The Old Man in the Back of the Sanctuary

Often, Satan will try to distract me from what I’m doing by dredging up my past mistakes and sins, or trying to plant fear in my mind about what tomorrow might hold. The Holy Spirit always reminds me when that happens of the words to a song that was popular when I was young. Singing these words when I’m alone always clears my mind of regrets and fears so I can return to what I was working on (usually my blog). “I’m only human. I’m just a man. Help me believe in all I can be and all that I am. Show me the staircase I have to climb. Lord, for my sake teach me to take one day at a time. One day at a time, sweet Jesus, that’s all I’m asking of you. Give me the strength to do every day what I have to do. Yesterday’s gone, sweet Jesus, and tomorrow may never be mine. So help me today. Show me the way. One day at a time.”

I quote Christian song lyrics quite a bit. Those powerful words of poetic imagery bless my heart and lift my spirit. Are those words as powerful as God’s word? Of course not. They are powerful because of God’s word, which they reflect. Another song, by Lynda Randall, that I love says, “I’m free from the fear of tomorrow. i’m free from the guilt of my past. I’ve traded my shackles for a glorious song. I’m free, praise the Lord, free at last.”

I think I may have mentioned before that a Bible scholar was asked to sum up the entire Bible in one sentence and he replied, “Jesus loves me this I know because the Bible tells me so.” Without His love for us, there would be no Christian life here for me to write about or eternal life to look forward to after this life comes to an end.

I could never over emphasize the depth and power of the love of Christ Jesus. Every time I hear someone testify about their faith in Jesus, what really makes it authentic for me is when they describe their feeling of unworthiness. When you are confronted by the love of Christ and experience the spiritual rebirth that faith in Him makes possible, you cannot help but be overwhelmed by his love and be eternally grateful for His mercy and grace, The power of His unfailing love becomes real, humbling us.

I have quoted the chorus of “I am loved”, but it is a verse of that song that always touches me deeply and brings tears of joy to my eyes. “I said, ‘If you knew, you wouldn’t want me. My scars are hidden by the face I wear.’ He said, ‘My child, my scars run deeper and it is my love for you that put them there.'” Yes, the One who knows us best does love us most.

One of the greatest things about being a believer and follower of Jesus Christ is that we know who to thank for each and every blessing and good experience in our life. I thank God every morning for a sound mind and memories I still enjoy at the age of 80 years old.

I thank God for my loving mother and father and the loving step-mother He sent to care for my father and I after He called my mom home to be with Him.I thank God for my beautiful loving wife who shared life with me for five decades until He called her home to be with Him. I thank God for the five times I know He intervened and saved my life. I thank God for the wonderful brothers and sisters in Christ and caregivers He has placed in my life since my wife died, who make it possible for me to live comfortably at home. I am thankful to God that He spent my entire life preparing me to write this blog for Him.He even provided Josh to design my website and put it on his platform. God is good!

I could write for months and still not cover all of the things for which I am grateful to God. Don’t worry. I lost count of all of them years ago, but I have been thanking Him for each as they come. There is one more thing for which I thank God daily. I thank Him for each of you as you read this. My work in putting out God’s message with my blog would be pointless if it did not touch receptive minds and hearts like yours.

I had never heard of a Greek Stoic philosopher named
Epictetus, but I saw a quote from him that rings true to me. “It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.” Mark Twain made a similar observation when he wrote, ” It is much easier to convince a person of a lie than it is to convince them that they have been lied to.”

I have been on Facebook for about fourteen years now. I currently have just over 300 friends from many different backgrounds, world views, religious beliefs and political affiliations. Despite all of our differences, I have only been unfriended once for telling the absolute truth. He posted about a political event that never happened. I commented that I know it didn’t happen from personal experience as an insider at the time and offered to present him with information that proved it never happened. His favorite college professor told him about it so he preferred to believe him than to accept that I could be telling the truth.

Satan is a liar and the father of lies. (see John 8:44) His favorite lies are scripture passages taken out of context and twisted. We must be very careful when we are learning that we don’t accept lies, because once we believe a lie there will be no room for the truth. You must run everything you hear or read past the Holy Spirit and God’s word in context, including my blog. God is the only sure source of truth. Thankfully, the Holy Spirit makes it easy to spot the lies,if we are paying attention. One of the reasons my blog has been so successful is that I prayerfully follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit as I write it and that same Holy Spirit in the heart of every believer reading it recognizes His truth. Jesus is the way the truth and the life.

Another post on social media caught my eye today,”I’m not like anyone else, I don’t pretend to be. Like it or not, good or bad, I’m just me.” It is a good reminder that each of us is an original, unique masterpiece of God’s creation.When we become believers and followers of Christ, we do not sacrifice our individuality or our free will. Jesus’ life death and resurrection make it possible for us to approach God directly in His name. God made a way, but our relationship with Him as God’s son or daughter is up to each of us. God is always only one prayer away in Jesus’ name no matter how far we think we have strayed from Him.

Christians share the same heavenly Father, the same Savior and the same Holy Spirit within us, but our journey through this life is as unique as we are. I share my Christian experiences with you in this blog, but your experiences will be somewhat different – not better or worse, just different. Based on our unique gifts, God has a special calling or mission for each of us. He knows our strengths and weaknesses and will guide us accordingly. My goal has always been to be the best me as a child of God. If we each strive for that goal, we will meet in heaven some day and celebrate eternal life with our Lord together.

Just after New Years, I got a FaceBook reminder of a post seven years ago that read, “I just got through my second Thanksgiving, Wedding Anniversary, Christmas and New Year without Carol. I have never been a big fan of Dr. Seuss, but a friend posted a quote from him that is useful. ‘Don’t cry because it ended. Smile because it happened.’When I look back at memories of Carol and our 50+ years together, I smile because it happened.”

I reposted it with this update,”I just got through the holidays for the ninth time without Carol. I would be lying if I said it is getting easier, but I still smile because our wedding and 50+ years of marriage happened.I also smile because each year brings me closer to being with her again.”

As Christians, we look forward to spending eternity with Jesus and our loved ones in heaven God has prepared for us when our life comes to an end. I will not rush Him, but when God calls me home, I will be ready.

I think the most difficult thing to explain to a non-believer is how the Holy Spirit affects the life of a Christian believer. It was even more misunderstood when He was called the Holy Ghost. He is one of the three aspects of God; our heavenly Father, His only Son (Jesus) and the Holy Spirit. God our Father sent his Son to become a man so that everyone of us who believe in and follow Him will become His son or daughter. When Jesus returned to heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in the heart of each believer to guide, direct and comfort us as we travel the path God has planned for us. We are not “possessed” by the holy Spirit. God does not take away our free will when we become His child. He wants us to be loving children of His and not mindless robots. The Holy Spirit prompts us to do or say what is pleasing to God. We have two choices, obey or regret. The older I get, the less room I have for any more regrets, so I have become very sensitive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and much more obedient.

As a new child of God at the age of eleven, my first experience with the Holy Spirit within me was when I studied the King James Version of the Bible which was the only version we had back then.As we read God’s inspired word together, He explained it to me in words I could understand. His still small voice speaks to my spirit and not my ears, but I know what He is urging me to understand, do or say. Now at age 80, He looks over my shoulder as I write the blog and edits it as we go.

About eight years ago, I was attending a men’s group at church on Wednesday evenings.Every week I was prompted to share something with the group. I always ran it past the leader to make sure i wasn’t stepping on his toes, but after a few weeks of that I told them if they were tired of hearing my voice, all they had to do was pray for the Holy Spirit to prompt someone else to share, but don’t be surprised if that someone else is you. Evidently no one prayed that prayer.

“Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.” (Ephesians 3:17 NLT)

Just as the roots of a tree serve to provide strength to it by growing deep into the soil and drawing nutrients and firmly stabilizing it, when our spiritual roots grow deep into God’s unfailing love, we are strong and stable in our Christian life. As the lyric to an old hymn describes it, “Like a tree planted by the water, I shall not be moved.” All of the growth and strength in my Christian life over all of these years has come directly from the Holy Spirit within me and from remaining rooted in God’s love.

I can tell you from personal experience that when a man and woman who are each rooted in God’s love join together in marriage, vowing their love for each other, a bond is formed that is so strong that only death can temporarily separate them, but their love never dies. The lyrics of a more modern song describes that bond. “I am loved. I am loved. I can risk loving you, for the one who knows me best loves me most. I am loved. You are loved. Won’t you please take my hand? We are free to love each other. We are loved.”

Someone posted this on social media, “The people Jesus spent the most time with during His ministry are people most modern Christians would not want in their church.” The only thing I might disagree with in that statement is the word “most”. I know a lot of born again modern Christians from various churches who would greet all visitors to their church with open arms. I responded with two long comments. Here is a summary of the points I made in those comments.

As usual, I pointed out that Christianity is not a religion, but is a personal relationship between God and each individual believer. I conceded that “religious” Christians make it easy for non-believers to falsely stereotype us all.

The most important function of a Spirit filled Christian church is to become a spiritual “maternity ward” where sinners are helped through the process of spiritual rebirth. To perform that function you need sinners – the ones Jesus came to seek  and to save and the ones we once were.

Another important function of a Spirit filled Christian church is to become a spiritual “fitness center” to provide spiritual nourishment and exercises to strengthen spiritual muscles through prayer, worship,  Bible study and Christian fellowship, not just for new believers, but those in every stage of Christian life. When I started my blog seven years ago, my main goal was to mentor new believers about the Christian life from my experiences and the guidance of the Holy Spirit (my editor in chief). My website and posts have been hugely successful around the world, because it is God’s  message, not mine. But that success might also indicate that many people haven’t found a  spiritual fitness center in a local church and searched online until they found this blog.

Those aren’t the only two functions of a modern church, but without them a Christian church will not remain Spirit filled.