Month: November 2024

I’m writing this the day after our Thanksgiving Holiday. Retailers call this black Friday as they kick off the Christmas shopping season with sales bargains. This morning, a Christian friend on Facebook shared a post depicting three crosses on a hill with the caption, “Only one black Friday has offered eternal savings.” That touched my heart as I was still reveling in the blessings of yesterday.

My Thanksgiving Day had started off as usual with a caregiver from 8 am until noon. His name is Kevin and he had been here once before a few months ago. He cooked a large, very satisfying breakfast and performed the usual cleaning chores. He then sat with me and we discussed my blog, which he said he has been reading since his last time serving me. He prepared my lunch and then checked out at noon. My phone was so quiet all morning that I checked to make sure there was a dial tone.

I spent the afternoon relaxing and even taking a brief nap. About 6:30 pm, I began to think of something simple that I could fix myself for dinner. The phone finally rang for the first time all day. It was my dear friend Suzanne. She was calling from her sister’s home where they had just finished a large family meal and asked if I had dinner yet. When I told her no, she offered to send her daughter and granddaughter with a plate full of food for my dinner. I don’t have to tell you that it took me less than a nanosecond to accept that offer.

When Faith and her daughter, Olivia, arrived they immediately got the food in front of me and watched me eat to make sure I had everything I needed. It was a large Thanksgiving meal including a slice of pumpkin pie for dessert.  As much as that meal blessed my body, the loving kindness of that entire family blessed me much more. We prayed and then they left me with a full belly and a full heart. Thank you, Lord, for putting so many wonderful people in my life.

My grandmother used to warn me not to put the cart before the horse. As I got older, I realized the wisdom of her advice. We need to keep everything in proper order to get where we want them to take us. When we get our actions out of order of importance, we can’t move forward just as hitching a horse to the back of our cart won’t get us anywhere. Her advice has especially helped me in my Christian life all of these years.

As the name indicates, the first and most important part of our Christian life is a personal relationship with Christ. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. The only way into God’s presence in prayer, worship or in heaven when this life is finished is through faith in Jesus Christ. He is the personification of the truth of God’s word. His death on the cross in our place and His resurrection allow us to follow Him into heaven for eternity as God’s children and joint heirs with Christ.

The next most important part of our Christian life is God’s Holy Spirit that is planted in our heart when we believe in and follow Christ. It is His Spirit that guides us and empowers us to do God’s will in our Christian life. Paul tells the Galatians (and us) that the Holy Spirit produces what he calls fruit in Christian believers: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control”. Those are Godly motives that will produce every good work we do. When we have our Christian life in proper order of importance, our good works flow effortlessly. If we over emphasize the importance of our good works, not only will we be putting the cart before the horse, the wheels will fall off our cart. Don’t allow that to happen!

Jesus said, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10) I have written before about our spiritual rebirth to eternal life and the indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit that marks the beginning of our Christian life. I can testify about the life I have received as a result of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection that completed His mission here on Earth.

Is the Christian life abundant? Looking back over my seventy years of experience as a child of God, I can testify that my life has been filled with joy, purpose and provision; as compared with the emptiness, aimlessness and dissatisfaction found in a life without Christ. Have there been low points in my life? You bet there have been! I was as low as I could be when my mother died from leukemia when I was only 14 and again, much later, when my wife died from cancer after 50 years together in a marriage of love and companionship. In both cases God assured me that I will be with them again and showed me how to keep their love and memories in my heart until that reunion.

If that wasn’t enough abundance in my Christian life, there have been four times, that I’m aware of, when my life was in immediate danger and God miraculously saved me. I don’t have an abundance of wealth or possessions, but God has filled my life with love, joy, mercy and grace. What more could I ask for?

When I hear the testimony of someone about how they became a Christian, it always is authentic to me when they say how unworthy they felt. Without that honest look at myself, I would not have realized how much I needed my Savior. None of us is worthy of God’s mercy and grace, but He gives them freely to me and everyone who believes in and follows Jesus Christ.

My Christian life has been a long process that began when unworthy me came to God in prayer accepting Jesus Christ as my Savior. Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross paid the price for my sins and His blood covered my sins from the eyes of a righteous and Holy God and His resurrection sealed the eternal life of my newborn spirit. Even after all of that, I still wasn’t holy, perfect or worthy. I was still human, trying to serve an infinite God in a finite world. For more than seven decades, God has been working on me through His Holy Spirit within me. I am not the same person I was as I began this  journey, but I’m still not worthy of God’s mercy, blessings and grace that I have been provided in this life.

My brother or sister, God doesn’t choose the worthy, He chooses the willing. I am so thankful that He does. When we come into God’s presence in the name of Jesus, whether it is in prayer, worship or Bible study, it is not about who we are, it is about who God is and the wonderful works He can do in our lives and those for whom we pray.

The world seems to be getting colder. No, it isn’t due to climate change or the fact that we are entering into winter in the Midwest U.S. It is due to many people with ice cold attitudes about others who don’t look or think exactly as they do. As Christians, we are not only the salt and light the world needs, we are called to share the warmth of our love for others just as God first loved each of us.

As I write this, I have a bright blue blanket on my lap with cute owls depicted on it and hand tied fringe around the edges. I own blankets that are larger or thicker, but I slept soundly and warm under this one last night.  When my wife was in rehab, a group of women from a church stopped by her room and gave her this blanket they had hand stitched and prayed over. Carol loved it and told me how warm it made her feel. I still feel the warmth of her love and the love and prayers of those ladies.

I will never know those women or even what church they belonged to until we get to heaven, but the warmth of their love will continue to keep me from the cold.  Brothers and sisters, God has placed the fire of His Holy Spirit within us. Allow those around you who shiver in the cold of this world to warm themselves from the warmth of your love. They may just catch some of that fire from God for themselves.

There are eight words in Greek for different levels or types of affection. Each of them translates to English as love (the only word we have for affection). Agape is the highest level and deepest type of universal love. It is the word Jesus used in John 3:16 for the depth of God’s love for us. It is also the word Jesus used in John 13:34 in His new commandment for us to love one another as He has loved us. I’m reminded of the story of a well known 19th century preacher who was asked to sum up the Bible in one sentence. He replied, “Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so.”

I have written about love more than any other topic because it is the foundation of our Christian life and our relationships with God and others. During our 50 years of marriage, Carol and I experienced most of those 8 types and levels of love, but the best was the agape love we experienced as we prayed, worshiped and studied God’s word together. My brother or sister, I’m writing this that you may know that God has agape for you and so do I.

Bible scholars say the instruction to “fear not” appears 365 times in scripture (once for every day of the year). I have not counted them myself, but I have encountered that instruction often while reading my Bible, so I will take their word for the frequency of those words. Why does God repeat that instruction so often in His word?

I believe it is more than an instruction for us to follow; it is also a warning of the dangers of fear. When the enemy (Satan) can embed fear in our mind, he takes our attention away from God and our service for Him. Simon Peter took a leap of faith when he stepped out of the boat and began walk on the water toward Jesus. He was making progress until he took his eyes off of Jesus and saw the storm raging around him. Fear caused him to sink and call out to ask Jesus to save him. How many times has fear of what is going on around you embedded itself in your mind and distracted you from the progress you were making in your calling or service for our Lord?

Several years ago I wrote about an episode I had with fear of falling on my basement steps. Even after God saved me and got me to safety, the fear remained embedded in my mind for several days until God sent a specific verse of scripture and the line of a gospel song that replaced that fear with peace. So whatever is going on around you, my brother or sister, fear not and keep your concentration on our Lord who is always with you.