THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING

I heard the phrase, “guilt is the gift that keeps on giving” a few years ago.  It’s true, isn’t it?  We feel guilty, sometimes because we are guilty of something and should feel that way, sometimes because someone wants us to because they think we should or they just like to make others feel guilty because of their own issues, or maybe even sometimes because we think we should feel guilty.

There is good guilt – “yes officer I was going too fast.”  This type is a necessary function of an informed conscience.  If you never feel guilty then you have no understanding of sin, right and wrong, or the feelings of others. 

There is bad guilt – Freud blamed everything on his mother, so we will too.

There is satanic guilt – This is when you know you have been forgiven, but you still feel this weight of guilt that keeps you from experiencing the freedom you have in Christ.

Under the category of “good guilt” we must include the word “conviction.”  This is what the Holy Spirit does to us, although it is not exactly guilt.  Conviction is becoming aware of what we were not aware of – theologically speaking that means sin.  The Holy Spirit opens our eyes to our sin, we are convicted of it, and the Lord draws us unto Himself in the act of justification.  When the believer understands sin he wants to get away from it because he knows how God hates it.

We can’t blame our guilt on God – sin belongs to us.  We can blame the knowledge of our sin on the Holy Spirit because He opens our eyes to it.  We can also blame our way out of sin on God, because He provides our salvation.  So not only is guilt the gift that keeps on giving, at least in this life, but salvation is the gift that keeps on giving on into the next!

MR. PERSONALITY

I was once told that if everybody loved me that meant I had no personality.  Perhaps this was just that person’s way of excusing his behavior and the fact that almost everyone had some issue with him.  I have since learned that you can be a nice enough person that most people will love you, but eventually even the sweetest, kindest and most gentle person will be hated. 

I recall a man who lived quite some time ago who demonstrated love, healed the sick, raised the dead, gave sight to the blind, and eventually asked God to forgive the ones who crucified Him; Jesus was not universally loved!  His love threatened the religious status quo, it threatened those who had power and it threatened the way of life of the entire world; that’s enough to be hated.

If Jesus, who lived and loved in a perfect fashion, was hated by the world is there any hope that those who attempt to live like Him might escape the hatred of the world?  No, there is not; and Jesus tells us this in a straight forward fashion – “The world will hate you.”  Believers should not be disheartened with this news; what should upset us is if the world doesn’t hate us.  Maybe we should question the veracity of our faith if we aren’t persecuted!  Not that I am looking for persecution, but I am looking for genuine faith and the best way to live out the grace the Lord gives me. 

Let’s make this simple: Have you ever been hated because you were a Christian?  Not an obnoxious Christian, a pushy Christian, a legalistic Christian…you see where I am going.  Have you ever been hated because your life was a clear demonstration of Jesus, because you loved like Him, served like Him, or had compassion like Him?  If so, I congratulate you.  If not, get to work and be hated.

I HAVE COMMANDMENTS TO KEEP AND MILES TO GO BEFORE I SLEEP

It’s not really an issue of “can” I do what the Lord wants me to do; it’s an issue of “will” I.  How many times have we acted in ways that we know we shouldn’t, but we just can’t seem to help ourselves?  I know what the Lord commands so why don’t I do it all the time?  I am weak, just like you!

Let’s put it in a way we can all understand: I walk out of the house and my dog goes for the trashcan.  I come back home some time later to find the can tipped over and assorted items on the floor (usually a discarded butter wrapper that has been licked clean).  My faithful dog slinks, and I mean slinks, over to see me; knowing full well that he has done something he is not supposed to do.  I speak to him harshly and send him to the garage.  He knows he is not supposed to get into the trash, he is rather smart, but yet he still gets into it.  Is he really smart?  Is he really stupid?  Why would he do something he knows he should not do?  He is a dog and I doubt his conscience is as developed or as informed by Scripture as is mine.  That’s his excuse.  What is my excuse?

I, like any believer, know what Scripture says, “If you love me you will obey my commandments.”  It’s as easy as that, isn’t it?   Yes, I love the Lord; no I am not always obedient.  This is a problem; not just for me but for every believer.

Perhaps a tool to aid my/our obedience is a greater focus on His love for me?  My love for Christ is obviously imperfect; His love for me is perfect.  His sacrifice for me was without any thought to Himself.  His joy was to do the will of His Father in heaven.  His atoning death was the ultimate demonstration of love.  Perhaps a better application, maybe a fuller appropriation, of His love would help my obedience? 

In The Saints Everlasting Rest, Richard Baxter basically says that a better focus on what is in store for the believer for all eternity will aid our lives here in this temporary world.  He means that if we spent more time contemplating heaven we will be better prepared for it when we arrive because we will have given ourselves over to it while still in this mortal body.  Maybe an emphasis on being obedient is the wrong place to put our focus.  Perhaps our emphasis should be on Christ’s love and sacrifice for us, and from that our hearts will strive longingly to live in the same fashion?  Christ was obedient to the Father out of His love for Him and desire for the Father’s glory.  What do you want most in life, the Father’s glory or more of this temporary world? 

THE SPIRITUAL CANDY SHOP

If you are a chocolate lover like me then perhaps you have had some form of this dream.  You walk into a fine confectionery shop, enjoy a chocolate selection and a coffee at the corner table, close your eyes for a moment and when you awake you find that they have closed the store around you.  There you are, poor soul, locked in a veritable Willie Wonka’s chocolate factory for the night – whatever will you do!  You have your pick: apples covered in layers of chocolate, strawberries dipped in dark chocolate, mints, caramels, you name it and it has been dipped, sprinkled with or injected with chocolate.  They find you in the morning, dead, but with a smile and a tell tale smear of chocolate on your face.  Death by chocolate.

Spiritually speaking, some have interpreted John 14:12-14 in a similar fashion as my “night in the confectionery shop” story.  Jesus says that if you ask it in my name you will get it.  If this is so, why have so many of my dinners not ended with chocolate pudding!  Perhaps a more important question would be, “If I ask the Lord for something in the name of Jesus, then why have my friends still died, their marriages fallen apart or their lives been shattered through suffering that I specifically asked the Lord, in the name of Jesus, to relieve them of?”

“In the name of Jesus” is not the same as the magician’s “hocus pocus” and out comes a rabbit from the hat.  There is no magic formula to access the power of God.  There is God’s will, and that is perfect; there is my will and that is far from perfect.  If we are to understand the passage we must come to grips with the distinction between His perfect will and my imperfect will.  We must understand that His perfect will is what we need to have; whether or not we like it. 

I dare you – start to pray for His will and His glory to be done in your life without limiting it to what might be considered good, pleasing, or helpful according to the standards of society or to you personally.  Go ahead, ask the Lord for His glory to be demonstrated in your life regardless of what it may cost you or do to you personally.  Seek His will with all that you are; then you will begin to understand that “God’s candy shop” is not always stocked with what we like, but is filled with what will best glorify Him.  When you are satisfied with that, then you will understand John 14:12-14.  Then, whether it is life or death, it will still be God’s glory – and you will know your purpose.      

WHAT CAN THE DEAD TELL US?

My first real exposure to the dead (up close and personal) was the day I went to the local hospital and had to find the “necrology” department.  Let me give you some background; Judy and I had moved into the upstairs apartment of a local funeral home and, as our third job between the two of us, we were the live-in caretakers.  Our job description included, but was not limited to: working visitations, keeping the place clean, answering the phone throughout the night, helping during services, and making removals from homes, or the hospitals.  The first time I went to the necrology department by myself was the first time I ever went there.  Naturally it was an old hospital and necrology was in the basement.  I will spare you the details, but it was just like in the movies: a long hallway with half the light bulbs burned out, not another soul around, just me and…you know…it’s the necrology department.

I think most people have at least some aversion to the dead.  Most of us don’t spend any great deal of time around those who are deceased and I have found an awkwardness exhibited by most when they have to come in contact with someone who has died. 

There are those among us who claim they can make contact with the dead – we call them: spiritualist, mediums, or necromancers.  In a more “culturally sensitive” form there are also fortune tellers, palm readers, and those who play with Ouija Boards.  Scripture says that these people are all to be avoided.  We are to have nothing to do with them or anyone else who thinks they can communicate with the dead or tell the future.  There are only two sources of knowledge of the future or communication with any other realm of existence: Satan and the Lord.  The Lord will contact us if He deems it necessary.  If we go looking for Satan, he is only too happy to oblige our ignorant search for what we are forbidden to seek.

All of this is an introduction to the prophet Isaiah’s world where necromancers were operating with the blessing of king Ahaz.  The kingdom of Judah is seemingly going down the drain, so Ahaz has made a bargain with the Assyrians, seeking their protection against lesser invaders, and now the Assyrians have decided that the kingdom of Judah is “easy pickings” and they will take the land for their own.  Where is God when His covenant people need Him most?  God is still around…His people are the ones who have trusted in gods of lesser abilities.

I don’t know the attraction, but in this day people are moving away from church and yet studies show they are more interested in ‘spiritual” things than ever before, so why is it that they turn to horoscopes, mediums, and even all sorts of false ways to seek the Truth?

Even though Ahaz was seeking after other gods, the Lord was still about the business of keeping His people safe.  He told Ahaz this and even gave him the chance to ask for a sign as proof of His promise to act to keep His covenant people secure.  When Ahaz declined to ask for a sign God gave him one anyway – a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and you shall call his name Immanuel. 

My friends, anything other than the God of Scripture, the God who created all we see and the God who knows your very thoughts is a false god and one that will provide false assurance, false knowledge and false hope.  Our Heavenly Father did not want there to be any misunderstandings about His intentions: He will save His people!  And to make sure we understand this He chose to achieve this in a way that could not be misunderstood as anything other than divine power – the Son of God came into this world, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin. 

Let’s see your daily horoscope top that!

DO THEY HATE YOU ENOUGH?

“I have decided to stick with love.  Hate is too great a burden to bear.”  Martin Luther King, Jr.

“It is a curious subject of observation and inquiry, whether hatred and love be not the same thing at bottom. Each, in its utmost development, supposes a high degree of intimacy and heart-knowledge; each renders one individual dependent for the food of his affections and spiritual life upon another; each leaves the passionate lover, or the no less passionate hater, forlorn and desolate by the withdrawal of his object.”  Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter

The most hated words ever spoken were…”Lazarus, come out.”  Jesus spoke these words knowing they would drive the Sanhedrin to plot His death.  These words of love, healing, grace and resurrection; of such comfort and mercy were the very words that would send men over the edge in hatred for Him.  Why is this?  How is this possible?

It happens often enough to ask the question, “Why, in demonstrating acts of love are Christians hated?”  Jesus raised a dead man.  Four days Lazarus had been in that grave and when Jesus told the men to move the stone Martha yells out “by this time there will be a stench!”  The man was dead.  Jesus brought him back to life.  Jesus brought him back from the bliss of heaven into the sinfulness of this world in a grand demonstration of love and mercy and all the Sanhedrin could think to do was to redouble their efforts to kill Him.

It is a very tough predicament for the believer: the love of Christ compels us to act in ways that will cause those who are in darkness to hate us.  Paul says that some of the marks of a true Christian are: feeding your enemy when he is hungry, giving your enemy something to drink when he is thirsty.  What is the purpose of these actions of love?  For some non-believers it will be a physical act of Christ-like love that the Lord will use to open their eyes to the saving grace of Christ.  For others it will be like hot coals heaped upon their heads that will lead to anger, hatred or possibly shame. 

This miracle of Jesus, which could not be denied, results in greater hatred of Him by those whose expectations He was not meeting.  Their hearts were not softened by His mercy, they were hardened. 

How about this for a thought – If you have never been screamed at, threatened, spit upon or kick, maybe it’s because you haven’t acted enough like Christ? 

That is a frightening thought.  Is it true?

LORD, YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE!

I was 17 years old and had been a believer for 2 of those years.  I was on hiatus from the northern Presbyterian Church that I had attended since I was carried up the aisle to be baptized and was spending some time in a Full Gospel Church.  I remember the first time I heard the pastor mention a certain girl’s name and the very serious illness that she had – we, as a church, on that Sunday began to pray for the Lord to heal her…and we prayed with expectation!  Every week we heard reports on her continued decline and every week we would pray in earnest for her healing.  After all, wouldn’t God be glorified if this young girl, who medicine could not heal, got out of her sick bed and walked into church one Sunday morning perfectly well? 

She died and I faced my first great theological conflict.  Why hadn’t God healed this precious girl?  She was a believer, she was “innocent” as far as the standards of the world, it was a great chance to demonstrate His grace and power, and we were praying for it to happen.  We all wept that Sunday at the news of her death and the pastor, in all earnestness and humility said that perhaps he had not had enough faith or that there were some who doubted the possibility of her healing.  He did not mention God’s sovereignty.  He did not mention the possibility that God was glorified in this girl’s sickness and death.  He did not mention that her suffering could have been for our benefit and His glory. 

In John 11, Jesus did not rush to the sick bed of Lazarus to provide healing.  Mary and Martha were well aware that Jesus could heal their brother, even from afar, so they placed their faith in Him by simply stating that the one Jesus loved was sick.  Jesus purposely delayed His departure for two more days – Lazarus died.  Why? 

Lazarus died because those around Jesus did not need to see Him heal a sick man; he died so that their faith would be strengthened and God glorified by the raising of a dead man.  It was a greater demonstration of love to allow Lazarus to die than to heal him.  That can be a tough think to understand! 

I have seen much death, much suffering and some miraculous healing.  I have reached the point that I no longer ask the Lord “why He didn’t heal my friend.” I have been at Central long enough that every funeral I do is for one of my friends, so now I ask Him, “How is your glory manifest in their suffering and death?”  It may not always be readily visibly, but His glory is there; in fact, I may not even be able to see it in my lifetime.  Do I pray that the Lord will bring healing and manifest His glory in that fashion?  Yes, every time.  But I also realize that the greater demonstration of His love may be in a negative answer to my prayers.

COME BEFORE WINTER

Strike while the iron is hot - When you have an opportunity to do something, do it before you lose your chance.

How many wasted opportunities have we had in our lives.  Perhaps it was as simple as driving behind a slow car on a two lane road and not taking the passing lane when the chance presented itself?  Maybe you did not ask that girl out when you had the chance, only to find that when you got around to it she was already dating someone else?  Could it be that it was something far more important that you missed out on because you did not strike while the iron was hot?

In Paul’s second letter to his son in the faith, Timothy, he tells him to come before winter.  Paul is a prisoner in Rome and does not expect to be alive in the Spring.  If Timothy waits much longer the winds will change and he will not be able to sail against the winter breezes.  His chance to get to Paul while he is still alive will be lost.  Paul has been poured out like a drink offering and has fought the good fight.  He has expended his life in the pursuit of the will of God and in service to the cause of Christ.  He has been successful.  He counts the scars on his body as evidence of this success: beaten times without number…39 lashes…beaten with rods…stoned… three times shipwrecked…been in labor and hardship…through many sleepless nights…thirsty…without food – all for the Gospel of Christ.  Paul did not miss an opportunity to do the things he had been prepared to do by the Lord.  Now, sitting in a prison in Rome he awaited his death for preaching the Gospel.  “To live is Christ, to die is gain.” 

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done better.  The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; who does actually try to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.  Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checked by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because the live in a gray twilight that known neither victory nor defeat.” (Theodore Roosevelt as Quoted by John MacArthur)

The Lord calls to us…do we always act when we sense His prompting?  Come before winter – act now to restore your relationships…act now to demonstrate the love you have been holding back…act now to share your faith with that friend whose response you have been uncertain of…act now to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved…Come before winter. 

GRACE ABOUNDING OR SIN ABOUNDING?

Known as the "mad monk," Grigori Rasputin was an outlandish figure in the court of Czar Nicholas II of Russia. A wandering peasant and self-styled holy man, Rasputin became a favorite of Nicholas and the Empress Alexandra in 1905 after he laid hands on their son Alexis, apparently healing the boy of hemophilia. Rasputin was soon a fixture in the royal household and a particular confidante to Alexandra. Wild-eyed and unkempt, Rasputin was strangely charismatic and his personal magnetism was legendary; at the same time his bouts of drinking, womanizing, and wild behavior created a scandal in Russian society. He was finally killed in 1916 by a cabal of aristocrats who feared Rasputin's influence had grown too great. Rasputin's death became the stuff of legend: assassins fed him poisoned cakes and wine, and when the poison failed to kill Rasputin they shot him and beat him. Still Rasputin didn't die, until finally the men bound him and tossed him into the Neva River, where he drowned (www.answers.com).  Seventies pop group Boney M summed up Rasputin's exploits very nicely: “Most people looked at him with terror and with fear / But to Moscow chicks he was such a lovely dear.”

The theology of Rasputin centered around a virulent form of antinomianism: one must become very familiar with sin, so that God’s grace can be demonstrated to its fullest extent.  As far as we know Rasputin took full advantage of some of his theology, with plenty of evidence for the first portion (familiarity with sin) but no evidence for the second portion (familiarity with God’s grace). The “mad monk” was not the first man in history to misunderstand the graciousness of God or to ignore the teachings of Paul in Romans 5-7; he is just better known than the Gnostics, the Manicheans, those involved in Marcionism, Johannes Agricola, or Anne Hutchinson. 

Most of us today don’t recognize any of these names or even the word “antinomianism” (anti-against; nomos-law), but that does not mean it is not present in our society and even within the church today.  I believe this crazy view of God’s grace is manifest in two particular ways today: universalism and ego-centrism. 

The universal aspect of this is seen in a reduction of the value of any obedience or desire to become more Christ-like (contrary to an extraordinary number of passages in Scripture and the majority of the book of James).  The one who professes faith in Christ but does not care how he lives is surprisingly similar to the Universalist who thinks, “We are all going to heaven anyway so in the end if I cheat my brother, what does it matter?”

The ego-centric aspect of today’s antinomianism is seen in the rejection of God and any moral law as the natural result of man becoming obsessed with self.  If I am the center of my own world, then I have that great ability and even omniscience to justify my own behavior.  Why should I voluntarily limit or submit myself to any rule of God if I truly believe that I have been forgiven and God’s grace is sufficient to cover any sin?  If it covered my past sins, and God is aware that I will continue to sin and has made His grace to cover those as well, then why hold back my own desires, especially if there is grace waiting to cover my sinful actions!  If there is unlimited grace why should I ever care about obeying any moral law?

If you are so full of self and believe that because of grace no moral law has any bearing or hold upon you, then you have not been taught the truth, are so young in your knowledge of Christ and the things of faith as to be still sipping on “milk” (or not consuming the Word at all), or you are simply not a believer.  Paul’s great frustration in his personal life was that he could not get away from sin and did not always do those things he knew he should do.  God’s grace frees us from the master we had – sin.  God’s grace gives us a new Master – Christ.  Everyone will serve their master; either you will be a servant of sin or of righteousness.  Christ did not die so that we could be even further enslaved to sin.  He gave His life to free us from those chains so we could have life more abundantly.  We strive to live in obedience to God’s Word because of God’s grace. 

If you don’t want to live like Christ, perhaps it’s because you don’t know Christ?

SAFE IN HIS ARMS

Rock-a-bye baby, on the treetop,

When the wind blows, the cradle will rock,

When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall,

And down will come baby, cradle and all.

How is a child supposed to sleep with that little ditty ringing in his ears?  There you are, a typical 4 year old, just drifting off to sleep with your mother sweetly singing to you when suddenly the bough is breaking and you are coming crashing down to the ground!  It’s as bad a those poor blind mice being chased by the crazy butcher knife waiving farmer’s wife!

Where is your security…I mean your eternal security?  Often believers will refer to that day they raised their hand and took Jesus as their Savior.  That’s a good day, but if your eternal security rests in a decision you made, how secure can it really be?  Don’t forget, we are the people who paint the bathroom a different color every year, can’t decide if we want waffles or French toast for breakfast, and keep switching between Ben & Jerry’s and Haagen-Dazs.  Let’s face it; we are fickle.  The only thing we are settled on is whether it’s Alabama or Auburn!

If our salvation rested in our ability to make a correct decision to believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, then the security of that decision would be tenuous at best.  If I can choose one way, I can just as easily choose another way.  And if my choice is the basis for my salvation, then God is obligated to save me or “unsave” me as I see fit – or as I choose.

Scripture teaches us that God is the only one whose will and choice are perfect.  He makes no arbitrary decisions, takes no rash actions and never changes His mind.    

Are you safe with a God who would let you decide your own eternal fate when you can’t settle on what color you want the walls painted, or are you safe in the arms of a God who has chosen you in Christ before the foundations of the world?

Turn a blind eye - To knowingly refuse to acknowledge something which you know to be real.

Blind as a bat - completely blind

Up a blind alley - at a dead end

The blind leading the blind - a situation where people who don't know how to do something try to teach other people.

In the country of the blind, a one eyed man is king - A person who is not particularly capable can attain a powerful position if the people around him or her are even less capable.

Like a blind dog in a meat market - out of control

Love is blind - If you love someone, you cannot see any faults in that person

Men are blind in their own cause - If you believe in something very fervently, you will not recognize the flaws or dangers in what you believe.

He's got a nose like a blind carpenter's thumb – This one speaks for itself!

A nod is as good as a wink to a blind horse - You cannot get people to take a hint if they are determined not to.

 There's none so blind as those who will not see - You cannot make someone pay attention to something that he or she does not want to notice. 

 At the end of John 8 it says, “They picked up stones to throw at Him.”  The leaders had enough of this plain talk of Jesus that they did not understand.  He tells them in chapter 8 that the reason they don’t understand Him is because He and they have different fathers.  This point is illustrated in chapter 9 when a man who has no physical sight is given both physical and spiritual eyes, while those whose physical eye sight is perfect, have no eyes to see who Jesus is. 

 How many times did you look at Jesus and not see Him?  How many times did you listen to a message about Him, but never heard it?  How many times did someone show you the works of Christ, but you never saw them for what they were?  Just because we have perfect eye sight does not guarantee that we are able to see Jesus or recognize actions done by believers as demonstrations of His love.  The Jewish leaders of John 8 and 9 had seen the miracles, but they wanted more proof because they could not bring themselves to admit that what they had seen was from God. 

 Have your eyes been opened to the things of Christ or are you one of those who is so blind that you will deny the evidence of Christ plainly before you

YOU SLY DEVIL!

“You sly Devil/You sly dog” = sneaky, devious, lucky; often used as a term of endearment or admiration.

That is, unless you really mean that the Devil is sly, and then it certainly isn’t a term of endearment.  But nonetheless, Satan is a liar, that’s what he does best, and wants only what is best for himself.  I say, “Himself” because Satan is real and active in this world.  He is a created being who was forcibly expelled from the presence of the Lord (cf. Isaiah 14).  His power is limited according to the purposes of the Lord, but his desire for power and his aspiration for victory have not decreased in intensity.  I have read the end of the book and Satan is the loser, but that doesn’t seem to dampen his work in this world.  You might ask, “Randy, where is Satan at work?”  The answer: everywhere there is evil, everywhere there is temptation, and everywhere there are those actions, events, attitudes and desires that run contrary to those of our Heavenly Father.  But remember, he is evil, not stupid.  How do you go about attempting to thwart the purposes of an omnipotent and omniscient Being?  Here lies the premise – you have to be sneaky, subtle and sly. 

How would you change the morals of an entire society?  Would you crash a load of sin right through the front door?  No, you do it in small bites – just like you would eat an elephant!  How would you get millions of people to accept, as common practice two people walking into a business and only one person walking out alive?  You slowly change the definition of what constitutes life.  How would you get millions of people to welcome into their homes others who swear at them, call their view of life “stupid, narrow or ignorant,” or begin to take off their clothes once they get into their living rooms?  You tell them that art imitates life, therefore your favorite TV shows just reflect society, they are not out to change society.

Satan has gotten so good at the subtle art of temptation that we hardly notice anymore.  Like a pebble that has been in our shoe for a long time, we have grown used to the irritation, used to the continued movement of the “line in the sand” when it comes to right and wrong.  Satan is smarter and craftier than we are, so pay attention! 

The good news is that he loses in the end!

REMEMBERING

The bad days seem to come to our minds rather easily: The day my father died, the day I said something to hurt my wife’s feelings, the day I failed…you can fill in the blank.  The goods days seem to take a little bit more effort to remember; although I remember the night I proposed, my wedding, the day each of my daughters was born, and the day I got my dog!

September 11^th is upon us and it has been 10 years since we watched in horror, disbelief and anger at the murder of thousands of innocent men and women.  We also witnessed incredible bravery and sacrifice by those whose only thoughts were to save as many as they could from the burning buildings. 

God does not promise us an explanation for everything we face in this world, at least not an explanation we may like.  For the believer we know the promise of Romans 8:28, but we must understand that what God sees as good for us may not be all that pleasant in our minds.  He sees perfectly while our vision is clouded by sin and our own selfishness.  But the events that, to us, seem chaotic, cruel, or without justification are not without purpose; that does not make them any more tolerable!  Almost everyone can look back at a broken relationship, failed job, sickness, struggle, or time of pain and see some purpose in it now that you are far enough removed.  That is not saying it is only time that heals, for you may not have healing, but you may have understanding. 

Either we believe that God is in control of everything, or we believe that we are God; because who wants a god who can’t do the difficult things.  He is not like us.  He does not fail, He does not only attempt, He does not endeavor: our Heavenly Father does what He wants, when He wants, and how He wants because it is good – as defined by the only One who is and knows what is good.  I am not a fatalist, but sometimes the only answer we have is: Because that’s the way He wants it to be.  Can you be satisfied if that is all He gives you?

If you have doubts, let me remind you of something, “He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32) 

LIGHTEN UP

Every so often I have the privilege to drive the 36 hours out to Jackson Hole, WY and camp for a few days.  There, at Jenny Lake, right at the base of the Grand Tetons the sky seems bluer, the air cleaner and anything we cook over the fire seems to taste better.  After dinner we let the fire die down to ashes so it doesn’t give off anything but heat, then we lean our chairs back and wait for the show to commence.  The show I speak of would be the setting of the sun and the revealing of the stars. 

There are a dozen or so stars within 10 light years of us.  To my theologically oriented mind that doesn’t mean much, but I do understand that the closest stars are still very far away.  Yet I am able to see the light from those stars, and what is even better, there are stars that are hundreds and thousands of light years away from earth and I am still able to see the light that comes/came from them.  However dim their light may be, in the dark night sky I find it only takes a little bit of light to be seen.

Jesus said that He was the light.  Why is it that some are still in darkness?  Why is it that some are unable to see what appears to be so obvious to others?  In Jesus’ encounter with the Pharisees in John 8 they just don’t seem to be able to see the light.  In fact, as so often happened with the Pharisees, they completely misunderstood what Jesus was teaching them.  They accused Jesus of lying, thought Jesus was going to commit suicide, and basically had no understanding that all of their study of the Old Testament should have prepared them for and revealed to them that Jesus was from the Father and was the Messiah they had been waiting for.  Their problem: they were in darkness.

I remember being in darkness.  Thinking I had the spiritual answers my heart longed to know.  Thinking I understood who Jesus was and what He wanted me to do. But I was in darkness.  Not until Jesus opened my eye and His light filled my life and lit my path was I even capable of grasping His great love and sacrifice for me. 

When did the light break into your life.  Did it happen in the darkest of times?  Did you think you had come to the end of yourself?  “I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).

Check out the sermon the Sunday on John 8:12-30.

A QUICK WORD ON AUTHORITY

What is the worst thing you can do to someone: other than nasty physical tortures, fingernails on the chalkboard or making them watch endless hours of Barney the Purple Dinosaur?  How about giving them the responsibility of accomplishing something without giving them the authority to make it happen?  What might even be worse is having someone do or say something, but not recognizing their authority to do or say it.

I used to be a pretty good golfer, when I had the time and money to play.  When I was in high school a friend and I went on a Saturday morning to play a local course.  We were dropped off and went into the pro-shop to pay where we were informed that because we were under 18 years of age we could not play until after 4 pm (it was only noon).  I looked at the guy behind the desk and with great indignation said, “Do you know who I am?”  I was shocked when he did not and offended when he said he didn’t even care!  When I informed him that I could undoubtedly beat anybody else on the course at that moment (not an empty boast since the week before I shot a 33 [that is two under par and pretty good for you non-golfers] on the same course) and there was no reason to think that we would hold up any other players, he just pointed to the door and said, “Come back at 4 pm.”  I think my challenge to play him for a dollar a hole just made him even more apathetic to our plight.

What does this have to do with authority, and more importantly the seventh chapter of John?  Jesus taught with an authority that did not come from man and was way beyond His perceived level of education.  But the judgment of men has never been the determining factor in the value or weight of the words of Jesus.  He made it clear that His authority was not His own, but came from His Father in heaven. 

It is not uncommon in the world today to find men and women respond to the teachings of Christ with apathy or anger; “I don’t care what it says in the Bible…who are you to say what is right or wrong?”  The authority of the Bible does not come from me or any other human who may teach the Truth…it comes from the One who gave us the Truth.  If you want to argue about it you will have to take it to the top!