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.”