man from God being torn from top to bottom upon His death on the cross makes it quite clear that Jesus has bridged the gap and made it possible for us to enter boldly into the very presence of God because his shed blood covers our sins and cleanses us of them. The only thing remaining is for us is accept the work of the Mediator and enter into the same loving, binding relationship with God that Adam once enjoyed.

A popular motto during my childhood was, “Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today.” When I was young and full of energy I thought that was a great idea. During my working years, I used to carry a round wooden disc in my pocket with the words TO IT printed on it. I could never say, “I didn’t get around to it,” because there it was in my pocket. Procrastination can become a serious problem. A friend of mine told me she joined a support group for procrastinators and they hope to have their first meeting sometime soon. The older and less energetic I get these days, the more I tend to flip that old motto to, “Never do today what can be put off until tomorrow.” But since none of us is guaranteed tomorrow, that is risky.

Procrastination is one of the favorite tools of the enemy. It has been said many times, “If he can’t make us sin, he will make us busy.” There are only so many hours in a day, so we must prioritize and first do those things that must be done that day. Solomon reminds us in the third chapter of Ecclesiastes that there is a time to do everything under the sun. When each of those times come, our action is required. Like manna that could only be eaten on the day it was collected, putting off certain actions will also have unpleasant and even eternal consequences. It is sad when people find so many excuses to put off accepting God’s gift of salvation through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ until they run out of time.

Organizing and prioritizing our day, deciding what must be done and what can wait, might seem like a daunting task that could keep us awake at night, but not for Christians. Fortunately for us, God has planted His Holy Spirit in each of us and He is a master of organization and priority. All we have to do is turn tomorrow over to Him when we pray before bedtime each night; get a good night’s sleep; in the morning, follow His promptings and leadership throughout that new day; thank Him each night for His help; then repeat. You will be surprised, as I have how many of those unpleasant things you have been putting off are not even necessary. You will be able to make the most of every day without worry or stress. In the words of that old commercial, “Try it. You’ll like it.”

I’ve heard people question the relevance of the Old Testament in the life of a Christian today. I strongly disagree. I have found Jesus throughout the Bible from the Creation story found in Genesis and the first chapter of John to the new heaven and new earth of John’s Revelation. I have also found many parallels to the Christian life in the Old Testament. The first one that comes to mind is the liberation of the Israelites from Egypt found in Exodus.

Just as the Israelites were slaves to their Egyptian masters, I was a slave to my sins and to the enemy. Then I witnessed the miracles of God’s mercy and grace as they released me from the grip of sin. My sins chased after me, but once I reached the safety of God’s love, they were washed away under the sea of forgetfulness. I was ready to begin my new life of freedom and God provided guidance both day and night, as He did for the Israelites, on my journey through a strange and sometimes hostile land. Because I have learned from their mistakes, my wilderness experiences have been very brief (not forty years like theirs). With gratitude and faith, instead of complaint and fear, I have taken a more direct route to the life He promised without wandering around in this world’s wilderness. Like the pillars of cloud and fire, God’s Holy Spirit has been with me to guide me every step of my journey, pausing at His command to rest before moving on.

As you can see, the examples of the Old Testament can be positive or negative. I followed their footsteps through the Red Sea, but then avoided their mistakes in the wilderness. Don’t get me wrong. There are wilderness moments throughout the Christian life and although they are brief we must still deal with them. We will never be completely “out of the woods” until we reach the true Promised Land of His heavenly kingdom where trials, separation, tears and suffering will be no more.    

This blog post was inspired by a wilderness moment I had this weekend. My weekly Christian men’s breakfast was cancelled Saturday due to a vacation and family obligations. I used the time to finish my blog for Sunday and get some other things done, but I felt lost without the fellowship. Then I had no ride to the noon service at church Sunday and when I fired up my laptop I found that the services were not streamed live this week due to the sensitive nature of our guest speaker’s message. I understood the reason behind that decision, but was sad to also miss worship and his message this weekend. It was then, in that wilderness moment, that my wonderful sisters in Christ showed up one by one with help, support and encouragement. It was as if I had found myself in the rough on a golf course and my lovely caddies pulled just the right club out of my bag and helped me line up the shot needed to get me back on the fairway. I have never been a golfer, but I have a strong feeling that analogy will resonate with someone reading this.

Imagine two young children playing. One starts getting overbearing and the other says, “Who made you the boss of me?” Sound familiar? We question authority from a very young age and that doesn’t change much as we get older, especially during our teen years.

It is interesting to see how the Jewish leaders with all of their pomp and ceremonial authority were childishly insecure. They questioned John the Baptist’s authority to baptize, as his fame and following grew. (John 1:26-28) They also questioned Jesus’ authority to heal (especially on the Sabbath) and to drive the merchants out of the temple (which really encroached into their area of authority). This encounter found in Matthew was so important that Mark and Luke also recorded it. “When Jesus returned to the Temple and began teaching, the leading priests and elders came up to him. They demanded, ‘By what authority are you doing all these things? Who gave you the right?’ ‘I’ll tell you by what authority I do these things if you answer one question,’ Jesus replied. ‘Did John’s authority to baptize come from heaven, or was it merely human?’ They talked it over among themselves ‘If we say it was from heaven, he will ask us why we didn’t believe John, but if we say it was merely human, we’ll be mobbed because the people believe John was a prophet.’ So they finally replied, ‘We don’t know.’ And Jesus responded, ‘Then I won’t tell you by what authority I do these things.’” (Matthew 21:23-27)

When we question heavenly authority, we better be ready to accept it. Those religious leaders were not; either in the case of John the Baptist or of Jesus. Jesus saw through their self-righteous motives and left them twisting in the wind. As Christians, we recognize and accept God’s authority in our lives the second we believe in Jesus Christ as our savior. God’s authority comes to us through His word and His Holy Spirit planted in us as His sons and daughters.

Paul tells us we are also to respect and obey government authority. (Romans 13:7)  But when that authority conflicts with God’s authority, as it did for Daniel and his three young Hebrew friends, we must follow their example and bow to God’s authority no matter how dangerous it seems at the time. I want to leave you with the words of another Gospel song.

“So many years I cried because my soul denied that He would save a wretch like me, so full of gloom and dread that I hung my head. I wouldn’t claim the victory. Then one day His love like a winged dove settled down upon my life and I realized he had authorized my ticket to paradise. On the authority of the Holy Word I rise up and take my stand. I’m a blood bought child of the living God who is the great I AM. I’m an heir to all that heaven holds and no principality can ever take away my royal crown given on His authority.” 

There are a lot of old sayings that pop up on social media every so often. One that I’ve heard my whole life is, “It isn’t the heat. It’s the humidity.” However, experience has taught me that when the thermometer rises to near 100 degrees, it IS the heat! Another one that God has actually shown me to be true in every situation, “It isn’t your circumstances that are important. It is your attitude toward them that makes all the difference.” So what should our attitude be as Christian men and women?

Paul sets the bar very high in his letter to the Philippians, “You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.” (Philippians 2:5) He describes that attitude in his letter to the Colossians, “Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.” (Colossians 3:12)  That definitely describes the attitude of Jesus alright, but those things don’t always come easy for most of us. That is why we must rely on the prompting and power of the Holy Spirit within us to develop them as part of our attitude.

I think in this era of instant gratification, patience might be the hardest for most of us to master. I wrote last week about how kindness is just love in action. Tenderhearted mercy and gentleness require us to have empathy for others; being able to visualize ourselves in their situation and feel their pain. Without empathy it is difficult or even impossible to properly serve others, satisfying their deepest needs. Empathy comes easier to some of us than others. I can’t remember not feeling it, but then I have been a Christian for a very long time and a relationship with God through Christ softens our heart and makes it possible for us to sympathize and empathize with others. When my mother was in nurses’ training long before I was born, their creed was to provide TLC (Tender Loving Care). I hope that is still the case, but it has always been the duty of Christians.        

Another old saying speaks to humility, “It isn’t your altitude but your attitude that is important.” Again we look to Jesus as the supreme example. There is no higher position than God incarnate, yet Jesus considered himself a servant of his Heavenly Father and of mankind. Satan tried unsuccessfully to get him to use his position to human advantage. Turn stones into bread to satisfy his physical hunger; trade his heavenly position for one of earthly rule to satisfy his human pride; and show off by jumping off a tower and have angels catch him. Instead, Jesus used his powerful position to heal and feed others, then die in the place of a world of sinners.

I think the greatest example Jesus gave us was his attitude about his circumstances. While his disciples panicked and feared the storm, Jesus slept in the tossing boat. That is a quiet attitude of confidence which only his Holy Spirit can make possible for us.    

Several years ago President Obama announced to the world, “America is no longer a Christian nation.” From a cultural standpoint, he told the truth. But I can remember when we were a Christian nation spiritually and culturally.

I was 14 years old in 1957. That entire summer, Billy Graham held nightly, fully integrated crusade meetings in New York City. He preached the Gospel to over two million people, not counting the huge TV and radio audiences. Hundreds of thousands of people of all ages, races and cultures came to a relationship with God through Jesus Christ that summer. I remember watching on TV as Billy Graham and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stood side by side on the platform before a packed crowd at Madison Square Garden and proclaimed, “There is but one race, the human race, and everyone in that race needs Jesus Christ as their savior.”

That same summer, the number one song on Billboard’s pop and country charts was The Three Bells performed by the Browns (Jim Ed Brown and his two sisters). As you can imagine, the number one song got a lot of play on the radio. I remember being out with our youth group from church and when that song came on the car radio, there was dead silence until it was over. We were Christians, but we were also teenagers so silence was not normal. That song told about church bells ringing and the congregation praying at the birth, wedding and death of Jimmy Brown. Basically, it covered his entire life in just three verses. There is not a popular music radio station anywhere in the country that would play that song even once today.

I was active at church, but when I started high school that fall, I also joined the Youth for Christ club. We met weekly after school in a classroom with our teacher/sponsor Mrs. Saltzman. I have fond memories of those meetings and that wonderful Christian woman who opened and closed our meetings with prayer. She encouraged us to share and discuss the problems we faced as Christian high school students. Billy Graham had been partnering with Youth for Christ since they held a joint conference in Chicago in 1944 (when I was only a year old). We were encouraged to watch on TV as his crusades continued that fall and winter across the southern states.  Sadly, none of that would be permitted on school property with a teacher leading it these days.  

We have come a long way since 1957, but mostly in the wrong direction. I feel the rumbling of a new revival, when the Holy Spirit will bust through the walls of our churches into our communities and into our culture once again. The enemy won’t give up that territory easily, but the battle is on.

Sixty-two years ago, when my mother was hospitalized with leukemia, my dad and I moved in with my brother and his family to be closer to the hospital. We spent as much time as possible with her, but it was a phone call in the middle of the night that woke us. Then my grieving dad broke the news to us that mom had passed away.

Five years ago, I spent a sleepless weekend with my precious wife. She could not get comfortable and asked me to help her change positions every hour or so. When the home nurse came Monday morning she called for an ambulance and I spent hours in the emergency room with her while they pumped fluids into her and prepared her room. Finally, I told her I had to go home and take care of her babies (our two dogs). I took them out and fed them and then collapsed in my chair. I was jolted awake at 1:00 am by someone pounding on my door. It was the police telling me the hospital had been trying to get hold of me. I called them and was told Carol had passed away. The two most important Christian women in my life died in the middle of the night with no loved one by their side, but I know they were not alone.

I recently found comfort in the words of a song.

 “She’s close to death, but she is not afraid
Angels waiting for the order, to carry her away
They’re gathered around her bed side
She’s the only one who sees
She will draw her final breath, and away with them she’ll leave
Angels in the room, she’s run her final race
They come to carry her to heaven there to see her savior’s face
Angels in the room, to take her to a great reward
No need for sadness or gloom, there are angels in the room”

God dispatches angels to bring us important messages; an answer to prayer; or for protection from unseen dangers. The Psalmist writes, “For he will order his angels to protect you wherever you go.” (Psalms 91:11) Jesus said this about little children, “Beware that you don’t look down on any of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels are always in the presence of my heavenly Father.” (Matthew 18:10) An angel announced Mary’s conception of Jesus, first to her and then to Joseph. An angel announced His birth to the shepherds. There are countless other examples of angels throughout the Bible, including an archangel immediately dispatched by God in answer to the prayer of Daniel. He was delayed when Satan tried to block him, but finally arrived with the answer to Daniel’s prayer.

I believe there are unseen angels among us today looking after all of God’s children. When I pray each time I stand, “Walk with me, Lord, and help me make it”, for all I know he has assigned an angel to walk beside me to keep me from falling. What I do know for sure is that I have never been alone, even on the darkest days of my life and I will not be alone when I transition from this life to the next.