Our Work and Trust

One of my daughters-in-law that visited during the Christmas holidays is an inspiration and a blessing to me. It’s been over a year now that as she was exercising, she experienced some pain in her upper back and weakness in her right leg. It was caused by a slow growing tumor on her spine that had been there for a number of years. The surgery for its removal was very damaging, causing paralyses in both of her legs. The good news is that it was a benign tumor. She is much disciplined in her professional and personal rehab. She does her part and she has turned the rest over to God.

During her visit this Christmas, she shared with the family in a deep way about her affliction and about how she is dealing with it. While she is intent about doing her part in her recovery, she is aware of the mindset necessary to aid in her full or partial recovery. Her faith is two-fold: She believes that she can get better in doing her part and she has faith in God that His will be done in her life. Whether it is in her and her doctor’s plan or in God’s plan she explains that she needs belief and faith in both plans.

She takes St. Paul’s words seriously as he stated in Romans 15:13, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”

Another aspect of my daughter-in-law’s journey in healing seems more specific to her, but again, it is a two-fold action that includes her and the Lord. She realizes that she must reach out and do things to impact her healing, whether for personal gain or in seeking God in her life. In both instances, she sees a need to give and sacrifice in order to receive benefit and blessing. For her this is true for her part and is needed in seeking God’s help in His part of her healing.

She finds support in Isaiah 40:31 in hearing: “But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”

I have been with my daughter-in-law only a few times during the past year, as we live a good distance apart. I have, however, been able to see marked differences in her progress each time. She has gone from wheelchair only, to a walker, to a cane in these past visits. In this holiday season visit, I have seen a determined young woman take short journeys step by step, inch by inch without the aid of a cane or other device.

I see and hear that although she is doing much of the physical work in her improvement, she still holds to her convictions of a disciplined effort to do her part and trust God in His part in her life. She lives God’s Word through St. Paul in Hebrews 11:1-40: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God.”

My daughter-in-law knows there are no guarantees for her, but she mirrors Psalm 112:7: “He is not afraid of bad news; his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord.”

Holding the One Who Saves Us – The Gift of Faith

At Christmastide, the celebration of the birth of Jesus, do we have a sense of being rescued? It is hard to think of rescue when for many of us it is a time of receiving and giving gift upon gift. The material smothers any awareness of rescue. The only rescue that we might contemplate is the rescue from an excessive amount of things bought on credit. It is difficult for us to focus on God's gift of rescuing us from the power of darkness through Christ Jesus.

In Paul’s letter to the Colossians 1:9-20 we hear in part: "He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."

There is a story in Luke (2:22-40 NRSV) that tells about the baby Jesus being presented to the Lord at the temple in Jerusalem by Mary and Joseph. There was a devout man named Simeon who was guided by the Spirit to come into the temple at this time. As Luke tells us, "It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Messiah." Luke goes on to tell us that when Simeon saw the baby Jesus he, "...took him in his arms and praised God, saying, 'Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples...'"

Simeon truly felt rescued. He had finally seen his Savior and held Him in his arms. Simeon was ready to face death with the knowledge of salvation. Our time on earth is short and we, like Simeon, have the blessing of knowing the Messiah, our Savior, Emmanuel, in our time. Each Christmas it is proper for us to hold the baby Jesus in our arms and give thanks to God for sending His only Son to rescue us from the power of darkness. We are redeemed and forgiven through Christ. The gift of salvation is ours in His kingdom. We may not want to put Him down until next Christmas.

As children of our Lord and Master we have a great inheritance. As does any heir, we have a choice as to what to do with it. At this time of celebration of the birth of Jesus, it is important that we reflect, as St. Paul did in Galatians 3:23-25; 4:4-7, on the reason for Christ's coming and its meaning as our inheritance. Faith is a greater master than the law. If we practice it, faith is our key to God's kingdom.

No worldly ruler can conquer our faith. What a gift God has given us through His Son. It is an inheritance unmatched in the natural world. In John's Gospel (1:1-18 NRSV) in speaking of Christ he says, "From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known." John, the baptizer, recognized this as he prepared the way for his cousin Jesus.

When the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus while John was baptizing Him, it was obvious to John that Jesus was without sin. The child that was born in a manger became God's teacher and finally a perfect offering for our sin, as He was without sin. Instead of the law being our guide and master, we have become the heirs of faith in God through Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

This is the Christmas story that we must take with us and live out in the coming year. We have a great inheritance. We must use it wisely. We must love God and one another with our faith at the very center of us. No man can destroy it. It is ours to keep for eternity.

This is what St. Paul tells us in Galatians 3:23-25; 4:4-7. "Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith...But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!' So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God."

Being Blessed by and Blessing God

We humans tend to focus on our own need for blessings from God and don’t usually think about returning the favor and blessing God. The Bible is full of passages that refer to blessing God. It seems that blessing God is a way of praising Him.

God is happy to send His Love and Grace to us at all times. Whether a personal need or a need in our mission as His apostles in the world, God is certainly blessed when we turn to Him and seek His Will in the world. So it seems that in taking His blessing upon us and using it to help Him build His Kingdom, we are blessing Him and praising His name in all the world.

In Psalm 16:7 we hear the psalmist saying, “I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me.” In blessing God the psalmist is praising Him. The psalmist goes even further in Psalm 103:1in saying, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!”

Our challenge is in asking the question, how do I get into a relationship with God so that I feel His blessings and I praise and bless Him? How do we begin to feel like the psalmist when he says in Psalm 103:22, “Bless the Lord, all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul!”?

As we know through our experiences in seeking the Lord in our lives, it is difficult to turn our attention to God in all things. We must first recognize how great He is in our lives when we turn to Him as did the psalmist say in Psalm 104:1, “Bless the Lord, O my soul!
    O Lord my God, you are very great!
You are clothed with splendor and majesty,…”

The discipline required of us is essential for reaching out and inviting our Lord and God into our lives in all things. In Proverbs 28:9 we hear, “If one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.” We have trouble accepting and relating to each other. This is true also in our relationship with God, but the stakes are very much higher. We must allow the influence of the Gospel of Jesus to mold us and change us so that we can relate to the world through His guidance.

 I have a lifetime friend named Chuck who continues to have full awareness of his role in life even in his retirement years. He recently said, “My life has been a very humble miracle. I have tried to be there for my family and true friends. Amen.” He never quits thinking about how to please, bless and praise the Lord. He mirrors our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in forgiving and accepting all who seek the Lord in their lives and might come to him for help or advice. He is a mentor, a coach and an advocate for the Lord.

St. Paul blessed and praised the Lord. In Ephesians 1:3 he says,  “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places”….. We may think that we don’t deserve the blessings of God because of who we are, but this is a giving up without playing the game.  We don’t expect our favorite football team to think this way. Why should we give up before we live life wholly and Holy.

The Good News is that through the blood of Christ we are forgiven. Through Christ, God gives mercy to all who turn to Him. We need to expect the same from ourselves as we sometimes expect from others; whether mothers, fathers, children, spouses, workmates and friends. To bless the Lord means to praise in all things. If we can truly praise Him, we will impact the world.

In Search of the Living Water

In the Gospel of John 7:37-52, Jesus tells us in part, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, 'Out of the believer's heart shall flow rivers of living water.'"

St. John's explanation of these words of Jesus is, "Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified."

The Holy Spirit stays very busy. Many people are thirsty for peace and a meaning of life. It is through the Holy Spirit that we can come to Christ Jesus for a drink of the "living water". Once our heart is primed, the living water received will pour out of us by many times.

The circuitous and long route that we take for our drink of the "living water" can be amazing. Adventurers and Explorers go searching for experiences that ultimately teach them something simple about life.

Admiral Richard Byrd was obsessed with being the first to fly over the North and South Poles. After achieving these feats he was still not satisfied. He led another expedition to the Antarctic to establish a winter weather station near the South Pole. Having a team of over fifty men at base camp to chose from, Byrd made a last minute decision to man the station by himself for the winter months.

Byrd was taken 120 miles over treacherous ice to the weather outpost and left on his own. Seven months later he had to be rescued as he was near death from carbon monoxide poisoning from a generator that he used at the remote station. He had a lot of time alone at the outpost to think about life.

Finally, this last real adventure of Byrd's taught him a few simple things about life and family. This absentee husband and father had to leave his family and go thousands of miles into unexplored territory to find out that his joy was there at the beginning of his long journey.

We are like Admiral Byrd. We search the world over for a drink of the "living water" only to find it frozen. We have to bring it home with us to let it thaw out so that we can truly understand its meaning to us.

As the character "Dorothy" in the movie The Wizard of Oz said, "There's no place like home." We must be at home with the Lord and our brothers and sisters in Christ. It is there through the Spirit that by believing we can drink the "living water" and it will flow like a river from our heart.

Thoughts about our Creator

Our Lord God has been involved in our lives from the beginning of Creation. He has known us before our birth and has helped us in all that we do and will do in turning to Him. No matter what treacherous storms come upon us, He is there and will be in the future. We look forward to spending eternity with Him.

Psalm 90:1-2 speaks to us in saying, “Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.  Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.

As we stand in God’s shadow that He casts from His resting place, we live in His security. Nothing can separate us from Him and this is our comfort no matter what happens to our physical presence and existence on Earth. God’s care for us is an easy task for Him as His strength controls all things and our defense is guaranteed.

Long before our Earth’s place in creation and its features and were determined, our Lord and God has been with us and His everlasting presence is eternal with us. God’s time is unlike our worldly time. It knows no beginning or end. The beginning of His creation is like a yesterday to Him. The limits of our sequential time have no affect on God’s time.

We, the children of God, are always in the today, the now. We don’t exist in yesterday or in tomorrow, so all our efforts should be directed to the present moment of life lived. Like the waters of a river, our today keeps moving from upstream to downstream, never resting in the same place.

God is our hope for our today’s to come.  He guides us while we live our lives and takes us into His presence when this life is done. It is then we turn our clocks to God’s Time, which is eternal.    

The Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is like a huge rock in the middle of the ocean. The gospel rock is our salvation. The ocean currents are the natural world's pull on us. If we spend all of our time swimming in the surf or floating in our raft we drift away from the gospel and the Lord. There is nothing out in the vast ocean that can save us. If there is trouble we must get back to the gospel rock. If we drift too far out from the rock and into the strong ocean currents, we will pay a price. Our safety is on the rock. The ocean's waters may be enticing, but our true salvation is on the rock.

When I compare life to this metaphor of the gospel rock in the ocean I can get a better view of the situation that we are all in. We live most of our lives in the surf around the gospel island rock. We live out in the surf because of our sinful nature. The abuse of our God given free will moves us off of the island and into the surf.

Jesus the Christ has provided us a way out of our sin by His invitation to come back to the island rock, which is covered with the fruit of the gospel. We have become comfortable living in the surf and we enjoy our journeys out into the deep. We have been offered an opportunity to come back to shore, but we are slow to return because we figure that it will always be there. We risk everything by allowing ourselves to be moved by the currents in the ocean world. We spend most of our existence trying to get out of troublesome situations that the worldly currents have put us in. We must quickly start swimming to Shore.

In Paul’s letter to the Hebrews 2:1-10 we hear:

"Therefore we must pay greater attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. For if the message declared through angels was valid, and every transgression or disobedience received a just penalty, how can we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?"

Might's and Mites

The world is infested with might’s and mites. Both of these can disrupt the world around them. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary describes mites as: “any of numerous small acarid arachnids that often infest animals, plants, and stored foods and include important disease vectors.” House dust allergy is caused by species of mites.

“Might” can be defined as the past tense of “May”. That is to say, “I might start reading a daily devotional, but it’s just hard to work that into my busy schedule every day. Not performing “might’s” that God is calling us to do in our lives can be harmful, just as the “mites” described above can cause issues over the course of time.

Most folks remember or have heard of the round wood or metal coin called a “Round Tuit.” Credit is given for the appearance of these to a vendor at the New York World’s Fair back in the early sixties. It was designed as a humorous way to draw attention to how much we put off in our lives that we should be doing for our own good. These “Round Tuits” were very popular and helped people remember the necessary tasks before them.

As we deal with the life that God has given us, we put off many things we should be doing. Not the least of these is our relationship with God through Christ and the Holy Spirit and in seeking Him in all things. 

In exploring the before described “Mites”, we find in a Wikipedia explanation that they have abilities that most of us humans don’t have:  “Mites are among the most diverse and successful of all the invertebrate groups. They have exploited an incredible array of habitats, and because of their small size (most are microscopic), go largely unnoticed. Many live freely in the soil or water, but there are also a large number of species that live as parasites on plants, animals, and some that feed on mold. It is estimated that 48,200 species of mites have been described.”

Oh, that we could be so meticulous in our endeavors with the Lord, as these mites are so bound to their existence and well being. We can seemingly do all the things we think are beneficial in seeking the Lord, but we are sometimes doing it on a part-time basis. Our relationship with God through Christ and the Holy Spirit is a full time adventure.

In John 4:35 Jesus speaks to us: “Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? Behold, I [Jesus] say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.”

We must seek this relationship in every moment of our lives. Like the mites, we must live it as an existence as important to us as all the other little things we do to exist as humans. Mites don’t take breaks and we should not take breaks with the Lord.

We must live in the present moment with God and not start thinking about tomorrow. Proverbs 27:1 tells us: “Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.” And then in Proverbs 10:5 it says: “He that gathereth in summer is a wise son: but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame.”

A part-time relationship with the Lord is not going to bear the fruit that our Lord and Master desires of us. God has given us a way to overcome the dangers in His giving us Free Will in this world. That is by surrendering ourselves to Him in every moment of our lives. Our choices in life can work in opposite ways. We have to live with the bad choices we make in life, but by the choice of treating every moment as sacred and having God as the Chairman of our Board of Directors, bad choices disappear and life’s ups and downs become manageable.

Dying for His Strength

In St. Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, 4:1-12, he speaks of the things that come against him and his brothers in Christ: "We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies. For while we live, we are always being given up to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may be made visible in our mortal flesh."

St. Paul opens in this chapter by saying, "Therefore, since it is by God's mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart." He then goes on to describe the things that have come against his ministry. I would say that I have probably had more things come against me since I have truly found the Lord than previous to that time. I say, "What have I done to deserve this? Is this my past catching up with me?

My faith is tested. The devil tries to cause me to question my Lord and God. In seeking God's presence, my faith overcomes the circumstances. I sail into the storm with abandon. I have an irrational confidence. Those that watch are sure of my destruction. I seek Him more and more with greater and greater confidence in my place in His kingdom. He is my rudder and my compass. He makes my ship's hull and keel strong.

Whew! I'm working up a sweat now. I'm getting carried away because I have experienced His strength in the midst of chaos. One time it was a life threatening illness. Another time it was a personal attack from someone that I had considered a friend.

We all have our list of the situations that have tested us. Have we seen the strength of God in them? If we seek Him, He will be our shield and our defense. St. Paul and His fellow messengers for the Lord experienced tremendous threats as they spread the gospel in their world. When we are living in God's word and doing His will, His mercy for our mission is our protector.

Paul's protection was the carrying in his body the death of Jesus. It was in this way that the life and light of Jesus was made manifest in his body. The Holy Trinity of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit is described, petitioned and praised in this 4^th verse written by William Whiting (1825-1878), as part of what is commonly referred to as The Navy Hymn:

"O Trinity of love and power, Our brethren shield in danger's hour; From rock and tempest, fire and foe, Protect them where so e'er they go; Thus evermore shall rise to thee Glad hymns of praise from land and sea."

God's Looking Glass

St. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 3:4-11, 17 & 4:2, "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit."

St. Paul has been speaking of his ancestors and how they lived by the letter of the law under Moses. And even then as Paul was proclaiming Christ Jesus they were living under the letter and not of the Spirit which gives new life. He likens their condition to having a veil over them, which prevents the vision of God's glory.

God sent Christ Jesus to remove the veil so that we can see Him face to face and become more like Him by one degree of glory at a time. As we look into the mirror each day we should be able to see ourselves changing and looking more like Christ.

If we are seeking Him in our lives and studying His Word, we will see ourselves changing bit by bit. We will go through a transfiguration, if you will, that will make us more Christ-like until the day comes when we will be with the Father forever.

I worked for many years to remove my veil. The trouble was that I was not even living under the letter of the law. I would get glimpses of Christ Jesus, but my old ways kept me from seeing myself transforming when I looked into the mirror.

Our Christian history is full of people like you and me that had to have the world fall in around them in order for their attention to be turned to God. However, what a blessing in the middle of the rubble to reach down and pickup the broken mirror and look into it and see the face of Jesus.

As St. Paul says, "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." The letter of the law seems to confine and entrap us. It is through the freedom given by the Spirit that we can come closer to knowing God.

 

Paul reminds us that, "Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of letter but of spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life."

Remembering who we are

Many churches across the country have outreach ministries for those outside the walls of their churches that are in some kind of need. The percent of the church members that get involved in such ministry varies from place to place. It is a good thing for all churches and all their members to regularly evaluate just what is being done for those in need.

Another area of getting outside our church walls involves being in community with others around us. We are not alone in the world and need to get to know and understand others. When we work together in our communities, good fruit is produced for all.

Worship in our churches is a key to our getting closer to God and seeking Him in the positives and negatives of our lives and those lives around us. My friend Charles Hart sends me a spiritual quote each day by email. It’s a daily publication of famous quotes he subscribes to. A recent quote got my attention regarding reaching out in many ways.

The quote was by American writer Madeleine L’Engle and goes like this: “Sometimes the very walls of our churches separate us from God and each other. In our various naves and sanctuaries we are safely separated from those outside, from other denominations, other religions, separated from the poor, the ugly, the dying.… The house of God is not a safe place. It is a cross where time and eternity meet, and where we are – or should be – challenged to live more vulnerably, more interdependently.”

Outreach from our churches is not a way to get new members. If outreach produces new members for us, it is God’s Will working in and through us, not something we are seeking to keep score by. No scorecard is needed in outreach ministry.

Our Worship time in our churches should inspire us to get outside the walls of our churches and put God’s Word to good use through our actions. We must mirror the work of Jesus as He sought to be among the people, especially those in need.

It’s so easy to get caught up in the “busy work” within our churches.  This keeps the physical church in good shape, but takes time away from God’s work needed outside our church walls. As in most outreach ministry, we get as much of a blessing as those to whom we are ministering.

In doing outreach in groups from our church, we become more bonded as a Christian Community. The “hands on” experience of outreach ministry gives us a better understanding of our fellow men, women & children and what they go through in their lives in trying to live in peace and security.

In many ministries I’ve been involved in, comments from those being ministered to have been surprising. Many have said, “This is the first time in my life I’ve felt loved.”  Others have said, “While I appreciate gifts of food and supplies, the gift of your willingness to be with me and get to know me is the most joyful gift.”

Sharing the Gospel together, with those we reach out to, is done through God’s leadership as to how and when this is important to do. There are specific types of outreach that include things like “Bible Study’, and engaging folks in conversation about life can lead to some good spiritual sharing. All in all, our outreach ministry turns out to be “fun for all”.

A good friend of mine sometimes refers to the “many flavors” of Christianity. That is, we have many denominations of Christianity, each having its unique way of worship and outreach ministry. Within our Christian Community of churches, it is always a joy to reach out together. Prison Ministry is my best experience of seeing this work with an ecumenical effort to love and help others--many denominations serving God together in love.

Which kind of Glory

In the Gospel according to John, he says in a portion of Chapter 12:36-50: "Although he had performed so many signs in their presence, they did not believe in him...Nevertheless many, even of the authorities, believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they did not confess it; for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved human glory more than the glory that comes from God."

Do we love human glory more than we love God's glory? We think that we were born into humanness without a choice, so we are stuck with natural world rules and measures. After all, we do need to fit in to our surroundings, our society, and our culture. Isn't pleasing our neighbor one of the commandments? What's wrong with hard work and dedication?

We can't afford to fail. Being successful just comes with our commitment to be the best that we can be in what we do. We believe in Jesus, but we have to handle the opportunities and problems of the real world.

If we really know Christ Jesus and His Father through Him, we know that life is a gift. Our lives are not just random accidents of nature. We are chosen by God and can share in His kingdom as His children. He is our source and therefore His is the glory that we should seek.

Natural world rules and standards are humdrum and only have real meaning if God is in them. Cultures, societies, governments and all other ways the natural world is organized is merely man shaping and manipulating parts of God's creation. They do not exist without Him.

Jesus told us to love our neighbor not to try to please our neighbor. Are we afraid of being shunned if our neighbor is not pleased? Pleasing God is the goal and if we love our neighbor, we please Him.

In the natural world we can have our hard work and dedication. We can be successful and we can have failures. We can be the best at what we do. We can be good at seizing opportunities and solving problems. Ultimately however, if God is not at the center of it all, we have missed the mark. We must praise Him and give Him thanks for all that we have and do, because it is His creation that has made all of it possible.

And when things go wrong as we play with His creation, we have only God to fall back on. How can we fix the clock that the master clockmaker has made? How can we fix God's creation when we have tampered with it? We must give God our successes and our failures.

Better yet, we must let Him in on the front end of our endeavors. Otherwise we must pray and say, "Father, I have tried to work things out on my own. Please help me function in Your creation. I am helpless without You. I now seek Your glory Father."

Speaking the Language

In 1-Corinthians 2:14-3:15, St. Paul again helps us understand how we connect with the Lord and just how important it is in our everyday living. He begins by saying: "Those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God's Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. Those who are spiritual discern all things, and they are themselves subject to no one else's scrutiny. 'For who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?' But we have the mind of Christ."

The light of Christ and the mind of Christ have truly come into the world. Trying to understand the Spirit is much like experiencing a foreign language. If we hear a foreign language spoken and we have not studied it at all, it has no meaning whatsoever to us. If we have studied it in school or have lived around people who have spoken it we can catch on a little.

In order to clearly understand, speak, or write a language different from our own, we must engage in a discipline of studying the mechanics and the spirit of the language. As we become knowledgeable we must practice by speaking with others who can speak and understand the language. And then when we become fluent in the language we can teach others who are trying to learn.

We don't always realize how separated from God we are and what it will take to get our communications reactivated with Him. How many of us are spiritually like the person who has no background in a foreign language at all? How many of us are spiritually mature to the point where we can only get by in a pinch? How many of us are fluent in the language of the mind of Christ?

It is a wakeup call for us when we compare our spiritual growth with learning a foreign language. We see that we have a long way to go and much work ahead of us. We must pray and meditate in the Spirit and on the scriptures on a daily basis in order to come closer to the Lord our God and understand Him.

We must study God's Word and visit those who have spoken or written on the scriptures. As with the person learning a new language, we must come together in a community to learn and receive support for our journey in the Lord. As we are built up spiritually in our Christian communities, we are called to pass on what we have learned about the Lord.

In our natural lives we struggle to give the Lord a bit of our time. We think that we must take care of our worldly chores before we can take time out for the Lord. After all, our jobs are putting bread on our tables and money in our pockets so that we can survive. Where we are fooled is in thinking that we need to take care of natural world issues first. We think that time with God will hinder us in our worldly chores.
                                                                                                                                                  

On the contrary, a deep relationship with God, which requires daily discipline in the Lord, will actually see us through our worldly chores with better successes than any other way. Having the mind of Christ is a prerequisite for everything else.

Perseverance or Resistance

It takes much perseverance to follow the Lord in our lives and seek His leadership in all things. We sometimes feel like we are headed into a battle without the proper weapons to assure our victory. We are not familiar with the weapons provided by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, because they are not weapons of destruction, but weapons of love and faith through His Grace.

St. Paul speaks to us in his second letter to the Corinthians 4:13-5:10: "So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal."

What a wonderful way to look at our lives. Our natural bodies begin wasting away as soon as we are born. We have a definite shelf life. But as we grow older, and we seek the Lord, our inner nature is renewed more and more, day by day. This is our preparation for an eternal life with Him who cannot be seen now. If we can see it, it is temporary. If we cannot see it, it is eternal.

In electrical terminology a resistor is a device that resists electricity in an electrical circuit in order to protect or control. I compare this to St. Paul's description of our outer nature. It is designed to protect us from the external and allows us to control our lives. Unfortunately it tends to slow down and interrupt the flow of the Spirit to and through us to our inner nature which is of God. Fortunately our resistor, this outer nature, does wear down and waste away as we age. This process let's God's Spirit inhabit us in preparation for that which cannot be seen.

Blessed are those who can find the Lord at an early age. For most of us it takes a large part of our lives to find Him. No matter, for we should be happy at any age to have shed our outer nature and to have connected our inner nature to our Lord and God. The important thing is to get there. To achieve eternal life through Christ Jesus who died for our sins, which dwell in our outer nature. At one point in my life God just ripped off most of my outer nature and threw it away.

 

This happened as a result of my being in a Christian community as a sinner searching for a closer relationship with God, combined with a life threatening event. In order to heal me, the Lord had to speed things up a bit and dress me down. His surgical method of removing a large part of my outer nature was to tell me that I was forgiven. He did this in such a way that I could not doubt the fact, as I had doubted it in my life before. I shed tears of joy when He said to me, "Now go my child and try life again, and tell all those who will listen of my love." What is the condition of your outer nature? I pray that it is wasting away and that you are being renewed day by day.

                                            

St. Paul and His fellow messengers for the Lord experienced tremendous threats as they spread the gospel in their world. When we are living in God's word and doing His will, His mercy for our mission is our protector.

Paul's protection was the carrying in his body the death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ. It was in this way that the life and light of Jesus was made manifest in his body. The Holy Trinity of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit is described, petitioned and praised in this verse written by William Whiting (1825-1878), as part of what is commonly referred to as The Navy Hymn: "O Trinity of love and power, thy children shield in danger's hour; from rock and tempest, fire and foe, protect them where so e'er they go; thus evermore shall rise to thee glad hymns of praise from land and sea."

Positive Travel

We humans are interesting creatures. We build up prejudices and opinions about people before we even get to know them. Like most of us, I’m in situations every day where there are people around me that I don’t know anything about. I immediately start sizing them up through observation of them while they’re in close proximity to me. These type folks only cross paths with me if I’m out and about for shopping, dining, at large meetings, community events, sports events or entertainment. Chances for real interaction with folks in these situations are slim to none.

While we may not have close contact with strangers in those situations, as Christians, we are called to find ways to minister to others we may not know.  Ministry to the elderly, the homeless, the sick, the needy, those in prison, victims of fire and windstorm, single parent families, those with drug and alcohol addictions and children with educational and behavior issues are only a part of the larger list of opportunities for our ministry. Just relying on the media to help us understand about what people go through is not really knowing them or understanding what their lives are like. Of course, we must also be aware of opportunities for ministry with people we encounter in everyday life situations. Maybe folks that God has led to us or us to them.     

Recently, a close friend shared a quotation from a book published in 1869 titled “The Innocents Abroad, or The New Pilgrims' Progress,” written by famous American author and humorist Mark Twain. He wrote: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.”

In a letter written by Mr. Twain in 1867 he stated, “nothing so liberalizes a man and expands the kindly instincts that nature put in him as travel and contact with many kinds of people.”

While Mark Twain’s thoughts about travel pertain mostly to getting to know people in other places and so to love and understand them better, I think it applies even in our own communities. If we sit at home and don’t use our volunteer time to get to know and help others, we are not “traveling” in our own area of living. We just rely on the media to inform us about what is going on. This deprives us, and those we might contact, the joys of understanding each other, and helping and being helped.

Holy Scripture informs us in this traveling thing and especially in Matthew 25:35-40 when Jesus said, “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’

Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’”

Through outreach ministry at my church, we have experienced some humbling things regarding helping others. We have learned much from those with problems in their lives. While support money and tangible items for living are appreciated, the fact that we have been willing to interact with them through sharing and joint bible study really makes a difference for them.

In another outreach situation we were blessed by the needy giving back to us. As sometimes happens, on any given day that we hand out free bags of groceries, we ran out of bags while there were still a few folks waiting for a bag. One of our brothers shared with our church the following: “There was a special blessing this morning.  The last car asking for food was told there was no more food.  She reached deep into her purse and donated $5.00 to the church.  What better Christian love than the 'widow's mite'?"

So let’s keep our “traveling bags” packed, reach out, and get to know our brothers and sisters in our communities and beyond. The blessings go both ways. All are blessed in the uniting of the children of God.

Receiving & Giving

Being a Christian by oneself may be possible, but I'm not ready to try it. God works in so many great ways through His people, the Body of Christ. Saint Paul spent his whole Christian ministry developing churches, that is, Christian communities. His conversion of Gentile and Jew, his dedication to the brethren and his willingness to die for Christ certainly left us with some history to ponder.

St. Paul was not just a giver in his ministry for the Lord. His ministry for the Lord began with the kind of experience that few ever have. He received the Love of Christ by being blinded on his way to Damascus to arrest believers in Christ. The Holy Spirit then moved in Ananias of Damascus some three days later to seek out Paul and lay hands on him and pray for the restoration of Paul’s sight. Paul was then baptized (Acts 9:13-19).

While Paul did give much in the name of the Lord, he received much strength from those communities that he had converted. They gave him the strength to continue in God’s mission for him. Paul was dodging bullets all through his ministry and somehow was able to stay alive and active even when in prison until his work for the Lord was complete.

The Church, the Body of Christ is not perfect by any means. The idea is that we come together to seek perfection as shown to us by God through His Son our Savior Jesus Christ. His example has survived all challengers and challenges for more than 2000 years. And how did this happen? It happened through the inspired Body of Christ, the Church and its many members. We are variety, but inspired by the one Spirit.                                                                                                                       

In 2-Kings 2:1-18, we are told in part, "When they had crossed [the Jordan], Elijah said to Elisha, 'Tell me what I may do for you, before I am taken from you.' Elisha said, 'Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit.'"

Have you ever known someone whose spirit impacted you the way that Elijah's spirit impacted Elisha? In our lives, that kind of person comes along every now and then. They aren't perfect but they have a spirit about them that pulls others to them. They are not judgmental and are always ready to spend time listening or helping. Everyone recognizes that the person's life is dedicated to the Lord. In a spiritual sense they are role models.

In Christ Jesus we have a model. We don't have to inherit a double share of His spirit. We will do well to inherit a piece of a share. In our seeking God through Jesus and the Holy Spirit, we must model for each other. There are times when we need encouragement and support in our walk with Christ. There are times when we need to encourage and support a brother or sister in their walk. The important thing is that we are there for each other as God's messengers.

To succeed in this we must be ready to go out on a limb. We must be willing to approach a brother or sister at the moment they seem to be unapproachable. Our ears must be tuned to hear their cry -- a cry that is usually disguised. We must be able to recognize depression when we see it. Depression is the great silent cry.

We must remind one another of the love of God. Our need for control in our lives is eliminated through God’s love for us. We must accept the role as God's healer as well as being healed ourselves. Not one of us is without need, but all of us can be a blessing to a brother or sister.

Like the tide’s ebb and flow, we must let our ministry and our need to be ministered to so move. God will guide us when we need to be attentive to the needs of others. He will help us to submit when He is healing us through a brother or sister. We should know that it is this sense of giving and receiving that is His will for His children. Thanks be to God.

Fear Not, Bear Fruit

The thing that troubled me most as I began to seek the Lord in my life was the permanence of it all. In seeking security in God I also experienced a sense of not being able to turn back to my old ways. The more that the knowledge of God was raining on me, the more afraid I became of making that full commitment. I was getting into something that I couldn't back out of.
                                                     

I would say, "Maybe I don't need to get to know God too well because too much would be expected of me." This attitude keeps many people from getting involved in the Church. The idea of, "to whom much is given, much is expected", puts a lot of pressure on us.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines, in part, a mental disorder called schizophrenia as something “that makes it hard to tell the difference between what is real and not real; think clearly; and have normal emotional responses.” While this is a troubling disorder that occurs in some humans, the average person can have a similar kind of trouble when it comes to a relationship with God. Having one foot with God and the other foot on a banana peel is a bad place to be.

St. Paul points this out to the Hebrews, chapter 6:4-6 in saying, "For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, since on their own they are crucifying again the Son of God and are holding him up to contempt."

In this case are we safer in our ignorance than if we commit to the Lord and then turn from Him? It is hard to get a divorce from Christ Jesus. Satan works on us to cause us to doubt our ability to be a good Christian, so some of us never move into that relationship.

The call to Christ requires us to give up things that we are not always ready to give up, sacrifices that we are not ready to make. And the closer we move toward the Lord the more active Satan becomes in our lives trying to stop us and bring us down. St. Paul tells us, though, that "God is not unjust; he will not overlook your work and the love that you showed for his sake..." We cannot put off joining the Lord forever. Do we put our faith and patience in our world, the natural world, to see us through or do we commit to the one who the Father has sent to teach us and show us His love? Can we afford not to seek His guidance and love?

In St. Paul’s letter to the Hebrews 6:7-8 he states: "Ground that drinks up the rain falling on it repeatedly, and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it produces thorns and thistles, it is worthless and on the verge of being cursed; its end is to be burned over."

God's promise of forgiveness in Christ's atonement for our sins, and our hope of salvation by turning to Him, are gifts unmatchable in the natural world. We must work feverishly to the point of abandonment to God and give up our old selves forever. St. Paul explains his hope for the Hebrews, "And we want each one of you to show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope to the very end, so that you may not become sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises."

Finishing the Race

St. Paul communicated with the Corinthians about running the race toward a life in Christ. He describes it as follows:

"Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it. Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one. So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air; but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified." (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).

In my life I have participated in a variety of sport and recreation. I have been on championship teams and I have been an individual champion in a particular sport. I have also experienced loss and defeat in team and individual sport. There are two activities in which I have participated that have meant the most to me. They are mountaineering and marathon running.

On the level that I have participated in these two, the measure of success has been to finish what was started. Success in these has not been to be the fastest or first. It has been to finish. I have run four marathons in my life and to be able to complete the twenty-six and two- tenths miles each time was a victory for me.

After much encouragement from my brother to rehabilitate myself following surgery for the removal of a brain tumor, I climbed and summited the highest peak in the Rocky Mountains just eleven months after my surgery. Without any competition this was still a victory for me; I finished.

Our spiritual journey is a lot like these activities where the winning is in finishing. Getting to the place that we set out for works in these endeavors and it works in the Christian life. We must encourage each other in our Christian journeys. And we must take care that our encouragement of others does not take our focus off of our own journey. We love to give advice and directions to others. Sometimes we don't practice what we preach.

We can all be winners. We can all come in first. All that we have to do is finish. When we've stopped our run and our climb, we need to be sure that we're at the finish line and the peak. In reaching that point we have earned the “imperishable wreath” the Kingdom of God.

Deciding and Declaring

There have been times in my life when I thought that I was invisible. I was so detached from God and focused on the natural world that I thought that there was a zone that I could operate in out of God's sight. I found out the hard way that my ignoring God doesn't mean that He is unaware of my thoughts and intentions. I was like the emperor that paraded in his "new clothes." I was convinced that I was dressed, but I was naked.

When we think that we are invisible, we are playing God. He is the invisible one, not us. His word is penetrating. He is everywhere at once. He is omnipotent. He knows everything about us. We are His creations. He knows us and we are accountable to Him. We continue to reenact the Adam and Eve story of the eating of the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This amounts to our disobedience of God while He is watching us. We are like the child that intentionally tests its parent’s right in their sight.

In Hebrews 4:1-13 we hear: "Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account."

God's word is truly "living and active." John begins his Gospel (1:1-3 NRSV) with, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being." We can ignore the Word of God, but we cannot escape it. It is a matter of how long we can ignore it. It is a game that we cannot win. God had the first word and He will have the last word with us. We are but fools if we think that we are in control. We will have our day of accounting for our lives to Him.

The following "Confession of Sin" from The 1979 Book of Common Prayer helps us recognize our nakedness: "Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name. Amen."

Today is where we live. Today takes care of today. It has been said that tomorrow never comes for we always live it as a today. What we do today prepares us for future today's, but we never actually live a tomorrow. Our yesterdays laid the groundwork for our today, but they are gone. Our lives are always a today and today is when we should be living out our salvation.

In Hebrews 3:12-19, St. Paul tells us: "Take care, brothers and sisters, that none of you may have an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called 'today,' so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partners of Christ, if only we hold our first confidence firm to the end." We make our decision harder than it should be. We want to hold on to too many things that are of the natural world.

Being with God is our best-spent time. That includes being a doorkeeper in His house if necessary. Let's see if we can get this right. Any time that we spend with God in any capacity or condition is our best-spent time. We don't have to be perfect. We don't have to be sinless. We don't have to be rich. We don't have to be poor. We don't have to be worthy. Our one and only decision is whether or not to seek the Lord.

Losing Our Anchor People

Like many others, as I get older, I am experiencing more and more the loss of the Anchor people in my life. These are the people that have had a great impact on my life from my teens to today.  They are friends and acquaintances, family members, mentors, those who inspired me, people who have made a difference in my life, all who have believed in me.

The recent passing of a dear lady in my church has caused me to think about my anchor people once again. Her name is Maud and she was a devoted church member and an encourager of all sorts of us church members. She left no one out. When I first joined my church as a young adult, it was Maud who was assigned by the Pastor to teach the confirmation class I was to take. She taught us about our church history and our church doctrine in preparation for our confirmation as church members.

Merriam-Webster dictionary defines anchor this way: “a heavy device that is attached to a boat or ship by a rope or chain and that is thrown into the water to hold the boat or ship in place: [also] a person or thing that provides strength and support.” Maud was always in the midst of things, but never intrusive. She went about quietly, but effectively nurturing those around her.

As I think about the loss of my anchor people, I wonder who will replace them. Then I realize that I am their replacement as are the generations after mine. A society without a perpetual group of anchor people is a society in trouble. The culture of that society is a victim along with its people.

As Christians we have a great anchor to help us in our lives. This help from God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ calls for our participation with Him as an anchor person for others. He can’t provide this in His children’s lives without all of our help.

In Hebrews 6:19-20 we hear that our hope in Christian living is our anchor: “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil,  where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”

As we are challenged in our time to be anchors for others, we must be more and more like Jesus and allow Him to guide us in His work. Maud was certainly like Jesus in her interaction with others. This was her great strength in her lifetime personal anchor ministry to others. Fortunately, we have had a history of strong anchors in our church community.

Billie, our late church member and church secretary for 40 years, was an anchor for every church member. During her busy days in the church office, she would always stop what she was doing to listen to a visitor. No matter how long it took, she would give her time to the visitor, even though it meant her working late to finish her regular duties. She was especially good in keeping track of new folks in the church, conveying her warmth to them and blessing them as they made their decision to become a part of our community.

So, how are we doing in our anchoring for others? Can we keep the anchor chain from breaking? Is our seeking strength and guidance from the Lord a bit weak? Loving others no matter their afflictions or wretchedness is certainly a high hurdle to jump over, but as St. Paul says in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

The “Good Samaritan” story in Luke 10 nudges us to be like the only fellow willing to help the robbed and beaten man in this parable of Jesus. The priest and the Levite passed him by, but the Samaritan not only stopped, but as the story goes: “He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.”

Hanging together or separately

Benjamin Franklin stated at the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, “We must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately." While this may not have been an expression of religious faith, it certainly inspired some sort of faith and understanding of being one and together.

The potential power and effectiveness of our Christian Communities is awesome. Working together with God’s guidance is life changing and life building. God did not intend for us to be at odds with each other, but to be uplifting and comforting with each other. We are His tools for seeking the best for His created children. The more we realize this, the better life on Earth will be. It takes all of us to help God realize His Will for us, His created children.  

In 1 Peter 4:8-11 we see our calling: “Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaining.  Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received.  Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God; whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.”

We sometimes have a lack of confidence in the gifts God has given us. He intends for us to use them for Him, but we don't think that we are worthy. We cheat others and ourselves when we don't appreciate and make the most of our gifts. God has given each of us so much. He created us for a reason. He gave each of us special gifts for a reason. He wants us to love one another and to come hand-in-hand to Him.

St. Paul says it so well, "Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good." (1 Corinthians 12:1-11)                                                    

God is not interested in just the few working for Him; He wants all of us in on the action. The meek and the poor can well minister to the great and the powerful. St. Matthew shares Jesus' words with us when he said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven… Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth." If this is true for these, then everyone else needs to get with the program and use the gifts that God has given for His work. Each of us is called to be a Christian leader.

God is not selfish with His word and His strength. He's willing to work with us on a "rent-to-own" basis. Using our gifts from God, we may speak His words as though they were our own and we may serve others having His strength within us. With the salvation He has given us through the life and the blood of Jesus, we gain forgiveness of our sins and ownership in His eternal kingdom.  

So we must hang together and not be separated in the Lord. In Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 we hear: “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up the other; but woe to one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help. Again, if two lie together, they keep warm; but how can one keep warm alone? And though one might prevail against another, two will withstand one. A threefold cord is not quickly broken.”

St. Paul wraps things up in Philippians 2:3-5:  “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.  Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,”