Month: September 2024

There is a video I saw recently of Gloria Gather first describing her feelings as she watched her daughter give birth. Then she described how she felt holding the hand of her mother as she took her final breath.  She summed it all up this way. “It isn’t until we encounter birth and death that we get real about life.”

I have written before about the miracle of birth and my pro life position that is based on scientific fact and spiritual truth. But what do I mean when I claim that I have been “Born Again”? Jesus explains it to Nicodemus and us in the third chapter of the Gospel of John.  I experienced it this way. Before I gave my heart to Jesus Christ, I was a human being with occasional spiritual experiences. After putting my faith in Him, I became an eternal spiritual being having human experiences.

I have gotten real about life because the average life expectancy in my country is 77 and I am already four years into the overtime period of my life. Every minute, hour and day is precious. None of us is guaranteed tomorrow, so get real about life today.

It has always seemed ironic to me that those who accuse Christians of hating sinners are so quick to attack Christians or anyone else who disagrees with them with the most hateful words they know. How should we respond as a son or daughter of God through Christ?

Our Lord gave us a clear example for us to follow when he said from the cross, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” Nothing is more hateful than being stripped naked and nailed to a cross to  die before a crowd of people that included his mother.

As a Christian teenager in the 1950’s, I witnessed another example of facing hate. I watched closely as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and other civil rights leaders faced unimaginable hatred. Dr. King told his followers not to fight hate with hate. because only love can and will defeat hate. I watched his “I have a dream” speech live on TV and although hate took his life, most of his dream has become a reality and Christians, including me, are still at work on it.

Our world is ablaze with spiritual warfare. There is only one escape route to safety. Is it an act of hate to warn others they are running toward the fire and try to lead them to safety? No! It is an act of love no matter what it is labeled by those heading toward the flames.

 

In Joshua 24:15, Joshua challenged his people to choose whom they will serve.  He gave them some choices if they found serving the Lord undesirable, then he told them, “But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

There is a story I heard in my youth that has stuck with me all of these years. It is about a man sitting on top of a high fence. Jesus was on one side and Satan on the other side.  Jesus asked him, “Are you ready to follow me?” The man replied, “I’m quite comfortable right where I am.” Satan began to laugh hysterically. The man asked him what was so funny and Satan told him, “I own that fence you are sitting on. Any soul that isn’t with Jesus is mine.” The man leaped off that fence like his pants were on fire and knelt at Jesus’ feet vowing to serve him. The moral of that little parable is that avoiding a decision is in itself a decision that has consequences.

We must avoid the illusion that we do no harm when we do nothing and refuse to even form an opinion. All it takes for evil people to successfully propagate their evil is for good people to watch silently without objection or opposition. God help us to choose wisely and decisively, then serve our Lord diligently.

 

It’s strange how my 81 year old brain has information stored away that pops up occasionally, seemingly out of the blue. As I was reading the FaceBook posts of people who I know attend church every Sunday, I began to sing this line from the theme song of a 1962 movie. “One day of praying and six nights of fun. The odds against going to heaven – six to one.” The movie was, “Walk on the Wild Side” and it was released while I was a 19 year old airman stationed on Okinawa. I thought I had completely forgotten about that movie and song.

There are three  points I got from that experience and I want to share them with you. First, that song lyric is catchy, but it is not correct.  If you continue to live in sin while using weekly prayer and worship like a fire insurance policy against hell, your odds against going to heaven are 100%. Jesus describes such people in Matthew 7:23 at the final judgment when they will hear Him tell them plainly that He never knew them.

The second point is that we must be careful what we take in with our senses and ponder in our mind and our heart, because it could be stored only to pop up later. We need to pray with the Psalmist (Psalms 119:11 NLT). “Your word have I hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”

The final point is this. When we become a son or daughter of God through faith in Jesus Christ, our Heavenly Father wants full custody of us, not just weekly visitation.

The first two things my parents taught me as a young child are, “There is a God and you aren’t Him”. They then taught me all of the polite words to use like: sir or ma’am, please, pardon or excuse me, etc. But when it came to “thank you” my parents explained to me that those weren’t just polite words, they should always be used to express genuine appreciation and that I should appreciate everything someone gives me or does for me.

I thank my caregivers for every little thing they do for me. When I have a new caregiver, I explain to them that those aren’t just polite words that come out automatically, but are an expression of my true appreciation of what they do for me.  I want every caregiver to leave my home feeling appreciated and worthy of it.

God longs for the love and appreciation of His sons and daughters. I don’t just thank Him in prayer and worship, I say “Thank you, Lord” countless times each day as I feel His help. When I used to be at work or another situation where it might be inappropriate to speak those words out loud, I would let my heart express my gratitude to God and I know He always got my message. I can tell you from experience that when you appreciate what you have been given, God will give you even more.

Out of jealousy and hatred, Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery and told their father that he was killed and dragged off by wild animals. While a slave and a prisoner in Egypt, God helped him interpret Pharaoh’s dream about years of plenty followed by years of famine. Pharaoh made Joseph his second in command to make sure food was stored to get them through the famine. When the famine came, Joseph’s brothers traveled to Egypt to buy food. When they finally recognized him they dropped to their knees in fear of retribution, but Joseph said, “You intended it to harm me, but God intended it for good. He brought me to this position so that I can save the lives of many people.” (Genesis 50:20 NLT)

Last year, I found myself in a nursing home for rehab. Their intention was not to get me strong enough to return home, but to trap me into selling my home and giving them the money and keep me at their mercy for the rest of my life, which wouldn’t have been long with the lack of care I was receiving. I am home in good health writing this blog post because God had other intentions for me. I haven’t saved the lives of people as Joseph did, but I continue to touch the lives of many with love and encouragement.

No matter what you are going through, my brother or sister, trust that God’s intentions for you are good. All you have to do is pray for His will to be done and for His continued guidance.

When I was young, girls were taught that the way to a man’s heart was through his stomach, so kitchens were more than warming stations back then. My wife was a great cook, but she had my heart long before she captured my stomach. If Satan had one moment of honesty, he would tell you the way to the heart of a man or woman is through their mind. That is his favorite route to introduce temptations, doubts and fears into our life.

When I became a Christian in 1954, there was a best selling book written by a pastor titled “Power of Positive Thinking”. I obtained a copy thinking it would help my new found faith grow. The Holy Spirit would not let me read beyond the second page. I put that book down and never picked it up again. That is just one of the countless times God has protected my mind and my heart with the sword of His Spirit and the helmet of salvation. (see Ephesians chapter 6)

Paul also wrote in Romans 2:2 that the way to avoid conforming to the world is through the renewing of our minds. I ask God regularly to keep my mind renewed by removing any fear, doubt or temptation that has squeezed through my subconscious. I praise God daily that as my body has weakened with age my mind has remained strong to continue sharing His messages with you.

 

My wife used to say that the internet is evil. It is true that you don’t have to search long to find any form of evil imaginable. My experience has been that God can, and does, use it for His glory and our good. So many times I have started a blog post with something from my FaceBook time line and today is no exception, although it is somewhat unique. I sat down yesterday to write my blog,but had no topic in mind. I prayed for a topic with no reply from God. This morning, I found this on my time line titled “Thought for the Day” with no source shown. I know the source and I’m sure you do too.

“I am thankful for the difficult people in my life. They have taught me exactly who I do not want to be.” There are positive and negative role models. The difference is how we perceive them. Twin boys were raised by an alcoholic father after their mother died. One grew up to be an alcoholic and when asked why he drank he replied that he watched his father. His brother grew up never drinking a sip of alcoholic drink and when asked why he also replied that he watched his father. Was the father a positive or negative role model? It depends on which brother you ask.

Satan always tries to get us to set the person we admire and try to emulate on a pedestal to worship them instead of God. We must always remember that Jesus Christ is the only perfect person in whom we can both admire and worship, because He is the only access to our heavenly Father.

I want to leave you with a question. Are you a positive role model to those around you? God knows. Ask Him.

Since January 1st of 2017, I have been posting about the Christian life as it is described in God’s word and as I have experienced it for the last 70 years. I want to state once more that there would be no Christian life without the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Satan and the world have tried to stereotype and demonize the title of Christian to the point that some of my friends actually began to refer to themselves as believers. I tried that for a few days, but I wanted the world to know who I believe in, so I quickly returned to proudly writing about my Christian life.

I’ve read that the greatest event in human history was when Neil Armstrong stepped onto the surface of the moon. My wife and I stayed up and watched it on TV and it was memorable, but the greatest event in human history was when Jesus Christ stepped out of that tomb in Jerusalem. No, I didn’t witness that. (I’m old, but not that old.)  However, I have written several times about my spiritual experience while praying at the entrance of the empty Garden Tomb in Jerusalem in 1964. There is a line of a song I watched on YouTube recently that sums it up for me. “The cross is now empty and so is the tomb.”

“All scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17 NLT)  I’m sure Paul was inspired by God to write those words, but I don’t think in his wildest dreams he ever thought those words, along with his other letters, would become a part of scripture.

Have you ever had a passage of scripture seem to jump off the page or screen to get your attention? I sure have! Have you ever read a familiar passage of scripture for the hundredth time and gotten something new out of it? Me too! Those things happen because scripture is not just a string of words, but it is a living message from God specifically for each of us.

My blog posts are inspired by God through His Holy Spirit. Are these words as powerful as scripture? Of course not! If they have any power, it is because of scripture. The feedback I receive always reminds me it is God’s message, not mine. My wonderful neighbor once told me that she always had trouble relating scripture to her daily life until she started reading my blog. I kept the encouragement and passed the praise on to the One who deserves it.

I thank God that His living Word, described in the first chapter of the Gospel of John, continues to live in scripture and in the hearts of those who love, believe in and follow Him.