The Old Man in the Back of the Sanctuary

We have heard a multitude of jokes that begin, “A man (or woman) died and went to heaven”. I have laughed at them and told many of them in my lifetime. Those jokes give us no real glimpse of heaven; they are just our way of whistling past the graveyard and laughing at death. I have, however, found two stories that do give us some human perspective of heaven.

A Sunday school teacher asked her young class, “Who wants to go to heaven?” Everyone raised their hand except one boy. She asked, “Jimmy, don’t you want to go to heaven when you die?” He quickly replied, “Sure I do. I thought you were getting a group together to go now.” It has been said that everyone wants to go to heaven but no one wants to die. Maybe that is why so many people prefer to think of heaven as an eternal retirement community waiting for us when our work here finally comes to an end.

A doctor told a patient that he has a terminal illness and the patient asked, “What is it like on the other side of death?” The doctor replied, “I don’t know.” The patient persisted, “You are a Christian and a man of science and you don’t know what happens when we die?” At that moment there was scratching on the examining room door. The doctor opened the door and a dog burst into the room and ran to the doctor with tail wagging wildly. The doctor said, “This is my dog. My son brought him by the office on his way back from the vet. He has never been in this room before. All he knew about it was that his master was there so he entered the room without fear. All I really know about heaven is that my Master is there, so I will go through that door without fear.” As we search God’s word for a glimpse of heaven we often overlook the two most important points. Heaven is living in the presence of God and He has provided a way for us to be there with Him.  Jesus proclaimed, “I am the way the truth and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

When I was a teenager I learned about hell from an evangelist who traveled the country describing the fires of hell right down to the smallest glowing ember. You could almost smell the sulfur when he preached. As a young believer it seemed to me that he was selling fire insurance against eternal damnation instead of offering salvation and freedom from our sinful nature through the grace and mercy of Almighty God.  When the Bible tells us to fear God it doesn’t mean we should be scared to death of Him. It means we should be in awe of God’s power and majesty.  The most important thing about hell is that it is complete separation from God. The fire and brimstone of hell have never scared me nearly as much as the thought of being separated from my Creator.

Heaven and hell do exist. I know that because the word of God says so, but I have also experienced a taste of each of them in my life. Some may ask, “How can a loving and just God condemn people to eternal suffering in hell while taking others to heaven?” God doesn’t choose heaven or hell – we do.  Heaven or hell actually begins for each of us right here on earth when we choose either to follow Jesus into the presence of God or follow Satan away from God’s presence and toward that place prepared for him. We must choose our path and our final destination here and now; death simply makes our decision final.

Time is so frustrating.  When I was young and energetic time seemed to pass so slowly that my patience was constantly tested.  Now that I’m old and much less energetic the days, months and years fly by seemingly in the blink of an eye.  Add to that the fact that time has seemed to speed up or slow down throughout my life depending on my circumstances.  At work on a slow day or sitting in church during a long sermon, time would nearly stand still, yet when I was doing something enjoyable time would fly by.  A while back I caught up with a friend in the church parking lot after the noon service.  We had not spoken to each other in a while so we began to share all that was happening in our lives and before we knew it two hours had passed.  It is that easy to lose all track of time (and hunger) when you become engrossed.

There are hundreds of books, CDs and videos about time management.  I have yet to find a single one of them that actually teaches how to manage time.  Instead, they all teach how to manage priorities to help get the important things done in the time we have.  I think Sam Levenson had the best advice about time when he said, “Don’t watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going.”

There is a story about a little boy who loved to visit his grandmother.  He especially liked the big grandfather clock in her living room.  He would sit on the carpet in front of it as noon approached and then count off the chimes.  One day the mechanism in the clock went haywire and the clock chimed a thirteenth and fourteenth time.  The boy excitedly ran to find his grandmother.  “Grandma,” he shouted, “It is later than it has ever been before!”  There is a lot of truth to that statement.  It is later now as you read this than it has ever been before and it will soon be even later.  Are we making good use of the time we have been given?

We are limited by time and space.  God is not.  Since He created time and space, He obviously operates outside of them.  God’s timing is always perfect for accomplishing His will, but His time doesn’t always correspond to time as we know it.  From the perspective of Mary and Martha, Jesus was four days late to heal their brother before he died.  In reality, He was right on time to demonstrate His power over death by calling Lazarus from the grave.  When we trust God to answer our prayers, we should also trust His perfect timing.  No need to watch the clock or even the calendar as we await His answer.

As for my current position in time, I’m sure it won’t surprise anyone that the words of a song sum it up nicely for me:

“It has been such a long time since I started this journey,

But heaven gets closer with each passing day.

Though my feet may grow weary I won’t stumble or stray,

For He leads me each step of the way.”

 

 

Thomas Jefferson wrote in our Declaration of Independence from the British that all of us are endowed by our Creator with “certain unalienable rights: that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”.   Jefferson understood that happiness is not a God-given right. It is solely dependent on our circumstances and our reaction to those circumstances.  We should, however, be free to pursue happiness by changing our environment and adjusting our attitude.

There are people today who believe it is their right to be happy.  They see anything that interferes with their happiness as an intrusion or threat. They are even offended when someone else has a different definition of happiness than they do.  Although God created us equal in His sight, He created each of us as unique individuals and I have found that part of becoming a mature adult is accepting those differences as interesting, at times challenging, but never threatening.  There have been times in my life when I have pursued things that I thought would make me happy, but my happiness is almost always found in people and my relationships with them not material comfort.  Happiness seems to be more and more complicated and elusive in today’s society.

Joy, on the other hand, really does come from our Creator.  Joy came into the world as angels heralded the birth of Jesus.  We receive God’s joy in our hearts only through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  When we accept Christ as our savior, we are filled with true joy.  There is no need to pursue or search for it.  At times we may lose some of our joy when we concentrate too much on our circumstances or our emotions, but to become joyful again all we have to do is concentrate on our blessings and praise God for each of them.  When we do that we cannot help but be filled with joy once more.

Unlike happiness, joy does not depend on our circumstances.  In the words of one of my favorite Southern Gospel songs: “He gave me joy – real joy – unspeakable gladness, a peace I had not known before. In the storm he took away my sorrow; gave hope for tomorrow and more. He gave me joy in the storm.”

With God’s joy in our hearts we just might find that happiness is not so elusive after all.

Trust is the foundation of every strong relationship, but how do you attain it? You can’t just ask for it. When someone says, “Trust me,” our defenses go up and that is the last thing we do without a thorough investigation. So how do we become trustworthy? To answer that question make a list of everyone you trust. Now go down the list and look for common traits they all possess.

I can guarantee that everyone on your list is honest.  How can you trust someone who might be lying to you or cheating you? You can’t. So honesty is the first and most important trait of trustworthy people. I bet they are all dependable too. Honest people who aren’t there when we need them soon lose our trust. Finally, you know that each person on your list sincerely cares about you and your relationship with them.

So it is simple. To be trustworthy all you have to do is be honest, dependable and truly care about people. While that is true it certainly is not simple. We have all had someone take advantage of us in one way or another. Those in whom we have placed our trust have disappointed us. As a result, most people have built strong defenses that you must overcome in order to gain their trust and that usually takes time and a lot of effort. It isn’t enough to be honest, dependable and caring; we must prove it over time by our words and actions.

There is one way to speed up the process of earning someone’s trust. In sales it is called a referral. In other relationships we might call it a personal endorsement. It is when someone who has already earned the trust of a person vouches for your trustworthiness as well. That kind of endorsement is great, but it comes with added responsibility. You are now not only proving your trustworthiness, but the trustworthiness of the person who endorsed you.

One interesting example of such an endorsement occurred years ago when I was a pest control salesman. I inspected a prospective customer’s home and was ready to propose a solution to their problem when the gentleman told me I would have to wait for his wife to get home. Impatiently, I plopped down in a chair in their living room to wait. A little dog came over and began sniffing my pant leg, no doubt picking up the scent of my dog. I slowly reached down and began scratching him behind his ears and by the time the lady of the house came home he was contentedly curled up in my lap. Her mouth dropped open in shock. She had never seen her dog take to a stranger like that. When I presented my proposal she immediately agreed to take the service and this time her husband’s mouth dropped open in shock. He had never seen his wife agree to anything that quickly. Her best friend told her I could be trusted and that was good enough for her. I remember doing a very thorough service in order to protect her dog’s reputation as a good judge of character.

Now that we know more about gaining the trust of those around us, how does that apply to our relationship with God? Trusting God is easy. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) He is not only honest; He is truth.  God is also dependable. “Trust in the lord always, for the lord God is the eternal rock.” (Isaiah 26:4) Finally, God cares about us. “We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in His love. God is love, and all who live in God live in love, and God lives in them.” (I John 4:16) God not only cares about us, He is love.

Only one big question remains. Can God trust us? He certainly can’t trust our sinful nature. When we put our faith in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for our salvation, repent of our sins and receive the Holy Spirit within us, Jesus then presents us to God the Father with His personal endorsement because we are now his adopted brother or sister in God’s family.  When God looks at us He sees the righteousness of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit and He can trust us to produce good fruit.

New Year’s Day is a great time for beginnings; a time to turn the page and start fresh.  There is a strong impulse to make resolutions of change for the coming year.  Most of our resolutions involve habits.  Although we often think of habits as being good or bad there are some that are neither.  For instance, it has been 51 years since I was in the military but I still step off with my left foot first.  There would be no advantage for me to step off with my right foot so why bother changing that old habit?

New Year’s resolutions are often vows to start good habits like daily exercise, daily time in God’s word and praying or daily time with family members loving and encouraging each of them.  There is a simple way to form any good habit we want.  Psychologists tell us if we do something for 21 days it will become a habit.  I don’t know what is so special about that number, but I have tried it and it works.  We may have already formed some good habits without even realizing it.  Buckling our seat belt in the car is a very good habit. It could not only save our life but also keep us from paying a fine.   Aristotle had this to say about good habits, “We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence then is not an act, but a habit.” God’s word tells us that love is not an act but a habit we should develop.  (II John 1:5-6 and numerous other passages.)

New Year’s resolutions may also be vows to end bad habits.  When we think about our habits we seem to gravitate to the bad ones out of guilt or conviction.  Eliminating a bad habit is not as simple as starting a new one.   Simply stopping a bad habit for 21 days won’t work.  We must replace it with a good habit for 21 days to help reprogram our minds.  Some bad habits have become full blown addictions.  We need help freeing ourselves from addictions.  Through prayer and the power of the Holy Spirit, Cleansing Stream classes at CLC help free us from bad habits, addictions and pain or guilt we continue to carry from our past.

I began smoking cigarettes while I was in the Air Force.  It was a common bad habit of the 1960s.  Fortunately, I didn’t smoke enough to develop a strong physical addiction to nicotine so when I came back home to look for a job and start married life God filled my life with so many positive changes that I didn’t even think about buying a pack of cigarettes.  I have friends who have experienced a very strong addiction to nicotine who testify to the miraculous power of God healing their body and setting them free with no craving or withdrawal symptoms in answer to prayer.  God wants to release us from physical, mental or spiritual addictions.  All we have to do is ask for His help.

If we rely on our own will power to keep our resolutions for this New Year, we will fail within a few days as usual.  However, if we ask God to help us make our list of resolutions and then guide us through those changes we can look forward to a year of great improvement and success.