For Our Sake and for God's Sake

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the word “sake” is defined as an end or purpose for the good advantage or enhancement of some entity or as an ideal; a personal or social welfare, safety or benefit. The use of the word “sake” goes back as far as the Thirteenth Century.

We can think that something is good for our own sake or even for God’s sake.  The expression,  “for God’s sake,” has been used in many ways as a call-out for something to either happen or to not happen or stop.  That usage is considered by some to be almost cursing or taking the Lord’s name in vain, but it is usually an attempt to discourage or encourage something so as to be pleasing to God. That is, to be sure that the will of God is fulfilled and He is not angered. St. Paul says in his 2^nd Letter to the Corinthians 5:13  “ For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; or if we are of sound mind, it is for you.”

Living our lives then, is best done when we can blend the two acts of living for our own sake while living our lives for God’s sake.  That way we are sure to get the best possible outcome that is good for us while pleasing God.  In 1st Peter 2:13-14 we read “Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good.”

As Christians we recognize that God did something for His sake in order to accomplish something for our sake. You guessed it didn’t you?  God sent us Jesus as His Word for his own sake to better connect with His children and then sacrificed His Son for our sake that our sin would be forgiven and we would have a more direct line to Him through Christ and the Holy Spirit. Paul reminds us in his 2^nd  Letter to the  Corinthians 5:21 “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

The more we dwell on the word “sake,” the more we see how it has filled lives throughout history. People have done things for the sake of their family, their friends, their country, their churches, their communities, their jobs, for strangers, for the needy and hungry.  The list goes on.  In our lives we must match all the things we do for our own sake and for the sake of others with that which is for God’s sake.

Probably the most important thing to do for our own sake, for the sake of others and for God’s sake is to forgive.  In His forgiveness of us through the sacrifice of Jesus the Christ, God gives us the example of how we should act for His sake and for the world we live in. In the Gospel of John 13:34 Jesus tells us, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

This love message from God through Jesus has forgiveness wrapped all around it for it is impossible to love without forgiving. We can’t pick and choose who to love or who to forgive. For our own sake and for the sake of God, we must love one another.

Spirits Experiencing Life

On a recent visit to a doctor’s office I became engaged in conversation with a lady. The conversation led to comments about experiencing and participating in spiritual things in life. I told her that I had written and published a devotional book and was currently writing a spiritual weekly column in the Messenger Newspaper.

At some point, my new lady friend said in so many words, ‘I consider myself a spirit having a life experience.’ Her comment caught my attention, and I pondered on it the rest of the day. Do we consider ourselves spirits living in a worldly human experience? Were we spirits before we were born and while we’re alive only to leave this life as the same spirit moving into eternal life?

Most all the religions of the World that are seeking a creator God recognize that we humans have some sort of soul or spirit that is part of us. Some differ as to just how long we are spirits.  In the Christian Tradition, we can sense that spirit in each other and have faith that it is an eternal life promise. When we think of most friends and family during their lives and after their death, we certainly sense some kind of spirit relating to them.

We are all tiny physical pieces of our vast universe, God’s Creation, but we see ourselves as spirits whose souls have always existed. While our bodies seem to be separate from our spirit, we are in some sense immortal in our spirit as we leave these short natural world lives to be in God’s Eternal Kingdom.                             

God does not measure time with a clock? Each of us will experience our own death at a worldly time unknown to us. We are, however, on God’s Time. Einstein probably understood that more than anyone with his theory of Relativity, the thought of which brings us closer together with all humanity that has ever been.

St. Paul tells us in Chapter 8 of his letter to the Romans: “9 But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you …though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness……nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Ben Franklin once wrote to a deceased friend’s family (in part), “Our friend and we were invited abroad on a party of pleasure, which is to last forever.  His chair was ready first, and he goes before us.  We could not all conveniently start together; and why should you and I be grieved at this, since we are soon to follow, and know where to find him?”  Adieu, Ben Franklin

My personal certainty of God’s Love & Grace and Eternal life with Him comes from my personal revelation experience from Him through His Spirit during a 10-hour brain tumor surgery and 30-day recovery at UAB Hospital, Birmingham, in 1993.  I was forgiven and comforted by Him, and my fear of death was removed. He even gave me a glimpse into His Eternal Kingdom. Nothing has changed that understanding I received some 20-years ago.

If we believe that a spirit-soul is alive in the heart of every living being we are halfway to understanding how to live life. To know that our bodies can be destroyed, but our spirit is indestructible, gives us a whole new way of looking at life and our relationship with others. We can proceed with life without a sense of fear and worry because we know our spirits are immortal. We can approach each day with confidence in the Lord.                         

Discerning Pathways and Shortcuts

Let’s take a look at something most of us do at least once a day if not many times a day.  That would be when we leave our home, work, or any other place we might find ourselves, for a particular destination and return to the original starting place. If you’re like me, you may take one route to your destination and a different route back to your original starting place. When asked why you took different routes between the same points you may say something like, “well it seemed easier to go a different way back than the way I came.” Then you make another trip to the same place you recently traveled to and from.  More times than not, you take the same route as before to the destination and a different route in returning.

Now we turn our attention to the back seat drivers and the friends that tell us there’s a shorter route to our destination than we’re using. Everyone has their own way of getting from point A to point B. This moves us to the old idiom, “different strokes for different folks.” Basically, this means that different people do things in different ways that suit them.

Let us now crank up our engines and head for a wonderful destination—the presence of God. The question becomes, ‘Is that a one-way trip or round trip?’ If it’s a round trip, then on our way back home do we lose some of the blessing that His presence gave us? Is the best choice then to move in with God?  
“Those who wait on the Lord . . . shall walk and not faint” — we read in Isaiah 40:31 

Oswald Chambers tells us, “There is no thrill for us in walking, yet it is the test for all of our steady and enduring qualities. To “walk and not faint” is the highest stretch possible as a measure of strength. The word walk is used in the Bible to express the character of a person…… Having the reality of God’s presence is not dependent on our being in a particular circumstance or place, but is only dependent on our determination to keep the Lord before us continually.”

Unlike our earthly pursuits, we should avoid making trips to and from God, coming and going on different routes.  We walk with Him always. He is always there walking, even if we don’t recognize Him. Like the “footprints in the sand” story reveals, God carries us from time to time. We must never think we walk by ourselves, ignoring God’s Love and Grace.

No matter how painful life becomes for us, the sense that we’re always walking with God gives us 24/7 comfort through His Holy Spirit. In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus tells us,  ‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.²⁹Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.³⁰For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’

Many of us change residences, moving to new homes from time to time for a variety of reasons, for example a job change, better location, better house, cheaper rent or mortgage, etc. When we move in with God, we mark the last move of our lives. When we move in with God it means that we have spent time preparing for the one way trip. Unlike moving to a new house where we pack our belongings to take with us, in moving in with God we do the packing after we get there for He has much to load upon us. The good news is: that which He loads upon us is weightless so our trip into eternal life with Him is a blessing.  

Suiting Up For The Game

Back in the “Dark Ages” when I was playing college football, I had a teammate whose favorite saying was, “You win some, you lose some and some are rained out, but you always suit up for the game.” That’s not necessarily one of the Top Ten sports sayings, but it still sticks in my mind these almost 50-years later.

Today I’m amazed at how many people think about their favorite sports teams.  These “sideliners” expect so much from their teams.  They know just who their team can beat and when the team fails to win one of those games they just can’t believe what they’re seeing. They think their team should show up for every game with a switch they turn on and play the game to the fan’s perception of how they can and will play.

Fans sometimes forget that these teams and players are just like them. Fans wake up every morning with a different take on life and the world depending on how they think and feel that day. They sometimes know that they have not prepared properly for what the day will bring, but are unwilling to give the players that leeway.

Let’s think about some of the things that impact the player and team and how they or the team will perform in any given game. To start out, no matter what the sports pundits think, different teams matchup differently. A team can kill a team one week and get blown away by a seemingly lesser team the next week. Maybe their strengths and weaknesses matched up better with the first team played than with the second, even if the second team is rated lower.

Now let’s get more personal about the players that make up the team.  We’re talking about men and women here. The day before the game, did any player sneak any alcohol or drugs? Did they break the curfew, and the coach let them play anyway or did they get sent home for a penalty that penalized the team by their absence? What were their eating habits in the days before the game? What personal relationship issues are they presently having with a friend or loved one? Have they been doing the assigned work to better understand what to expect from the other team.

There are many more individual dos and don’ts we could talk about, but what about their support and training people.  Are the coaches good trainers, motivators, scouts and do they know the ins and outs of the sport? Do they manage the staff and team in a good manner? Are they good communicators and set a high level of expectation with a good game plan?

Let’s put aside our team and player expectations and look at ourselves as to our game plan, or if you will, God’s game plan for us. We are so fortunate that we don’t have to rely on human coaches, trainers and teammates for our game plan hoping that all is right, but God does use our teammates to help him communicate to us. If we live in the present, trusting in the Lord in our daily living, He will direct us and guide us toward what He wants us to do in the future. We do our part and he does His part. He does not show us what the future is, but by living today for the Lord, He leads us and the future takes care of itself.

St. Paul’s letter to the Romans 12:1 begins "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."

So we have the perfect Life Game Plan in our seeking God in all that we do. Instead of having to listen to many opinions as to how our game will come out, we have the certainty that life with Him is the one and only game plan as we suit up for the game.

In closing, St. Paul tells us how to suit up for the game in his letter to the Ephesians 6:13-17, “Therefore take up the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

The Inequality of Being Created Equal

In 1776 the Second Continental Congress asked five of its delegates to write the Declaration of Independence. John Adams was one of those delegates as was Benjamin Franklin. Adams convinced the group to have their fellow member, Thomas Jefferson, write the document. After Jefferson finished he gave the document to Franklin to proof read. Franklin suggested some minor changes, but one stands out.

Jefferson had written, “We hold these truths to be sacred and un-deniable, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Franklin changed the beginning of that statement to what was the final version, "We hold these truths to be self-evident."

Let’s take Jefferson’s original words and combine them with Franklin’s change. That would be: sacred, un-deniable, and self-evident. Something is sacred when it is Holy and set apart as Godly. Something is un-deniable when it is incontestable, plainly true.  Something is self-evident when it is evident without proof or reasoning.

Franklin’s change may seem to have watered down Jefferson’s original thought, but everything is tied together when we add Jefferson’s next phrase, “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights….” Yes, our Founding Fathers recognized our Creator God and their dependence on Him, not upon man.

With these wonderful words, however, there was an underlying lie. Slavery was accepted in most of our new nation. Thomas Jefferson was a consistent opponent of slavery his whole life, yet he owned many slaves to help keep up his vast property in Virginia. He believed that slavery presented a threat to the survival of the new American nation. Not being able to change the view of slavery among his contemporaries, it’s possible that he kept his slaves (many whom he inherited) lest they fall into the hands of someone who would mistreat them. While Jefferson couldn’t single handedly stop slavery in his time, with his words, “all men are created equal,” he set a goal for our country that took roughly 180 years to begin implementation.

Jefferson knew that change was needed in our world view of God’s children and deserves credit for challenging those of his time and future generations. Martin Luther King was able to use these words as a springboard in his great Civil Rights efforts.  For more information on the Declaration of Independence go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Declaration_of_Independence  and Jefferson’s owning of slaves go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson_and_slavery 

So where are we today? Even with the improvements the Civil Rights Movement brought to America, whether skin color, religion, economic status or national origin, prejudice is still with us.  Much of the rest of the world is way behind us in striving for the “all men are created equal” proposition.

Martin Luther King relied on his relationship with God and was able to achieve much through non-violence and openly accepting God’s leadership in his efforts.  While God created us equal, we know that everyone can’t have or do all the same things. As St. Paul reminds us in 1^st Corinthians 12:4-7, “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.”

If we are not exactly alike, then how are we equal? The answer is in the words of Jesus when he said in John 13:34-35, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.³⁵By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” His message of love and forgiveness should drive us in our Earthly journeys.

If we love one another no matter our differences, we have the beginning of community. In Christian Community we support one another and offer ourselves up as conduits for God’s Love and Grace. Loving those of different religions is a big challenge. Most all religions are seeking a Creator God. We have that in common and we must not be judgmental in interacting with those of other religions.

The Reverend John Woolfolk Cruse says this in his piece entitled God’s Design. “God does not care a bit whether you are rich or poor, clever or stupid, but He does care greatly whether you are holy or not--whether you are genuine or not. God’s design for you is that you should be just as authentic as you can be.

A sculptor may fashion one thing in clay, another in wood or gold or marble, but He would wish each of us to be as true as possible. We all have different capacities, and we each express something different, but each of us is meant to be beautiful. Though He may fashion us in a lesser metal than gold, yet He fashions each of us in the image of Himself.”

God's Doppler-like Tracking Method

Most of us are at least slightly knowledgeable about the Doppler Shift or Effect as we get a glimpse of it when we tune in our TV or Computer to the weather.  Doppler Radar is what the weather folks use to show us the movement of storms and other weather conditions in the World and our local areas.

This Doppler Effect was proposed by Austrian physicist, Christian Doppler, way back in 1847. If you do the math, that’s almost 20-years before the Civil War.  Merriam-Webster tells us in their “kids’ version dictionary” that the Doppler Effect is: “a change in the frequency with which waves (as of sound or light [or radio]) from a source reach an observer when the source and the observer are moving rapidly toward or away from each other.” Doppler Radar is a tracking system using the Doppler Effect to determine the location and velocity of a storm, clouds, precipitation, etc.

With this Doppler thing, we get a much better vision of location, movement and speed of our weather. We can better see how the rain, clouds and storms are going to impact us in our neck of the woods. God already knew how this effect worked long before Dr. Doppler recognized it. After all He created all that is. So how does God’s “Doppler” effect work?

Have you already guessed? God doesn’t need Doppler Radar to track us or anything else in the world.  God connects with all of His Creation through His Holy Spirit.  He is capable of doing what Science can’t do or explain. In Luke’s Gospel beginning at 12:1 Jesus addresses the Disciples and the crowd of thousands by saying in part: “Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed from the housetops.”

God’s Holy Spirit and Doppler Radar do have one thing in common. They both have to be engaged.  Just as the weather reporter has to use his tools to observe and forecast the weather, the storms of life can only be dealt with by seeking and engaging God’s Holy Spirit continuously. Jesus goes on to say in Luke 12:7: “But even the hairs on your head are all counted. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.”

Turning to God is not an on-off switch. It involves the constant seeking of Him in our lives and most of all trusting in Him. No matter what befalls us, He is in charge.  In Luke 12:4-5 Jesus tells the crowd, “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that can do nothing more. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!”

Exhortation to Fearless ConfessionGod loves us and wants us to seek Him in all things.  “All things” means all things. We need Him with us in daily living, in our celebrations of life events and in our times of trouble. In Luke 12:11-12 Jesus says, “When they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, do not worry about how you are to defend yourselves or what you are to say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very hour what you ought to say.”

Life itself has an ever-changing frequency that requires close monitoring.  As a people, we don’t have all the tools to monitor on our own.  Just like the Weather Forecaster needs Doppler Radar to do his job, we need God’s Holy Spirit in our lives each moment to ensure our best connection and protection. For best life results we must ENGAGE God’s Spirit.

God's Gift of Insignificance

While today’s scientists think we know so much about the Universe in our time as opposed to past generations, new things are continually revealed that let us know we are far from understanding this universe we are a part of.

The latest revelation is the discovery of the largest known body/structure in the universe. It is a grouping of 73-quasars which are the brightest objects in the universe and are fed by black holes (collapsed stars), which have a gravitational field so strong that light cannot escape them.  This new found grouping is 4-billion light-years across at its widest place. To put that into perspective, the Milky Way galaxy, which is the home of our Earth's solar system, is about 100,000 light-years wide. And the Milky Way is separated from its nearest galactic neighbor, Andromeda, by about 2.5 million light-years.

One light-year, which is a measure of distance not time, is 5,878,625 million miles. So this grouping is 4-billion times that in total miles at the widest point. To read more about this new discovery I found in a January 11^th, 2013 Fox News article by Mike Wall go to “Largest structure in universe discovered” at:   http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/01/11/largest-structure-in-universe-discovered/#ixzz2Hn7DiouG

This new discovery challenges much of sciences past understanding of the universe.  What was thought to be more uniform in layout when viewed as a whole, has to be looked at as a universe with an oversized hunk of quasars stuck in the middle of it. This changes man’s view of the universe going forward in study and research. Science will have to determine the significance of this new understanding.

Now, what does all this mean to us humans as we daily creep around on our little planet?  First off, we think how much more insignificant we are in the greater scheme of things in the universe. We are now an even smaller piece of God’s Creation.  Does this make us think we are more vulnerable than we thought?

As the Genesis creation story tells us, “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.”

Maybe it doesn’t give us the more detailed descriptions given by the scientific community, but the Creation Story does describe a huge environment in which we were created by a loving God. Do we need to worry about how big is big? While some might be concerned that we are a smaller more insignificant part of creation than we thought, maybe we should realize that being a smaller part of God’s creation makes our gift of life on Earth even more special.

Let’s face it; with all the craziness out there in those billions of light years of creation, we have been pretty well protected and loved by our Creator God. Fire, heat, cold, explosions, flying objects are all around us, although some are light years away.  God must have had some kind of plan for us to protect his children in this place called Earth.

Yes, this human populated Earth is an insignificant spot when compared to the rest of the universe, but it may be the most special spot in the universe as it houses God’s children. Shouldn’t we do a better job in being thankful for what God has given us? Can we afford to leave Him out of these lives He has gifted us with?

As Psalm 95:2-3 tells us, “Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods.” God has given us free will. If our choices are poor in life, we reject Him instead of seeking Him and giving Him thanks for our special spot in His creation.

And then in 1st Timothy 4:4-5 St. Paul reminds us, “For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.” We can make this life as hard on us as we choose, but in seeking the Will of God and experiencing His Grace, we can come to know how important our “spot” in God’s creation is to Him and to us.

 

Worry Is As Worry Does!

Our worry and anxiety about things in life can become self fulfilling prophecies. These traits can lead us to a path of fear instead of the road to strength. In any case, worry and anxiety certainly don’t help us deal with the challenges that confront us in this life. And it’s not just our own behavior that we need to confront, because those close around us can help push us in the wrong direction as they respond in a worrisome way to our challenges.

Jesus tells us, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life……   “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Matthew 6:25 & 34

It’s easier said than done in this elimination of worry and anxiety in our lives.  We walk a tight-rope that makes our job difficult as we move through the bumps on the road of life.  Christian community is certainly a support in our lives and God uses each of us who seek Him in this life through community to help each other.

A number of years ago, my wife and I became quite close to an elderly widow lady in our church. She was very active and participated in church retreats at our church camp among other activities.  She had a great sense of humor and could always be counted on for a comment that would send everyone into laughter. She was an inspiration to all around her as she approached her old age with vigor.

One day I was chatting with her and she said, “I am very happy and relieved.” I then asked her, ‘what about?’ She said, “I’ve been worried all my life about getting cancer, and now that I’ve been diagnosed with it, I can stop worrying!” I’ve been pondering her statement ever since. What good did her worry do for her other than cause her displeasure for years?

Yes, we should take care of business in the challenges of our life.  We have our health to tend to, our finances to handle, our jobs to fulfill, but worry and anxiety don’t serve us well as we tend to everyday things. How then do we overcome the worries and anxieties of life?  We must turn them over to God.

As we approach each day of our lives, we must do our part in dealing with the challenges of our life, but we must let God do His part.  We can’t control the whole challenge. When we try, then the worry sets in and becomes an impediment to our dealing with things and with God’s help reaching a solution or outcome no matter what it might be.

 

Are We Naturally Aggressive People?

Americans have the good fortune to live in a free country that encourages good relations among its citizens and has a role in the world to stop tyranny where possible. In some sense our Founding Fathers set the clock in motion for our nation to resist the negative and aggressive behaviors that surround us in this world and test us from within.

Man’s innate ability to be aggressive and warring  has been the thinking of world psychoanalysts, humanists and philosophers over the years, but more recently, others have found that we humans are more aggravated from without than from within. 

Alfie Kohn, author & lecturer, once wrote, “Biology does not condemn humanity to war, and humanity can be freed from the bondage of biological pessimism. Violence is neither in our evolutionary legacy nor in our genes. The same species [that] invented war is capable of inventing peace.” From: Are Humans Innately Aggressive?  By Alfie Kohn.

As we view the world in our time, it is hard for us to understand why so much of humanity is trying to destroy its neighbors and others. Whether it be for political, cultural or religious reasons for hurting others, it is hard to accept that we are biologically doomed to it.  We Americans are not completely off the hook, however, for we see some among us trying to hurt fellow citizens. Again though, is it just a biological matter?

In Matthew 26:52 we see, “Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword.”

The recent events of the murdering of innocent children in our nation are hard to understand.  Surely this has been done as a result of a mental illness and not something that God intentionally created in any of us.  We are still children of a Creator God that allows us to make choices in life.  If we are not in touch with Him in our lives, we can make some bad choices.

In Matthew 5: 38-39 Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.”  These are tough orders for us.

By seeking the Lord our God to be in all that we do, we make it easier for better choices in life.  Non-forgiveness is our greatest enemy. In Hebrews 10:30, St. Paul reminds us, “For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.”

It appears in Holy Scripture time and time again, that we must forgive others, so the Lord may forgive us.  Seeking violence in the world is not our nature as humans.  Instead it is the straying from our Creator God’s will, that we should love and forgive one another.  By making this choice in life we can change the world.  What a beautiful thought that our Godly nature is capable of making a real difference. We children of God are called to make this our purpose in life.

 

Humbled by Forgiveness!

In my retirement, I reflect on an amazing life story that took 43 years to evolve. In my senior year in high school, I was recruited to play football at an academically strong major college.  As with many players that didn’t quite have the high school course background needed to succeed academically at this engineering college, they would send their recruits for a year of prep-school to take courses that would enhance their being accepted while also playing football for the Junior College.  I was one of those candidates.

I was sent to a Military Junior College out West.  About 10 or 12 of us prep players began meeting as we arrived on that warm day in late June to begin football practice and get our class schedules setup for the fall.  We were assigned roommates and my roommate was a prep fellow from the mid-west. My new friend/roommate and I had a great year together studying, doing military drills and playing in football games all over the Western U.S. – from El Paso, Texas, to Long Beach, California, to Boise, Idaho.  We were one win away from playing in the Junior College Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA, but it didn’t happen.

We both qualified academically to enter the freshman class at the sponsoring college in June of that next year.  Once at our new 4-year college, we became separated, living in different quarters on opposite sides of the large dormitory.  Our main contact time was at football practices.  After college and during my second year of marriage, my old roommate and friend made a trip to visit me and my wife for a few days.  We showed him around our historic city’s downtown area and we had some good meals and conversation together.  The night before my friend was to fly home, and my wife had gone to bed, he and I sat in the living room chatting.  The conversation moved into politics and before long it was obvious that he and I were on opposite ends of the political spectrum.  We had never before discussed politics.

I then allowed myself to become “politically” angry with my friend, saying some things and acting in a way that I regretted for the next 43-years. I stormed off to bed leaving my friend behind and barely spoke to him the next morning as we got up and went to the airport.  At that point I had written him off as a friend. It would be 43-years before I would speak to or see my friend.

The next twenty or so years I was busy with my job, marriage, community volunteering and helping my dear wife raise our children.  I didn’t think about my friend very much.  When I did, I was sure that he was probably happier than me that we disconnected, especially after the way I treated him on his visit many years before.  Fortunately, early in my marriage my wife led me into the church.  I soon became part of a Christian Community and started to grow and mature in my relationship with the Lord.  During the past 20- years, I have thought more about my friend and have suffered from guilt for my part in our long separation.

I started checking phone listings in my friend’s home town to no avail.  Phone calls became dead ends.  With the advent of the internet and its ability to provide people searches, I continued to look for my old friend and prayed that he would forgive me if I was able to connect with him.  I was afraid that he would reject me and had written me off as I had him.  By now we were separated by 43-years with not much hope of reconnecting.  I thought, ‘maybe in heaven we’ll reunite’, but wished it would happen in this life.  As far as I knew, he may have already died.

Then, in October of the 43^rd year, my phone rang.  I didn’t recognize the out-of-state number, so I didn’t answer.  I figured if it was important, they could leave a message and they did.  To my disbelief, the message was from my old written-off friend, asking me to give him a call.  He had also been searching for me and in his internet travels he saw something that connected with my name.  He had found my old work number and called there only to find that I had retired.  A former workmate that answered his call gave him my contact number.

As I began to return my old friend’s call, I rehearsed my apology, feeling that I needed to mend that fence immediately.  I was sure that he had been in pain for 43-years over the way I treated him.  To my surprise, as I awaited an opportunity in our conversation to apologize, my friend never mentioned that episode.  In fact, he referred to his visit all those years ago in a positive way, never indicating it had been anything but a nice visit many years ago.  He also reflected on our time together at prep school as roommates and how much it had meant to him.  Shocking me even more, he shared with me that he had always told his parents that there were three things that helped him more than anything in his life.  One of the three things was the year he spent with me as his roommate.  He said that I could look at a wall and find something funny or interesting about it!  He also said that the insecurity of his big step after high school, was greatly lessened by getting to know me.

So a couple of months passed and I got a second call from my old friend.  He said that he and his wife were driving halfway across the country to spend Christmas with their daughter and they could come through my town on the way.  He said he and his wife would arrive at their motel near town late in the evening and suggested we have breakfast together at an interstate exit restaurant the next morning.  I said yes, and I was really looking forward to seeing him again.  Nevertheless, my guilt began building up again. Even though he had not yet mentioned the probable cause for our long-time separation in any of our recent communications, I just knew that it would come up or that I would need to bring it up, apologize and try to get a good start on our future relationship.

My wife was working and couldn’t make breakfast, so I went alone to the restaurant to meet my old friend and his wife.  It was like a blind date, not knowing if he would recognize me or me him.  As I walked in the restaurant, I immediately spotted him and he spotted me.  We embraced and he introduced me to his wife.  She and I also embraced.  We got a table and sat down for breakfast. 

My friend already had a hint that my walk with the Lord had improved greatly over the past 43-years, as he discovered such in his internet search for me.  I immediately realized that his walk and that of his wife was strong.  After catching up on a few old memories, we decided to move the conversation to the now and the future. 

The three of us had a deep spiritual conversation, with no reluctance to share our faith.  There was a very brief conversation about the present state of our government, but we moved from that as fast as we could.  Nothing was ever mentioned about that time 43-years ago when we separated. 

I was so blessed that things turned out like they did, but I didn’t have a feeling that I had gotten away with my mean-spirited attitude of some 43-years ago.  What I did feel was a most wonderful unspoken forgiveness.  I had to suspect that our breakup 43 years ago troubled him, but he was happy to remove it from his mind and make me feel like all was well.  We made plans to keep our new life together alive, and my wife and I have since traveled to visit he and his wife.  My old friend and I trusted in God’s time in the healing of our relationship and we will continue in what was and is our eternal friendship in the presence of our forgiving Lord.  

 

Mom Always Liked You Best!

If you are not too young, you probably remember the comedy/musical team named     the Smothers Brothers.  While they are known for many things, both musical and comedic, they will always be remembered for brother Tom’s frequent comment to Dick that, “Mom always liked you best!”

Recently, my 38-year old son got married for the first time.  My wife and I are blessed with two sons, just 3-years apart in age.  Our older son and family are living in Europe and couldn’t make the wedding.  Up to and through the wedding event my wife and I thought about how much we love our sons, and also how different they are.  We have always been sensitive to the possibility that one might think we love the other best.  That continues from childhood through adulthood.

John 15:12 reveals the words of Jesus, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”  However, don’t people tend to love some family or friends “best” over others?  How can we love everyone the same?

In focusing all my love and emotion on our son who recently married, it raised the question, “Do I love one son more that the other?”  After all, they are very different, so is it normal to love one more than the other?  And all my friends are each very different, do I love some more than others?  Aren’t some “best friends”?

Wait a minute, I thought.  God loves all those He created just the same.  He created each one of us different than all the others. The numbers of us He has created is staggering.  His family is a lot larger than my small family.  What can I learn from this?  We all are His creations and any disappointment we have been to Him has been due to our sinful nature.  And guess what, we are forgiven when we turn to him.  He sent “His Word & Son”, Jesus, to communicate and reinforce His love and forgiveness of us.

So how does this apply to my consideration of whether I love one son more than the other?  Do their differences just guide me to love them each just the same, but in different ways? Isn’t that how God loves each of us, according to our differences from each other? 

In I-Corinthians 12:18-20,22, St. Paul reminds us: “¹⁸But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.¹⁹If all were a single member, where would the body be?²⁰As it is, there are many members, yet one body.’²²On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable.”

We must be like our Father, God, and love each and everyone the same according to the differences of each.  I love my two sons just the same in the beauty of their differences.  And so it should be with all of our family, our friends and acquaintances, and those we will meet in the future. 

If there are differences in some that we don’t like, we must put our judgment aside and love that person from the inside out, letting God work His way in that relationship.     

 

End of Innocence -- Beginning Of?

You probably remember the song written by Bruce Hornsby and performed by Don Henley, with some extra lyrics added by Henley, entitled The End of the Innocence.  In the wake of the Newtown, Connecticut, Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings, this song title moves us to think of the huge impact of that event.

The tune begins:                                    

“Remember when the days were long
And rolled beneath a deep blue sky
Didn't have a care in the world
With mommy and daddy standing by
When "happily ever after" fails
And we've been poisoned by these fairy tales….”

Yes, “happily ever after” failed in Sandy Hook and really it failed across the world through this heinous act of the slaughter of twenty of our youthful innocent and six of their caretakers. Similar events in the not too distant past return to our minds, causing us to wonder what it’s all about and if there is anything we can do to prevent these things from happening in the future.

The song continues:                                           

“O' beautiful, for spacious skies
But now those skies are threatening……”

Now our thinking deepens and we examine our country, our culture and our faith. All of our faults as a people start rising to the top of our thinking.  We ponder, ‘What could have been different that would have prevented this.’ Is this event more than just the act of a mentally ill person? How was this overlooked by parents, teachers, coaches, doctors and others.

Finally, since all else has seemed to fail, we turn to our Creator God for comfort and understanding. This is the point when healing and spiritual redirections begin to move us in a more positive way.  We are reminded of and act out our call to “Love one another”. The whole world begins to wrap its arms around the Sandy Hook community. As we saw in the memorial service in Sandy Hook, multiple denominations and religions were represented and prayed in each of their ways for Godly comfort.

Jesus tells us in John 10: 27-30, “²⁷My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.²⁸I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.²⁹What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand.³⁰The Father and I are one.”

My most significant experience in understanding God's Love and Grace came out of chaos. The prayers of my Christian Community and my own prayers brought about a revelation to me from God through His Spirit. He gave me a peace in which I was not concerned about living or dying, but joyful in the knowledge of His Eternal Kingdom. This was for me a blessing that confirmed His Word, the Gospel, that I may have sometimes doubted or questioned.  A greater sensitivity for my need to seek God's Will in my life and in the World came upon me and my listening skills began to improve greatly concerning Him.

St. Paul says in his letter to the Romans 8:38-39 “³⁸For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,³⁹nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”                                                                              

We started with a song that ends with:         

“Offer up your best defense
But this is the end
This is the end of the innocence.”

Maybe events like the Sandy Hook shootings are the end of the innocence for many children and for many of us, but the “Best Defense” is a new beginning of our lives and how we relate to our God and to one another.  Our innocence in some sense is our not including God in all things and only turning to Him when we’re hurting.  Either way He listens and guides us if only we will learn to listen to Him.

 

Christmas: The Birth of God's Word

There have been prophets throughout the ages. God has communicated with His people in many ways, as they have experienced their time on Earth.  Many individuals have had personal experiences of God’s Spirit talking to them in their lives as they have met the challenges of life. So mankind has not been alone in God’s created World and has had a sense of relationship with God in this wonderful gift of life.

Yes, we have all made mistakes in our lives that didn’t make us happy, but we hoped God was looking the other way or at least would forgive us.  In the centuries since our creation, God has known that His children aren’t perfect, but he loves us just the same.  As with Adam and Eve in the Garden, the free will He has given us allows us the choice to worship Him or not.  God didn’t want a captive family when he decided to inhabit the Earth with us.  He created children that would freely turn to Him as they came to understand His nature.

So it was, as time passed in our God created World for many millennia.  And, God had a desire to talk to His children directly.  That is, to be with us in a way that we could hear His Word as if He was standing beside us.  Our all-powerful God decided that he would come to us as God and man in human form, Emmanuel.

God accomplished this through His Spirit as he created in Mary, the Son of God and the Son of Man.  Jesus lived his life in blessing us with God’s Word to live by and died on a cross as a sacrifice to fully show God’s Love for and Forgiveness of us.  He became Christ to us through His Resurrection. This was God’s experiment to come even closer to those He had created.

The voice of Jesus, Son of Man, and Son of God was God’s Voice and Word speaking to us in so many ways.  Christmas then, is the celebration of God’s Word being born among us.  A Word delivered by one who looked like us, but was really Emmanuel, God with us. 

Through The Word’s life, death and resurrection, God has fully communicated to His people that he is a loving and forgiving God.  He has taken His Word back with Him as they are one with the Spirit, but we can celebrate each Christmas in the joy of His placing His Word in a remote and far away manger that has spread throughout the World and to each of us.   

Life Choices Led By Faith

The Christian Church Year consists of Feast days and Holy days. A Feast Day is a day set aside as a commemorative religious festival.

Primary Feast Days include Easter Day, Ascension Day, the Day of Pentecost, Trinity Sunday, All Saints Day, Christmas Day and The Epiphany (manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles – the Magi). Several primary Holy Days, which include The Transfiguration, are also celebrated.   

 There is also a long list of other Feast Days that are celebrated during the year. I am writing this article on November 30^th.  Every year the Church celebrates this day as the Feast Day for             St. Andrew the Apostle. St. Andrew’s life is a model that our faith can help us attain, as did Andrew’s faith help him.

First of all, Andrew, a fisherman, heard about Jesus through his disciple relationship with John the Baptist. Andrew immediately recognized Jesus as the Messiah and quickly told his brother, Simon Peter. As the story goes they ultimately gave up their fishing trade and followed Jesus as “fishers of men.”

This familiar story may not have played out the same if Andrew had not been seeking God through his relationship with John the Baptist. We sometimes take such stories for granted, even though a change or twist here or there may have kept great things from happening. Unfortunately, many sacrifices were made by the early apostles in their commitment to spread Christ’s Kingdom around the known world. Nonetheless, their faith made those efforts worthwhile, even to the point of their own crucifixion on a cross.

During Andrew’s mission work, that extended along the Black Sea and up into Greece, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, Thrace, and Byzantium among others areas, he was crucified in Patras, Greece. Legend is that Andrew requested not to be crucified on a cross similar to the one Jesus died on, as he proclaimed he was not worthy to so die.  Instead he was crucified on a cross that was in the shape of an X.  His hands and feet were bound, not nailed to the cross.  Today, this type of cross is known as a ‘St. Andrew’s Cross’.

How far does our faith take us in this life? Do we seek to strengthen our faith in our lives? Would we be willing to die for our faith? Like the young girl victim of the Columbine High School Massacre, would we die rather than deny God? Fortunately, we are rarely challenged like that in our country.

The sacrifices made by Andrew and the other early apostles are inspirational, but it is their seeking God and spreading Christ’s Kingdom that is their message to us. I belong to a chapter of The Brotherhood of St. Andrew at my church.  As we open and close each of our meetings, we state our mission “to spread Christ’s Kingdom to others.” We do Bible lessons at a Drug and Alcohol rehab facility, some of us are involved in prison ministry and others are involved in all sorts of outreach in our community.

While we don’t plan on having to make a life sacrifice in our ministry, like Andrew did in his, we use his example of his faithful focus on his ministry.      

Here Comes the Judge; And It's Me!

 

We are among today’s living generations that continue, as those before us, to judge everyone and everything around us. Some would say, ‘It’s for my own protection and the safety of my love ones.’ Yes, God gave each of us an ego to be used to perceive things around us and adapt to that which affects our lives. It’s sort of a way of self-protection, but this God-given gift can be used negatively in our lives and prevent us from being God’s conduits for His Love and Grace to others.

In Matthew 7:3, Jesus says, “Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye.”  We miss opportunities for apostolic action in life when we’re focused on defects in others, rather than surrendering to God’s Will for us in His ministry. Defects are much more noticeable in others than in our own selves.

It’s like a father who badgers his son constantly about his behavior. Maybe he sees himself in his son and was not able to overcome his own personal fault growing up. He says, “I’m not going to let my boy ruin his life like I’ve ruined mine. So the son rejects the father’s badgering and becomes just like his father.

When we see the negativity of ourselves in others, is it just easier to strike out at them instead of working on our own problems?        Are we really called to love that other person and have patience with them? Maybe if they sense our caring for them instead of our judging, they will be positively influenced by the forgiving and loving way we interact with them. They may become their own critic and try to gain our confidence in and our acceptance of them.

In Matthew 7:1-2, Jesus says, “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get.”

Have you ever taken a person under your wing that is not liked by most of the people around you? Others think you’re crazy for putting up with the person.  They have no time in their life for those type people. They feel no sense of responsibility to be a blessing to that person – a positive influence in that person’s life.

In Matthew 7:5 Jesus says, “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.”

Jesus leads us to work on our own personal flaws and seek Him in our every moment of life. He’s telling us to get our own act straight and then we can be apostles in this world, because then we will be able to see the other person’s speck more clearly. We will not judge others, but be a loving coach and mentor as we help others remove their speck. Removing the log in our eye will make us expert removers of specks in others eyes.

Our action for the Lord will be completed with the result of bringing someone to Christ who saw our log disappear and became willing to let us help them remove their speck.

 

Reining In Our Indifference

We must be on our guard at all times in this life. While we may think we care for others as we go about our lives as self proclaimed good folks, we are sometimes asleep at the wheel.  Even people with good ministries are susceptible to the curse of indifference in their lives.

We often think it is our privilege to have a lack of interest in a situation. We put our concern and sympathy only where we want to put it. This is the indifference we must rein in. It is not, however, an easy task to accomplish on our own. We must seek God in all things, not picking and choosing on our own as we live out our existence here on Earth.

Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel once wrote, “The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.” Wiesel surely understood indifference.

In our time, we can be fooled and think that things are so much better in life in our time that we can move about taking care of our own needs and ignoring those of others. Paul reminds us in Romans 12:2, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

In Matthew 11:16-17 we are reminded by Jesus as he and John the Baptist reached out to others, “But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates, “We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.”

So it is that indifference is our enemy.  Whether it is ignoring the inspiration of scripture and our present day spiritual teachers, and/or just being willing to block out those people and things we don’t want to deal with.

You probably remember the song written and sung by Bobby Gentry entitled “Ode to Billy Joe”. Through the years many have tried to figure out the real meaning of this tune. All sorts of things have been suggested as to what the daughter and Billy Joe were throwing off the Tallahatchie Bridge and why Billy Joe jumped off. A movie was made to tell the story, but it still didn’t solve the puzzle for most people. Bobby Gentry has always maintained that the song is about human indifference; a sort of unconscious meanness.

We must live our lives by not being so quick to judge others and by being sensitive to the needs and concerns that engulf us. We must dance to the flute and mourn to the dirge.