Peace

 October 10, 2023

Back in 2013 when I started my nightly musings, it was with clear (to me) instructions from the Lord to stay away from political commentary, which I’ve tried to do. Psalm 131 has been my mantra:

“O Lord, my heart is not lifted up; 

my eyes are not raised too high; 

I do not occupy myself with things 

too great and too marvelous for me. 

But I have calmed and quieted my soul, 

like a weaned child with its mother; 

like a weaned child is my soul within me. 

O Israel, hope in the Lord 

from this time forth and forevermore.”

It has at times been hard; momentous events continue to unfold around us from time to time, which makes my musings seem small and insignificant by comparison. How can ordinary events in a small backwater village compete with what happens in Washington, Beijing, Moscow, or Tehran? 

The events of the last few days, Hamas’ sudden barbarous attack upon Israel has rocked the world. What can I possibly write that does justice to the horrific tragedy we see unfolding in Israel? Once again, evil has come out of the shadows and out in the open while political ideology prevents many from condemning such unprovoked aggression. The Biblical injunction of Isaiah declaring, “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil…” seems appropriate here. 

The Holy Scriptures command us to “pray for the peace of Jerusalem” (Psalm 122). I do so tonight, and hope you will, too.

Preparations

 October 8, 2023

A couple days ago, I wrote about all the work Linda put into preparing for our guests to stay the week, comparing it to how much work we put into preparing for Christ’s coming. The fact is, most of us put a minuscule effort into preparing for the far more momentous coming of Christ than Linda put into preparing for our guests.

There is another angle to all this. The Bible tells us that God created all that is in six days. Well-meaning people will make all sorts of arguments about exactly what that means; six literal twenty-four hour days, epochs of time, or perhaps ditching all time references in Genesis and taking the Creation story to be or merely symbolic or even fanciful. I don’t believe however, that many scholars would seriously argue that the original author believed in anything other than a six day Creation. So, taking the story at face value, let’s compare it with something Jesus himself said that may put a bit of perspective on his return.

In John’s gospel, Jesus says this:

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” —John 14:1-3 

It’s been more than 2,000 years since Jesus uttered those words. His early followers fully expected that he would come back within their lifetime, but that hasn’t happened. Two thousand years—that’s more than 730,000 days, nearly three quarters of a million. If it took God only six days to create a world so beautiful and complex as ours (let alone the rest of the universe), can you imagine what he has been doing with 730,000 days? Paul said it best when he quoted Isaiah:

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” —I Corinthians 2:9 

We cannot begin to imagine the magnificent splendor of heaven. As we prepare for Jesus’ coming, never forget—God has been preparing, too.

Confusion

 October 6, 2023

Hearing loss can be entertaining. The first Friday of every month, a few friends meet at one of our homes for dinner, conversation, and prayer. The words “few friends” are important here. When I am with more than a couple people, the background sounds of conversations tend to either block or scramble what enters my brain. 

Case in point: tonight as we sat around the table, our hostess said, “You can lick my leg.” I thought that a somewhat unusual invitation, so I inquired about it. I can’t remember what she actually said, and I doubt anyone else can, either. The hilarity around the dinner table consigned whatever she said to the Never Never Land of conversations.

The problem of course, wasn’t in the message given, but in the message received. The receptors in my ears are damaged; the message got scrambled. It reminds me of the words of Isaiah quoted by Jesus in Matthew 13:

“For this people's heart is waxed gross, And their ears are dull of hearing, And their eyes they have closed; Lest at any time they should see with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And should understand with their heart, And should be converted, and I should heal them.”

I wonder how often God’s clear message to us gets scrambled by the damaged receptors of our hearts. He speaks plainly in his Word and through his Holy Spirit, but we hear something completely different and as crazy as what I thought I heard tonight. Had I said nothing in response, I would have gone through the entire evening wondering why our hostess was inviting us to lick her leg, but such an invitation was completely incongruous with her character. When we “have a message from the Lord,” we would do well to ask ourselves, “Is this in keeping with the character of God as revealed in Jesus Christ through the Holy Scriptures?” If not, we would also do well to double-check what we think we heard. It would save us much hurt or embarrassment. Neither our hostess nor God is inviting us to lick their legs.

Prepared

 October 5, 2023

It’s a woman thing, I know, but one from which I could learn a few things. Our friends Chuck and Kelly are on their way from Virginia to visit for a week. They should be pulling into our driveway any time now. As the resident guy in this story, my job is simply to ask, “What do you need me to do?” And then do it. I’m pretty laid back about stuff like this, but Linda has been planning and working like a mini tornado to make sure everything is ready for them. 

She has cleaned the house from top to bottom (it didn’t look dirty to me!), changed linens, shopped for meals, even preparing one in advance, and even set up a mini office for Kelly to do her computer work while here. I’m probably forgetting things, but you get the picture. She wants everything to be just right for when our guests arrive. If it had been up to me, they would have to fight their way through dust bunnies just to get to bed.

There’s a lesson in all this. What if we approached the return of our Savior Jesus Christ with the same intensity Linda prepared for our friends? My guess is that most of us prepare for Jesus’ Second Coming like I prepare for our guests—i.e. we don’t. Jesus is on his way; we don’t know exactly when he’ll arrive, but he is coming. Have we made ready for him? Have we prepared?

Forgiveness and Faith

October 4, 2023

The call came this afternoon; would I officiate at a graveside service for a friend’s brother? Of course I said I would, and then my brain kicked into gear. What would I say about a man I’ve never met? To be honest, the answer is, “not much.” What I can do is talk about the Man I have met—Jesus Christ. My job is to do just that, because it’s only in Jesus that we have hope for eternal life.

As I thought about it, it occurred to me that when we face death, we have to do two seemingly contradictory things. We have to let go, and we have to hold on. The first has to do with forgiveness, the second with faith. People get bound in both constructive and destructive ways to their loved ones. Forgiveness is simply the process of letting go of those parts of our relationships that are toxic. Every human relationship has elements of toxicity that often cripple the soul. Forgiveness is how we let go of those parts.

Faith by contrast, is how we hold on to that which is good, both human and divine. When we place our trust in Christ who loves and gave himself for us, we find the strength and courage to let go and hold on. Death is like a trapeze act. The only way it’s done well is when we learn to let go. For a time, we are suspended between the bars, trusting that Someone will grab us so we don’t tumble to the ground. 

Forgiveness and Faith; Letting go and Holding on. It’s what I’ll be talking about tomorrow, and what we need to learn today.

 

Uncomfortable

  October 3, 2023

Conventional wisdom these days tells us to follow our hearts, to pursue our passions. It sounds so logical, the pathway to success. After all, “if you do what you love, you’ll never have to work a day in your life.” So the saying goes. Even in the Church, we hear such advice peddled, but it doesn’t always work that way.

The primary business of any Christian is to do the will of God in Christ. This often gets equated with doing what we are naturally good at. The Spiritual Gifts movement is a prime example. If we do what we tend to be good at, we have a better chance at success than if we are stuck with tasks we hate. It all makes sense. 

This morning at our pastors’ prayer group, we were challenged to lean into what is uncomfortable, to refuse to settle for the familiar and pleasant paths of life. “What is God calling you to do that makes you uneasy” was the question. The leader told of God asking him when was the last time he had led someone to faith in Christ, and then, when was the last time he even spoke to an unbeliever about Jesus? He continued, “Every day for the month of October, I will find at least one person to speak to about Jesus.” 

That’s a big challenge! I got to thinking, “Today, I planned on harvesting honey and maybe splitting wood. I don’t think I’ll even see an unbeliever today.” Just as quickly as those thoughts came into mind, the names Dominic, Madi, Dan, and Sam; the first being two of our “Creek Kids,” and the last two a young couple who moved in down the road from us. I didn’t get to Dominic and Madi, but before going to our grandson’s soccer game, I made sure to stop at Dan and Sam’s with a promised jar of honey. Turns out that our son Nate has also stopped by and even invited them to a barbeque. 

Today’s challenge is big for me; as an introvert, I have to force myself to go out of my way to meet new people. I’m fortunate to be married to Linda, who thrives on people. I’ve watched her for more than fifty years, and am grateful for all the times she pushed me to step out of my shell. My life would be so much emptier had I been left to my own ways. My Bible reading today took me to Romans 5:8 where Paul says, “God proved his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” If Jesus as Paul says in Philippians—

“Being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”

—if Jesus could do all that, what excuse do I have for refusing to leave my comfort zone for the sake of another who has yet to hear how much God loves them?

Heart and Life

 October 1, 2023

I always expect to learn when I attend Sunday School. I’ve often been challenged or encouraged, given something that hopefully makes me a better human being. This morning I was leading the class in the absence of our teacher who was away for the weekend. People often expect the teacher to impart some wisdom, but today it was one of the students who taught the teacher. 

We’ve been studying C.S. Lewis’ “The Screwtape Letters,” a fanciful narrative of senior demon Screwtape writing letters of advice for novice demon Wormwood on how to best ensnare a new believer and foil the plans of the Enemy, Jesus Christ.

Chapter three begins with Screwtape telling Wormwood that “the Enemy will be working from the center outwards,” rather than the other way around. I asked what that meant and received this gem in response:

“God works on the heart to impact our life;

Satan works in our life to impact our heart.”

There’s really not much I can add to that. As a Christian, I almost instinctively know the first statement to be true, but the second is just as important. Sometimes we imagine that if we get our heart right, all will be well, forgetting that the things we do affect our hearts. It’s possible to sear the conscience, to give what we consider a small sin a toehold in our lives. But that small sin is like a seed that grows till our hearts are dull and senseless to the work of the Holy Spirit. 

It’s important to allow the Holy Spirit to use Scripture and worship to change our hearts, but it’s just as important to refuse entry into our lives habits or actions that can dull our responsiveness to the work of God in our hearts, and to engage in habits that strengthen our resolve and fortify our faith.