If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check. (James 3:2)
I have always had a big mouth. It got me in trouble a lot when I was young and seems occasionally to come back to haunt me.
It is not because of malice, but because of what comes out as a temporary lack of discernment.
It has been this way for a long time. Just about the time I think it is getting better it comes back to bite me.
It usually takes the form of a smart remark or a silly comment that I will make. I will never mean any offense, but it still comes out. And it comes out unbidden.
I hate it. It is born of a basic insecurity and the seeming need to be smart. It would be nice if sooner or later I could shut up when it is called for.
When I was younger, in high school in fact, I remember a girl who I was hanging around with. I really like her. Someone older, an older lady or someone like that, made a comment that she thought I was a handsome young man or some such comment.
I turned to the girl and said something to the effect of Ha, told you so. That did not go over well with the girl. And we were through.
That happened to me a lot because of the fact that my mouth would not obey me. There were times when I was younger that it was only the fact that I am as big as I am that saved my bacon.
It carried over into my adulthood and I have only been able to overcome it to some degree within the past few years. It has been a life-long battle.
I have gained the ability to listen to people for long periods of time and not say a word. I get to thinking that I have it licked. But then my mouth will take over and Wham.
Just the other day, I was talking with a new friend over Facebook and made a smart comment at an inappropriate time. It was totally unrelated to what he was saying, but it looked like it was. I was being cute in a self-deprecating way, but it looked like I insulted him. Part of that was the lag time Facebook has in posts, but part was my own silliness. And there was no recall.
I think it cooled what could have been a good friendship. I tried to explain it but of course, it was too late.
Father, forgive me my mouth, and give me discernment, and the ability to just be quiet.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
a white guy from texas and a black guy from mississippi
There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:28-29)
An odd memory just came to me when I was reading another article. In 1970, I was driving my 1962 Mercury Meteor back from Fort Gordon in Georgia to Houston. I was leaving army AIT was about to go to Germany. A friend named Lincoln asked if I would drop him off in Mississippi on the way by.
When we got to his town, he told me to turn, I did. Again I turned and again until we were on a dirt road.
His house was a shack with no running water and what looked like 20 children, all standing around looking at me.
He got out and asked me if I would like a drink of water. I said yes. One of the children brought me a dipper of water. I drank it, gave it back and told Lincoln goodbye.
It has struck me to this day. I had completely forgot that Lincoln was black, and since he lived in Mississippi, he probably was poor.
In the army, we all wore army green. Army green was a very leveling color. Nobody looked better or richer or poorer than anybody else. He had a set of civilian clothes like we all did, and since it was 1970, they were jeans and a shirt and stuff like that. Nothing big or fancy. It was after all 1970, the time of purposefully ragged clothes.
When we got to his home, I was astounded by the absolute poverty. It probably embarrassed him, too, since before that time we were friends on an equal basis. My family was not well-off by any means, but we had running water and electricity and stuff. I owned a car, albeit a pretty sad one.
But I seriously had never considered it. He was another soldier and a friend so as far as I was concerned we were from equal backgrounds. But I was the white son of a man with a good trade and he was the black son of a very poor man.
Both families owned homes, but ours was brick on a cul-de-sac in Texas City, TX. His was a shack in Mississippi. I don’t remember where now. I don’t remember what he looked like, or anything else, but I can see the house clear as day 40 years later.
One of the things that Christianity should be is a social leveling place. Everybody, no matter who they may be, or what background they may come from, is a child of God.
In God, if you are in Jesus, there is neither Jew nor Greek (racial leveling), slave nor free (socioeconomic leveling), male nor female (sexual leveling) – we are all one in Christ Jesus. We are all even, we are all the same, we are all equal: sinners saved by the grace of God.
That makes it hard when someone thinks they are so great because of who they are or where they came from.
We are, after all, servants of a servant. He took upon himself the form of a servant (Philippians 2).
It is hard to be too proud when your Master is a servant. We are all one in Christ Jesuss.
If you think you are great, get over yourself. You are one of his children.
Praise his holy name.
An odd memory just came to me when I was reading another article. In 1970, I was driving my 1962 Mercury Meteor back from Fort Gordon in Georgia to Houston. I was leaving army AIT was about to go to Germany. A friend named Lincoln asked if I would drop him off in Mississippi on the way by.
When we got to his town, he told me to turn, I did. Again I turned and again until we were on a dirt road.
His house was a shack with no running water and what looked like 20 children, all standing around looking at me.
He got out and asked me if I would like a drink of water. I said yes. One of the children brought me a dipper of water. I drank it, gave it back and told Lincoln goodbye.
It has struck me to this day. I had completely forgot that Lincoln was black, and since he lived in Mississippi, he probably was poor.
In the army, we all wore army green. Army green was a very leveling color. Nobody looked better or richer or poorer than anybody else. He had a set of civilian clothes like we all did, and since it was 1970, they were jeans and a shirt and stuff like that. Nothing big or fancy. It was after all 1970, the time of purposefully ragged clothes.
When we got to his home, I was astounded by the absolute poverty. It probably embarrassed him, too, since before that time we were friends on an equal basis. My family was not well-off by any means, but we had running water and electricity and stuff. I owned a car, albeit a pretty sad one.
But I seriously had never considered it. He was another soldier and a friend so as far as I was concerned we were from equal backgrounds. But I was the white son of a man with a good trade and he was the black son of a very poor man.
Both families owned homes, but ours was brick on a cul-de-sac in Texas City, TX. His was a shack in Mississippi. I don’t remember where now. I don’t remember what he looked like, or anything else, but I can see the house clear as day 40 years later.
One of the things that Christianity should be is a social leveling place. Everybody, no matter who they may be, or what background they may come from, is a child of God.
In God, if you are in Jesus, there is neither Jew nor Greek (racial leveling), slave nor free (socioeconomic leveling), male nor female (sexual leveling) – we are all one in Christ Jesus. We are all even, we are all the same, we are all equal: sinners saved by the grace of God.
That makes it hard when someone thinks they are so great because of who they are or where they came from.
We are, after all, servants of a servant. He took upon himself the form of a servant (Philippians 2).
It is hard to be too proud when your Master is a servant. We are all one in Christ Jesuss.
If you think you are great, get over yourself. You are one of his children.
Praise his holy name.
daily java
Daily Java: "I will not enter my house or go to my bed – I will allow no sleep to my eyes, no slumber to my eyelids, till I find a place for the LORD, a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob." (Psalm 132:3-5)
In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. (1 Corinthians 11:1)
King David of the Old Testament loved God. The psalms are full of his praise and worship. He wanted nothing more than to build a house of praise for the Lord. He could see it in his mind: a place where all the world would come to see the glory of the Lord, where they would see a beautiful monument to the Lord’s goodness and generosity.
But he couldn’t do it. In I Chronicles 22, God told David that he couldn’t build him a temple because he had lived too violent a life. It was for his son, Solomon, a man of peace and wisdom, to do. Even though he was a “man after God’s own heart,” he was not equipped nor qualified to do so.
But he wanted it. And he made a temple in his heart, anyway. The worship of God was strong in David’s heart. Even though he couldn’t build any monuments to the Lord, he still worshipped.
The Corinthian church did the opposite. They had a church that was a good one, but it seemed they were doing everything they could to tear it down. They were arguing, and fighting over positions in the church.
When they had dinner, some would come and eat it all leaving nothing for those who came afterwards. The Lord’s Supper had become a travesty of what God had intended. Worship became a travesty. Everything turned bad.
Church had become ugly. Something that David was not allowed to have had become something that no one wanted.
There is a desire to worship that is built into each of us, that cries out for release. When God made us, he made that desire to connect with him. He hard-wired us to want to worship. Nothing else will take its place.
You see that desire in workaholics and sex-addicts, in overeaters and drug users, in Dead-Heads, in everyone who pursues anything in an overboard way. They are channeling the natural desire to worship that Romans 1 talks about and turns it into something else. They pursue things instead of God.
Those things are not wrong in and of themselves; but when they take over the natural worship, they become wrong.
It is when we begin to realize the need to worship that we begin to be happy. When we allow no sleep to come to our eyes, when we see worship to God as more important that even going home or to bed, when it supercedes everything else that we are satisfied.
And when it turns ugly, as it did in the Corinthian church, it is so sad. It becomes like a marriage that turns out to be a jockeying for power, children trying to find ways to dump themselves of their parents, Christians who see the kingdom as a means of power.
From David’s entreaty to God that he build him a place of praise to a church’s demand to God that he give them stuff. It is a long way from one to another.
In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. (1 Corinthians 11:1)
King David of the Old Testament loved God. The psalms are full of his praise and worship. He wanted nothing more than to build a house of praise for the Lord. He could see it in his mind: a place where all the world would come to see the glory of the Lord, where they would see a beautiful monument to the Lord’s goodness and generosity.
But he couldn’t do it. In I Chronicles 22, God told David that he couldn’t build him a temple because he had lived too violent a life. It was for his son, Solomon, a man of peace and wisdom, to do. Even though he was a “man after God’s own heart,” he was not equipped nor qualified to do so.
But he wanted it. And he made a temple in his heart, anyway. The worship of God was strong in David’s heart. Even though he couldn’t build any monuments to the Lord, he still worshipped.
The Corinthian church did the opposite. They had a church that was a good one, but it seemed they were doing everything they could to tear it down. They were arguing, and fighting over positions in the church.
When they had dinner, some would come and eat it all leaving nothing for those who came afterwards. The Lord’s Supper had become a travesty of what God had intended. Worship became a travesty. Everything turned bad.
Church had become ugly. Something that David was not allowed to have had become something that no one wanted.
There is a desire to worship that is built into each of us, that cries out for release. When God made us, he made that desire to connect with him. He hard-wired us to want to worship. Nothing else will take its place.
You see that desire in workaholics and sex-addicts, in overeaters and drug users, in Dead-Heads, in everyone who pursues anything in an overboard way. They are channeling the natural desire to worship that Romans 1 talks about and turns it into something else. They pursue things instead of God.
Those things are not wrong in and of themselves; but when they take over the natural worship, they become wrong.
It is when we begin to realize the need to worship that we begin to be happy. When we allow no sleep to come to our eyes, when we see worship to God as more important that even going home or to bed, when it supercedes everything else that we are satisfied.
And when it turns ugly, as it did in the Corinthian church, it is so sad. It becomes like a marriage that turns out to be a jockeying for power, children trying to find ways to dump themselves of their parents, Christians who see the kingdom as a means of power.
From David’s entreaty to God that he build him a place of praise to a church’s demand to God that he give them stuff. It is a long way from one to another.
Monday, August 30, 2010
a better way
The following article was written to a group of inmates in Creek County jail in Oklahoma in 1996.
And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it. No lion will be there, nor will any ferocious beast get up on it; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there.(Isaiah 35:8-9)
There was a poet named Robert Frost who wrote a poem about two roads. One road was well-traveled -- a lot of people had gone down that road. But the other road was less well-traveled -- you could tell not many people went there.
The writer was proud of the fact that he hadn't followed the crowd: he had gone on the road less traveled and was the better for it.
People's lives are like that. It is easy to go with your crowd. If the crowd decides to go out and get drunk and rape a girl, or rob a store, or beat up someone, chances are high you'll go along with them. It's too easy to do so. To go against the crowd is really hard for anyone.
The hard thing to do is to take the right road. Even though the great majority of the United States have never been in jail, the great majority of your crowd probably has. So to go against them is take the road in your life that is less traveled.
Other people may tromp that road to death, but to you, it is sure a different road.
The reason you've never traveled that road is not because it is so weird a road, but it is because you are weak. Your crowd does something, so you do it too.
Of course, your crowd is not in jail with you. You got stuck with that by yourself. The only road you go on is a pretty sorry and lonely road. And with your record in life, you're going to keep tromping that lousy road until you die, which will probably be in prison.
How do you change? God can show you a better road, one that to you is a great road. It's so good if for no other reason than that it is new and doesn't end up in jail. It ends up with you happy in life with a family and a job and dying old with loved ones around you.
That road is the road of grace and love and the road of forgiveness in Jesus Christ. He will free you from that sorry road you've been on and show you a better way.
You ask him into your heart and give him control of your life and you'll end up on a good road, a happy road, that road Isaiah talks about .
That road is one fine place to be. And you can be there if you'll let Jesus take you there. He loves you.
And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it. No lion will be there, nor will any ferocious beast get up on it; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there.(Isaiah 35:8-9)
There was a poet named Robert Frost who wrote a poem about two roads. One road was well-traveled -- a lot of people had gone down that road. But the other road was less well-traveled -- you could tell not many people went there.
The writer was proud of the fact that he hadn't followed the crowd: he had gone on the road less traveled and was the better for it.
People's lives are like that. It is easy to go with your crowd. If the crowd decides to go out and get drunk and rape a girl, or rob a store, or beat up someone, chances are high you'll go along with them. It's too easy to do so. To go against the crowd is really hard for anyone.
The hard thing to do is to take the right road. Even though the great majority of the United States have never been in jail, the great majority of your crowd probably has. So to go against them is take the road in your life that is less traveled.
Other people may tromp that road to death, but to you, it is sure a different road.
The reason you've never traveled that road is not because it is so weird a road, but it is because you are weak. Your crowd does something, so you do it too.
Of course, your crowd is not in jail with you. You got stuck with that by yourself. The only road you go on is a pretty sorry and lonely road. And with your record in life, you're going to keep tromping that lousy road until you die, which will probably be in prison.
How do you change? God can show you a better road, one that to you is a great road. It's so good if for no other reason than that it is new and doesn't end up in jail. It ends up with you happy in life with a family and a job and dying old with loved ones around you.
That road is the road of grace and love and the road of forgiveness in Jesus Christ. He will free you from that sorry road you've been on and show you a better way.
You ask him into your heart and give him control of your life and you'll end up on a good road, a happy road, that road Isaiah talks about .
That road is one fine place to be. And you can be there if you'll let Jesus take you there. He loves you.
calling people liars
Although I am right, I am considered a liar; although I am guiltless, his arrow inflicts an incurable wound. (Job 34:6)
There was another article today on the internet about someone lying about something. I don’t really remember what it was, but you hear it more and more.
There was a time when a man would call me a liar and I would be ready to fight him. A man’s integrity was worth fighting for. In the old west, it was even worth killing for. You just did not call a man a liar.
That was then. This is now. Any fool can call you a liar with even a smile on their face. It doesn’t matter whether or not it is true, the fact remains that anyone can put that label on you. And they know that you cannot do anything about it.
When people fought to preserve their integrity, it was different. You made sure of your facts before you would call someone a liar.
But people know that you can’t do anything harmful to them, so they feel empowered to call you anything they want.
We have become a society unafraid of the consequences of our actions. We feel we can do anything we want and no one can do anything about it. If anyone tries to defend themselves physically, we can just sue. And if they do it on a public stage, well, it is just politics and you should lighten up.
Children know nothing will happen to them if they malign others, so kids can be as confrontational as they want to any adult. They grow up in an almost anarchy.
Calling people names does nothing except to demean the name caller. The old adage, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never harm me” is basically untrue. Names can hurt badly. Physical injuries can heal, but names carry forever.
However, the one who calls the names is hurt in many ways more than the one being named. As I said, it demeans them, it lessens them, it puts them on a lower level than the one they try to be superior over.
And it lessens society. When people are able to do anything they want without fear of repercussions society becomes ugly. It already has become so.
It also puts us in a position of trying constantly to defend ourselves. We can go anywhere because we are busy trying to defend where we were. When our society is constantly on the defensive, we do not accomplish much except anger.
When people can call others names like liar, we have lost our basic civility. In that, we have lost our civilization.
There was another article today on the internet about someone lying about something. I don’t really remember what it was, but you hear it more and more.
There was a time when a man would call me a liar and I would be ready to fight him. A man’s integrity was worth fighting for. In the old west, it was even worth killing for. You just did not call a man a liar.
That was then. This is now. Any fool can call you a liar with even a smile on their face. It doesn’t matter whether or not it is true, the fact remains that anyone can put that label on you. And they know that you cannot do anything about it.
When people fought to preserve their integrity, it was different. You made sure of your facts before you would call someone a liar.
But people know that you can’t do anything harmful to them, so they feel empowered to call you anything they want.
We have become a society unafraid of the consequences of our actions. We feel we can do anything we want and no one can do anything about it. If anyone tries to defend themselves physically, we can just sue. And if they do it on a public stage, well, it is just politics and you should lighten up.
Children know nothing will happen to them if they malign others, so kids can be as confrontational as they want to any adult. They grow up in an almost anarchy.
Calling people names does nothing except to demean the name caller. The old adage, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never harm me” is basically untrue. Names can hurt badly. Physical injuries can heal, but names carry forever.
However, the one who calls the names is hurt in many ways more than the one being named. As I said, it demeans them, it lessens them, it puts them on a lower level than the one they try to be superior over.
And it lessens society. When people are able to do anything they want without fear of repercussions society becomes ugly. It already has become so.
It also puts us in a position of trying constantly to defend ourselves. We can go anywhere because we are busy trying to defend where we were. When our society is constantly on the defensive, we do not accomplish much except anger.
When people can call others names like liar, we have lost our basic civility. In that, we have lost our civilization.
daily java
This article was writtten to inmates in the Creek County Jail in Oklahoma in 1996.
Daily Java: Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.
But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.
He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. (Psalm 1)
A person grows where he is planted. If you are planted in a sorry, dark, dirty place, chances are high that you won't grow to be good, bright or clean.
If you grow up in a good, bright and clean place, chances are high that you won't grow up to be bad.
That's what the writer of this psalm meant. A person who doesn't walk with bad people will probably be blessed.
Walking, or living, with good people tends to keep you out of places like jail or prison. Good people don't try to talk you into stealing or hurting others or using drugs.
Good people want you to be like them. They want you to be good and will generally do what they can to keep you that way. Good people, even though they may not have much money, still are happy and want you to be happy.
The wicked, or those who are bad, don't care either way. If you fall down, they'll walk away from you and let you take the fall..
In the day of judgment, the wicked will not stand. They will fall down and start blaming someone else and that person they blame may be you.
The Bible says that you are like the people you associate with. That's why you are in jail right now. The people you associate with put you there.
So how do you change?
The first thing you do is change your friends. That sounds harsh, but think about where you are and where they are. It was probably their ideas that got you here. They were the ones that had that stupid idea that got you arrested.
The only thing that will save you is to get new friends, friends that will help you become closer to God, that will help you stay straight.
It's time to get out of the way of "scoffers" and get into a good relationship with someone who really loves you – God.
Daily Java: Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.
But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.
He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. (Psalm 1)
If you grow up in a good, bright and clean place, chances are high that you won't grow up to be bad.
That's what the writer of this psalm meant. A person who doesn't walk with bad people will probably be blessed.
Walking, or living, with good people tends to keep you out of places like jail or prison. Good people don't try to talk you into stealing or hurting others or using drugs.
Good people want you to be like them. They want you to be good and will generally do what they can to keep you that way. Good people, even though they may not have much money, still are happy and want you to be happy.
The wicked, or those who are bad, don't care either way. If you fall down, they'll walk away from you and let you take the fall..
In the day of judgment, the wicked will not stand. They will fall down and start blaming someone else and that person they blame may be you.
The Bible says that you are like the people you associate with. That's why you are in jail right now. The people you associate with put you there.
So how do you change?
The first thing you do is change your friends. That sounds harsh, but think about where you are and where they are. It was probably their ideas that got you here. They were the ones that had that stupid idea that got you arrested.
The only thing that will save you is to get new friends, friends that will help you become closer to God, that will help you stay straight.
It's time to get out of the way of "scoffers" and get into a good relationship with someone who really loves you – God.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
sacrifices and songs of praise (psalm 27): original poetry
SACRIFICES AND SONGS OF PRAISE (PSALM 27)
Rhymed by John Cliver
My light and salvation is from the Lord:
Whom shall I fear when with his strong sword
In defense of my life he remains ever near,
Whom shall I dread? Whom shall I fear?
When those against me come near to devour
My flesh, when comes my darkest hour,
My foes, my enemies stumbled and fell;
For the wrath of God against them did swell.
Though a host, an army against me does war,
My heart will not fear for God is not far.
In spite of my fear, my confidence stays,
For in him I trust, my heart ever prays.
My God, the Father, in heaven so fair,
Who hears, and answers and knows every care.
Hear me, O Lord, when loudly I cry,
And be gracious to me and stay ever nigh.
Shouts of joy I ever will raise
And sacrifices and songs of praise,
And sacrifices and songs of praise.
Rhymed by John Cliver
My light and salvation is from the Lord:
Whom shall I fear when with his strong sword
In defense of my life he remains ever near,
Whom shall I dread? Whom shall I fear?
When those against me come near to devour
My flesh, when comes my darkest hour,
My foes, my enemies stumbled and fell;
For the wrath of God against them did swell.
Though a host, an army against me does war,
My heart will not fear for God is not far.
In spite of my fear, my confidence stays,
For in him I trust, my heart ever prays.
My God, the Father, in heaven so fair,
Who hears, and answers and knows every care.
Hear me, O Lord, when loudly I cry,
And be gracious to me and stay ever nigh.
Shouts of joy I ever will raise
And sacrifices and songs of praise,
And sacrifices and songs of praise.
freedom
So where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. (2 Corinthians 3:17)
Freedom is strange. It means something different to everybody.
To the average person on the street, freedom calls up pictures of the American flag and Fourth of July celebrations.
To someone else, it is something that people in Communist countries don’t have, freedom to travel and to speak aloud what they think.
To someone who wants to go and have a good time but has to go a job he hates, freedom means the ability to do what he wants.
To an inmate in jail or prison, it means a chance to walk around in the sunshine and eat regular food.
To the Christian, it means that he or she doesn’t have to worry any longer about being foolish in his or her life choices.
Everybody makes mistakes, whether they are big, important people or smaller, less important people. The Christian knows that when he or she makes those stupid mistakes, he or she has a God that loves them and a Friend that cares for them.
The Christian has a guide and a helper that is greater than they are. When bad choices come up, there is someone that will help you make better ones that help you keep your freedom.
After all, your freedom is awfully valuable when you don't have it any longer.
Freedom is strange. It means something different to everybody.
To the average person on the street, freedom calls up pictures of the American flag and Fourth of July celebrations.
To someone else, it is something that people in Communist countries don’t have, freedom to travel and to speak aloud what they think.
To someone who wants to go and have a good time but has to go a job he hates, freedom means the ability to do what he wants.
To an inmate in jail or prison, it means a chance to walk around in the sunshine and eat regular food.
To the Christian, it means that he or she doesn’t have to worry any longer about being foolish in his or her life choices.
Everybody makes mistakes, whether they are big, important people or smaller, less important people. The Christian knows that when he or she makes those stupid mistakes, he or she has a God that loves them and a Friend that cares for them.
The Christian has a guide and a helper that is greater than they are. When bad choices come up, there is someone that will help you make better ones that help you keep your freedom.
After all, your freedom is awfully valuable when you don't have it any longer.
placecards at the great banquet table
He has taken me to the banquet hall, and his banner over me is love. (Song of Solomon 2:4)
We had some friends over to dinner tonight. They had five children, so I made our table large. It is an old 48” round table that will extend to over eight feet long. We seated nine at it tonight. We had spaghetti, a perennial favorite and a good visit.
Since there were as many kids, more than we usually have to dinner, I decided to make place cards. That way no one would fight over where to sit or worse, sit in my place.
When the kids came in, one of them said, Look. Our names are at our places. I had worried that they wouldn’t like where I put them and want to change or gripe or something. I don’t know these children well, so I didn’t know how they would react.
But they were pleased. They were expected and they had a place to sit at that was their place. No one else could sit there because their name was at the plate.
They were just small place cards that I ran off on the printer and cut out of ordinary printer paper. But to the kids, they were places reserved just for them.
I saw a painting of a great banquet hall. Jesus was at the door welcoming a man in. sitting at the table were all of the great saints of old.
And there was a place just for him, reserved.
That is how I see the great banquet hall with the banner of his love over it all. And at each of our places, there is a place card with our name on it.
What a day when we all get together in that banquet hall with the Son of God, we take that great communion that he said he wouldn’t take again until after he came, we eat together, we laugh together.
The song says, it’s a big, big house, with lots and lots of room; a big, big table with lots and lots of food; a big, big yard where we can play football it’s a big, big house. It’s my Father’s house.
With place cards with my name on it at the table. A place reserved for me.
We had some friends over to dinner tonight. They had five children, so I made our table large. It is an old 48” round table that will extend to over eight feet long. We seated nine at it tonight. We had spaghetti, a perennial favorite and a good visit.
Since there were as many kids, more than we usually have to dinner, I decided to make place cards. That way no one would fight over where to sit or worse, sit in my place.
When the kids came in, one of them said, Look. Our names are at our places. I had worried that they wouldn’t like where I put them and want to change or gripe or something. I don’t know these children well, so I didn’t know how they would react.
But they were pleased. They were expected and they had a place to sit at that was their place. No one else could sit there because their name was at the plate.
They were just small place cards that I ran off on the printer and cut out of ordinary printer paper. But to the kids, they were places reserved just for them.
I saw a painting of a great banquet hall. Jesus was at the door welcoming a man in. sitting at the table were all of the great saints of old.
And there was a place just for him, reserved.
That is how I see the great banquet hall with the banner of his love over it all. And at each of our places, there is a place card with our name on it.
What a day when we all get together in that banquet hall with the Son of God, we take that great communion that he said he wouldn’t take again until after he came, we eat together, we laugh together.
The song says, it’s a big, big house, with lots and lots of room; a big, big table with lots and lots of food; a big, big yard where we can play football it’s a big, big house. It’s my Father’s house.
With place cards with my name on it at the table. A place reserved for me.
Friday, August 27, 2010
more on the book of hebrews: a hard passage
It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. (Hebrews 6:4-6)
Back in the late ‘80’s, I was preaching for a church in south Texas and I decided to do a study on the Sermon on the Mount over the course of a year or less. I was going to look at each section and talk about it.
Things went fine until I came to Matthew 7:6: Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.
I had gone through chapters 5 and 6 pretty well, even at some of the hard parts, but this verse stumped me.
First of all, what exactly did it mean, why was it in here in a place that was generally positive and what could I do about it.
My answer? I decided to go into a study of Ephesians. Why? Because I didn’t understand the verse.
However, common sense won out. It is a dumb idea to leave something just because you are too lazy to try to understand it. I studied and thought and it came to me. All it means is summed up in two phrases:
Don’t argue theology with a drunk and
Don’t officiate at the opening of a brothel with a prayer.
The point is that some verses are hard, but there is an answer (most of the time) there for you to find if you will but depend on the Lord and study.
Hebrews 6:1-6 is one of those difficult passages. On the surface, it seems that if one leaves God, one cannot come back. In fact the early church interpreted it that way. Those who succumbed to persecution were often not allowed back into the church because they had “fallen away.” The church figured that God didn’t want them.
Of course, that is not what the writer was talking about. He says that it is hard to bring people back to what they have left. If you do, they have to accept again the things they have rejected. That is hard.
It is like falling out of love with your wife and then trying to fall back in love again. The very things that irritated you about her are still there. You have to deal with them and find the things that caused you to love her in the first place.
In those magazine ads they send you, they talk about why you should buy the magazine in a letter and brochures and other tree-wasteful stuff. Then there is one little envelope that says, “If you have decided not buy this product, please read this.” It will have some little extra bonus that they will give you if you will buy what they have for sale.
God has no extra envelope to give us. We take him or we don’t. And if we reject him, it is truly difficult for someone to bring us back. We have to accept again the grace and love that we rejected before as if it were new.
The good thing about it, however, is that it is God offering this, not a magazine subscription agency in Cincinnati. He can quicken out hearts and cause us to love him. After all, it was Jesus who said, No man comes to the Father unless the Father draw him (John 6:44). When it really comes down to it, all we decide to do is let God pull us.
We can decide to reject the pull and we can fight against the pull as Saul of Tarsus did. But God is sneaky and underhanded. He does not play fair and will find ways to get us. It is ultimately our decision whether or not to let him, but it is his grace and love that saves.
Back in the late ‘80’s, I was preaching for a church in south Texas and I decided to do a study on the Sermon on the Mount over the course of a year or less. I was going to look at each section and talk about it.
Things went fine until I came to Matthew 7:6: Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.
I had gone through chapters 5 and 6 pretty well, even at some of the hard parts, but this verse stumped me.
First of all, what exactly did it mean, why was it in here in a place that was generally positive and what could I do about it.
My answer? I decided to go into a study of Ephesians. Why? Because I didn’t understand the verse.
However, common sense won out. It is a dumb idea to leave something just because you are too lazy to try to understand it. I studied and thought and it came to me. All it means is summed up in two phrases:
Don’t argue theology with a drunk and
Don’t officiate at the opening of a brothel with a prayer.
The point is that some verses are hard, but there is an answer (most of the time) there for you to find if you will but depend on the Lord and study.
Hebrews 6:1-6 is one of those difficult passages. On the surface, it seems that if one leaves God, one cannot come back. In fact the early church interpreted it that way. Those who succumbed to persecution were often not allowed back into the church because they had “fallen away.” The church figured that God didn’t want them.
Of course, that is not what the writer was talking about. He says that it is hard to bring people back to what they have left. If you do, they have to accept again the things they have rejected. That is hard.
It is like falling out of love with your wife and then trying to fall back in love again. The very things that irritated you about her are still there. You have to deal with them and find the things that caused you to love her in the first place.
In those magazine ads they send you, they talk about why you should buy the magazine in a letter and brochures and other tree-wasteful stuff. Then there is one little envelope that says, “If you have decided not buy this product, please read this.” It will have some little extra bonus that they will give you if you will buy what they have for sale.
God has no extra envelope to give us. We take him or we don’t. And if we reject him, it is truly difficult for someone to bring us back. We have to accept again the grace and love that we rejected before as if it were new.
The good thing about it, however, is that it is God offering this, not a magazine subscription agency in Cincinnati. He can quicken out hearts and cause us to love him. After all, it was Jesus who said, No man comes to the Father unless the Father draw him (John 6:44). When it really comes down to it, all we decide to do is let God pull us.
We can decide to reject the pull and we can fight against the pull as Saul of Tarsus did. But God is sneaky and underhanded. He does not play fair and will find ways to get us. It is ultimately our decision whether or not to let him, but it is his grace and love that saves.
a little on the reality of Jesus and people’s inability to accept it.
A little on the reality of Jesus and people’s inability to accept it.
A real Jesus means that Jesus really and truly did do all the things he said he did, and still didn’t sin. As long as people believe it is impossible to keep free from sin, they will have trouble with Jesus.
A lot of the problem goes back to an old philosophy called the stoic philosophy. It was based on the idea that the body was evil and the mind would be good if it could only be freed from the demands of the body.
That philosophy has been around in almost every culture, including your own native American culture. Much fasting and a lot of self-denial, combined with other forms of self-torture and after a while, the mind can finally be freed from the flesh. The only problem with this philosophy is that the body is not evil.
Human nature is bent towards evil because of weakness, but the body itself is not evil. And the mind is not necessarily good. You know what kinds of evil a mind can imagine. Besides, it was Jeremiah who wrote,
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve. (Jeremiah 17:9)
There is no way that the mind can be good without the leavening and saving influence of Jesus Christ and his grace. It is no better than the body.
That is one reason Jesus came. He became a kind of stamp of approval on humanity, as such.
He had a body and was subject to its demands as we are, just without sin. He also had a mind with none of the thoughtcrime that people are so bent towards. He had enough of that fusion of God and man that he was able to overcome the evil nature that the body looked toward.
It is good to have your body in subjection, it is good to fast and deny yourself things in the pursuit of mastery over your body for his sake; but your body is not something evil to be brutally punished like the old monks who would whip themselves every night and kneel in the snow for hours to pray or wear shirts with the hair side turned in so they would always be uncomfortable. That is foolishness and is a vanity of its own.
The idea that you alone can master your body is idolatry of sorts, the putting of yourself and your abilities over Jesus and his grace.
A real Jesus means that Jesus really and truly did do all the things he said he did, and still didn’t sin. As long as people believe it is impossible to keep free from sin, they will have trouble with Jesus.
A lot of the problem goes back to an old philosophy called the stoic philosophy. It was based on the idea that the body was evil and the mind would be good if it could only be freed from the demands of the body.
That philosophy has been around in almost every culture, including your own native American culture. Much fasting and a lot of self-denial, combined with other forms of self-torture and after a while, the mind can finally be freed from the flesh. The only problem with this philosophy is that the body is not evil.
Human nature is bent towards evil because of weakness, but the body itself is not evil. And the mind is not necessarily good. You know what kinds of evil a mind can imagine. Besides, it was Jeremiah who wrote,
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve. (Jeremiah 17:9)
There is no way that the mind can be good without the leavening and saving influence of Jesus Christ and his grace. It is no better than the body.
That is one reason Jesus came. He became a kind of stamp of approval on humanity, as such.
He had a body and was subject to its demands as we are, just without sin. He also had a mind with none of the thoughtcrime that people are so bent towards. He had enough of that fusion of God and man that he was able to overcome the evil nature that the body looked toward.
It is good to have your body in subjection, it is good to fast and deny yourself things in the pursuit of mastery over your body for his sake; but your body is not something evil to be brutally punished like the old monks who would whip themselves every night and kneel in the snow for hours to pray or wear shirts with the hair side turned in so they would always be uncomfortable. That is foolishness and is a vanity of its own.
The idea that you alone can master your body is idolatry of sorts, the putting of yourself and your abilities over Jesus and his grace.
daily java
Daily Java: Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings. (1 Corinthians 9:19-23)
There is a built-in difficulty in being a child of God and especially in being a pastor. You have absolute freedom in Jesus, yet you are a slave to everyone.
You have freedom in Jesus. The Bible tells you that over and over. The new covenant is not one of laws. The whole book of Romans tries to make that abundantly clear. We are not judged by what we do, we are judged by who we are. If we are in the Lamb’s Book of Life, it is because our name is recorded, not our actions. As long as we are in Christ, we are holy and we are saved.
But – and as Shakespeare said, there is the rub – we have responsibility. That’s a hard thing, responsibility. We have the mandate to tell others about God and the grace of our Lord Jesus.
This means that we do stuff to do so. We become like others if by doing so we are able to tell them.
Of course, this doesn’t mean we join a bank robbery gang and rob banks so that the bank robbers will listen to our message. There is a limit to what we can do.
I have known people who have gotten in serious trouble by doing wrong things under the idea of “trying to reach others.” What they did was do what they wanted and pretended it was to be an evangelist to some group.
I knew of a young man who was going to get a lot of tattoos and a very fast car (a Shelby Cobra) because he wanted to minister to drug dealers and pimps. He figured that the tattoos would make him look credible to them and the fast car would be able to get him away when he interfered in gang wars.
He was being silly. There is nothing dumber looking than a structured look. I remember guys in the late 60’s who would grow mustaches and sideburns, wear turtlenecks and pendants around their necks so they would be cool. It didn’t take long to know that there was nothing there. The “cool” as fake.
It wouldn’t take long for those around him to know that this young man with the tattoos and Cobra was just posturing. One of the most effective preachers around as David Wilkerson preaching to gangs in the Times Square area in the 1950’s and he looked, talked and dressed like a nerd as far as these people were concerned. But he was authentic. They knew he was real.
In the book Dances with Wolves, one thing that the Indians really liked about John Dunbar, the soldier who came to live with them, was his authenticity. Even though he had become one of them, he still wore his army trousers and his boots, even though he was the only one with trousers and boots on. He had his bone breastplate and long hair and stuff, but he kept those things that he was comfortable with. He was real.
God wants us to be real, but he also wants us to reach out to the culture.
There were missionaries back in the mid part of the last century that I knew who made it clear that, although they were trying to reach a group of people, they remained apart. One missionary in a European country came home every year to buy his clothes so he wouldn’t look European. Even though European fashions are greatly desired by so many, he wanted to be different.
He also didn’t do very well. After all, what group of people wants to feel like the one reaching out to them thinks they are weird?
That means that if everyone listens to country music, you learn to like it, even if it is not your preference. If they play certain card games, you learn them. If their university has red as its color, get some red stuff. Be like them inasmuch as you can without being foolish or wrong.
Your mission if you choose to accept it: teach them the love of God. It is hard to do that if you don’t show that love in your life. And accepting them is part of that love.
There is a built-in difficulty in being a child of God and especially in being a pastor. You have absolute freedom in Jesus, yet you are a slave to everyone.
You have freedom in Jesus. The Bible tells you that over and over. The new covenant is not one of laws. The whole book of Romans tries to make that abundantly clear. We are not judged by what we do, we are judged by who we are. If we are in the Lamb’s Book of Life, it is because our name is recorded, not our actions. As long as we are in Christ, we are holy and we are saved.
But – and as Shakespeare said, there is the rub – we have responsibility. That’s a hard thing, responsibility. We have the mandate to tell others about God and the grace of our Lord Jesus.
This means that we do stuff to do so. We become like others if by doing so we are able to tell them.
Of course, this doesn’t mean we join a bank robbery gang and rob banks so that the bank robbers will listen to our message. There is a limit to what we can do.
I have known people who have gotten in serious trouble by doing wrong things under the idea of “trying to reach others.” What they did was do what they wanted and pretended it was to be an evangelist to some group.
I knew of a young man who was going to get a lot of tattoos and a very fast car (a Shelby Cobra) because he wanted to minister to drug dealers and pimps. He figured that the tattoos would make him look credible to them and the fast car would be able to get him away when he interfered in gang wars.
He was being silly. There is nothing dumber looking than a structured look. I remember guys in the late 60’s who would grow mustaches and sideburns, wear turtlenecks and pendants around their necks so they would be cool. It didn’t take long to know that there was nothing there. The “cool” as fake.
It wouldn’t take long for those around him to know that this young man with the tattoos and Cobra was just posturing. One of the most effective preachers around as David Wilkerson preaching to gangs in the Times Square area in the 1950’s and he looked, talked and dressed like a nerd as far as these people were concerned. But he was authentic. They knew he was real.
In the book Dances with Wolves, one thing that the Indians really liked about John Dunbar, the soldier who came to live with them, was his authenticity. Even though he had become one of them, he still wore his army trousers and his boots, even though he was the only one with trousers and boots on. He had his bone breastplate and long hair and stuff, but he kept those things that he was comfortable with. He was real.
God wants us to be real, but he also wants us to reach out to the culture.
There were missionaries back in the mid part of the last century that I knew who made it clear that, although they were trying to reach a group of people, they remained apart. One missionary in a European country came home every year to buy his clothes so he wouldn’t look European. Even though European fashions are greatly desired by so many, he wanted to be different.
He also didn’t do very well. After all, what group of people wants to feel like the one reaching out to them thinks they are weird?
That means that if everyone listens to country music, you learn to like it, even if it is not your preference. If they play certain card games, you learn them. If their university has red as its color, get some red stuff. Be like them inasmuch as you can without being foolish or wrong.
Your mission if you choose to accept it: teach them the love of God. It is hard to do that if you don’t show that love in your life. And accepting them is part of that love.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
you broke through: an original poem
YOU BROKE THROUGH
By John Cliver
Sitting on the edge of my seat, I wonder what I'm going to do.
I'm scared and I'm worried and this fear is nothing new.
It seems that everything I touch goes bad or falls apart.
The only thing worse than my shattered dreams
is the aching of my heart.
But you broke through the confusion of my life;
you broke through the anger and the strife;
you broke through with your love and your grace
And your Holy Spirit shows me the love that's in your face
You broke through.
I've tried so hard to do the things I know you want me to;
And every time I failed my hatred for myself just grew.
The loneliness and alienation deep within me stayed;
I failed at every thought I thought and every prayer I prayed.
But you broke through the confusion of my life;
you broke through the anger and the strife;
you broke through with your love and your grace
And your Holy Spirit shows me the love that's in your face
You broke through.
Your love for me is boundless, every morning it's made new;
your grace abounds still more and more, and your faithfulness is true.
You saved me from myself and from my brokenness and shame;
And all I can do all day is praise your blessed, holy Name.
You broke through the confusion of my life;
you broke through the anger and the strife;
you broke through with your love and your grace
And your Holy Spirit shows me the love that's in your face
You broke through.
By John Cliver
Sitting on the edge of my seat, I wonder what I'm going to do.
I'm scared and I'm worried and this fear is nothing new.
It seems that everything I touch goes bad or falls apart.
The only thing worse than my shattered dreams
is the aching of my heart.
But you broke through the confusion of my life;
you broke through the anger and the strife;
you broke through with your love and your grace
And your Holy Spirit shows me the love that's in your face
You broke through.
I've tried so hard to do the things I know you want me to;
And every time I failed my hatred for myself just grew.
The loneliness and alienation deep within me stayed;
I failed at every thought I thought and every prayer I prayed.
But you broke through the confusion of my life;
you broke through the anger and the strife;
you broke through with your love and your grace
And your Holy Spirit shows me the love that's in your face
You broke through.
Your love for me is boundless, every morning it's made new;
your grace abounds still more and more, and your faithfulness is true.
You saved me from myself and from my brokenness and shame;
And all I can do all day is praise your blessed, holy Name.
You broke through the confusion of my life;
you broke through the anger and the strife;
you broke through with your love and your grace
And your Holy Spirit shows me the love that's in your face
You broke through.
the job of a preacher
No one likes to venture into areas that might be painful, so what people do is specialize in stuff they already know. Since they know it already, they are on familiar ground and there is no fear of stepping off somewhere that they might feel uncomfortable.
This many times is fault of preachers. They know that people are uncomfortable with new ideas so they stay with the old. People like to be reminded of what they already know. It makes them feel superior and knowledgeable.
It is when a preacher gets into new and uncomfortable theology that people get antsy. That is the hardest part of ministry in many ways: the preaching. You have to talk to a group of people from all levels of understanding and feed them all. There has to be something for those who are new and don’t know much and there has to be something for those who are old in the faith and know a lot. Both need to be fed.
My job as a pastor is to give each of them something to chew on. If I don’t, I have hurt one group or the other. Too much meat, and the babies starve. Too much baby food and the adults are stunted in their growth.
It is kind of like the chili supper I cooked for a Christmas party once. I made a lot of chili for those who like chili. I also made a small bowl for those who like their chili stupidly hot, and another bowl of stew for those who digestive tracts can’t take chili.
Then there was cornbread for those who like chili but like it moderated with cornbread, and there was nothing for those who were too ornery to like what I cooked. Something for everybody all in one meal, all made from the same basic ingredients.
That is your average Sunday sermon: basics for those who are new, and something to chew on for those who are not. And the ones who don’t care can just sleep (although not too many do that). It takes a lot of preparation by the preacher, but it is worth it.
This many times is fault of preachers. They know that people are uncomfortable with new ideas so they stay with the old. People like to be reminded of what they already know. It makes them feel superior and knowledgeable.
It is when a preacher gets into new and uncomfortable theology that people get antsy. That is the hardest part of ministry in many ways: the preaching. You have to talk to a group of people from all levels of understanding and feed them all. There has to be something for those who are new and don’t know much and there has to be something for those who are old in the faith and know a lot. Both need to be fed.
My job as a pastor is to give each of them something to chew on. If I don’t, I have hurt one group or the other. Too much meat, and the babies starve. Too much baby food and the adults are stunted in their growth.
It is kind of like the chili supper I cooked for a Christmas party once. I made a lot of chili for those who like chili. I also made a small bowl for those who like their chili stupidly hot, and another bowl of stew for those who digestive tracts can’t take chili.
Then there was cornbread for those who like chili but like it moderated with cornbread, and there was nothing for those who were too ornery to like what I cooked. Something for everybody all in one meal, all made from the same basic ingredients.
That is your average Sunday sermon: basics for those who are new, and something to chew on for those who are not. And the ones who don’t care can just sleep (although not too many do that). It takes a lot of preparation by the preacher, but it is worth it.
more thoughts on the book of hebrews: preaching to the heart
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)It is always interesting when you are preaching and someone in the audience gets mad at something you said. After the sermon, they come to you and say, “I am mad at you! I didn’t appreciate your talking about things in my life publicly.”
You, of course, are taken aback. You may not even know who they are, or if you do, you weren’t talking about them. However, they took what you said to heart.
The scripture you read and the application judged the thoughts and applications of their hearts and they didn’t like it.
That is a problem with preaching. If you are preaching the Word, everything you say fits someone.
People who are aware of God working within their lives know that and they know that occasionally things will be said that will fit them.
I have been to churches where I knew no one knew me, yet the preacher says something that goes right to my soul. You feel like running away, but you don’t. The preacher doesn’t know you or that you are there, but God does; and if one is in God and desires the heart of God, God will move into his or her heart and judge.
Real preaching can be life-changing if people will respond. The problem is that they do not. They figure it is for someone else, or ignore the still small voice of God in their own hearts, or just refuse to change.
When they do time after time, it becomes like the boot I had with a nail in the bottom sticking up into my foot. After a while I didn't notice it. One day I took off my boot and there was a very small, round, perfectly formed callous on the bottom of my foot where that nail had been poking me. I no longer felt it because I had worked to not feel it by forming a callous. The nail was still sharp, but my foot had become dull.
The two sided blade is handy also. You can hack and hack and hack in your fighting of evil, and if the blade gets dull, you turn it over and there is a new blade ready to hack again. Kind of like those old razor blades.
The weapon of our warfare is never dull and is never useless, as long as we keep it sharp within our lives.
Of course, even dull preaching can hit home. I did cut myself one time on a butter knife, but you do kind of have to work at that. It is a shame that so many preachers use such dull equipment, never sharpening or learning their weapons.
I suppose that you can hurt a person in combat by throwing a rifle at them, throwing it just right, hitting them in the head. But what a stupid way to use a rifle.
In the same way, a bad preacher can show someone something good by bad and ill-informed preaching and study, but what better stuff could he do if he had good equipment and good preparation.
daily java
Daily Java: The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple. (Psalm 119:130)
You want to understand something and it is elusive. It keeps moving away from you. Maybe in school it was math, or a language, or something that you wanted to understand. You keep searching for the key, that elusive point, what is called the Aha! Moment, that moment at which you say, Aha! and understand it. But you can’t seem to get it.
Then one day when you are not really trying, something dawns on you and you understand. Many times you didn’t because you just tried too hard. All your pushing, your probing, your attention was just too strong.
For it to make sense you had to step back and look at it in a more simple way. When you do, and when you go back to the basics and hit it that way, you begin to understand it and then, the Aha! moment.
So goes the word of God. You cannot understand it. You can try all you want to and read and research, learn the Greek and Hebrew, read the early church fathers, strain and write and everything else, but you will not understand it. It is impossible for the human mind to conceive of what the divine mind has written.
But then – you step back, you ask for divine guidance, you allow God’s Spirit to work in you and you put aside all of the stuff you have learned. You set aside the homiletics, the Critical Introductions, the commentaries and you allow God to enlighten.
And Aha! it is unfolded and there is light.
In a story about the apostle Paul, one writer gave a picture of Paul learning about Jesus during that period between his conversion on the road to Damascus and the beginning of his ministry. Her picture was that he would read and study and meditate all day. Then at night while he was asleep, he would wake up with his Aha! moments. Then he would understand.
Only after he quit trying to force the knowledge into his mind could he grasp it. After all, it is the word of God, not of man. And only God can explain what he has to say.
It is real arrogance to assume that by sheer rote study and exegesis that you can grasp the mind of God. It is the same arrogance that led the people in Genesis 11 to build the Tower of Babel. We will build a tower and walk up to God and say hello. God says no, you won’t and all of a sudden, everybody speaks different languages.
God says, my thoughts are different than yours, my mind is greater than yours, my explanation is deeper than you can come up with yourself.
It is hard enough to understand what my wife means sometimes. The differences between the thought patterns of men and women are enough to write books about. And we are all created beings.
How much more would the difference between the created beings and the Creator?
Only God can explain God. And he will only do it when you approach him with simplicity and the desire to learn.
Then there is light.
You want to understand something and it is elusive. It keeps moving away from you. Maybe in school it was math, or a language, or something that you wanted to understand. You keep searching for the key, that elusive point, what is called the Aha! Moment, that moment at which you say, Aha! and understand it. But you can’t seem to get it.
Then one day when you are not really trying, something dawns on you and you understand. Many times you didn’t because you just tried too hard. All your pushing, your probing, your attention was just too strong.
For it to make sense you had to step back and look at it in a more simple way. When you do, and when you go back to the basics and hit it that way, you begin to understand it and then, the Aha! moment.
So goes the word of God. You cannot understand it. You can try all you want to and read and research, learn the Greek and Hebrew, read the early church fathers, strain and write and everything else, but you will not understand it. It is impossible for the human mind to conceive of what the divine mind has written.
But then – you step back, you ask for divine guidance, you allow God’s Spirit to work in you and you put aside all of the stuff you have learned. You set aside the homiletics, the Critical Introductions, the commentaries and you allow God to enlighten.
And Aha! it is unfolded and there is light.
In a story about the apostle Paul, one writer gave a picture of Paul learning about Jesus during that period between his conversion on the road to Damascus and the beginning of his ministry. Her picture was that he would read and study and meditate all day. Then at night while he was asleep, he would wake up with his Aha! moments. Then he would understand.
Only after he quit trying to force the knowledge into his mind could he grasp it. After all, it is the word of God, not of man. And only God can explain what he has to say.
It is real arrogance to assume that by sheer rote study and exegesis that you can grasp the mind of God. It is the same arrogance that led the people in Genesis 11 to build the Tower of Babel. We will build a tower and walk up to God and say hello. God says no, you won’t and all of a sudden, everybody speaks different languages.
God says, my thoughts are different than yours, my mind is greater than yours, my explanation is deeper than you can come up with yourself.
It is hard enough to understand what my wife means sometimes. The differences between the thought patterns of men and women are enough to write books about. And we are all created beings.
How much more would the difference between the created beings and the Creator?
Only God can explain God. And he will only do it when you approach him with simplicity and the desire to learn.
Then there is light.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
showing favoritism
My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, "Here's a good seat for you," but say to the poor man, "You stand there" or "Sit on the floor by my feet," have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? (James 2:1-4)
Sam Walton was always such an underrated guy when he came into his stores because he looked so ordinary. No one could believe he was so wealthy and the owner so it was easy to disregard him.
The same thing happens in church when someone comes in looking less than perfect. We forget that Jesus himself said he came to the poor. The rich already had their god.
As the prophet John the Baptizer was stuck in prison. He got to worrying. “What if” kept going through his mind. What if I wasn’t through? What if this is all a mistake?
What if Jesus was not really the Messiah and I am dying for nothing.
He sent his disciples to Jesus to ask him and to just make sure that everything was alright and like it should be. He was having a crisis of faith and needed reassurance.
Jesus knew this and did not gripe at John for his lack of faith. Instead he told John’s disciples to go back and tell John these things: Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me (Matthew 11:4-6). Jesus knew that John needed the extra ministry only he could give.
But that ministry was not Jesus going to him and saying, O John, everything is fine. Quit being a baby and take your martyrdom like a man. Whether or not John was a real man was undisputed. He was a strong preacher and a fervent follower of God was obvious to anyone who saw him even for a short while.
What Jesus said was, there are a lot of miracles happening and they are happening to people who do not have the money to pay me. The good news is preached to the poor.
It didn’t matter to Jesus whether or not you had any money. In fact, on once occasion he told a young man to sell all he had and give the money away and then come follow him. He said that it didn’t matter. He had a lot of money around him.
At one point he asked how much money there was in their treasury and there was 300 days salary. That is a pretty fair amount. You know it was enough to make Judas lust after it. He probably wouldn’t have been bothered by a small amount.
What Jesus wanted was your heart anyway. He tells us to give because he knows that where you give to is where your heart is. But he wants you.
You don’t know who the person is that comes through the door. He could be a multi-millionaire like Sam Walton or not. But Jesus loves them as much as he loves you.
Sam Walton was always such an underrated guy when he came into his stores because he looked so ordinary. No one could believe he was so wealthy and the owner so it was easy to disregard him.
The same thing happens in church when someone comes in looking less than perfect. We forget that Jesus himself said he came to the poor. The rich already had their god.
As the prophet John the Baptizer was stuck in prison. He got to worrying. “What if” kept going through his mind. What if I wasn’t through? What if this is all a mistake?
What if Jesus was not really the Messiah and I am dying for nothing.
He sent his disciples to Jesus to ask him and to just make sure that everything was alright and like it should be. He was having a crisis of faith and needed reassurance.
Jesus knew this and did not gripe at John for his lack of faith. Instead he told John’s disciples to go back and tell John these things: Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me (Matthew 11:4-6). Jesus knew that John needed the extra ministry only he could give.
But that ministry was not Jesus going to him and saying, O John, everything is fine. Quit being a baby and take your martyrdom like a man. Whether or not John was a real man was undisputed. He was a strong preacher and a fervent follower of God was obvious to anyone who saw him even for a short while.
What Jesus said was, there are a lot of miracles happening and they are happening to people who do not have the money to pay me. The good news is preached to the poor.
It didn’t matter to Jesus whether or not you had any money. In fact, on once occasion he told a young man to sell all he had and give the money away and then come follow him. He said that it didn’t matter. He had a lot of money around him.
At one point he asked how much money there was in their treasury and there was 300 days salary. That is a pretty fair amount. You know it was enough to make Judas lust after it. He probably wouldn’t have been bothered by a small amount.
What Jesus wanted was your heart anyway. He tells us to give because he knows that where you give to is where your heart is. But he wants you.
You don’t know who the person is that comes through the door. He could be a multi-millionaire like Sam Walton or not. But Jesus loves them as much as he loves you.
the order of Melchizedek
The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind:
"You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek." (Psalm 100:4)
When I was younger, some preacher would always talk about the order of Melchizedek. I had no idea what it meant, and it just sounded more like religio-babble.
When I found out what it meant, it was great. It was something that mattered to me. It meant that I was free.
Melchizedek. He was a man who was a priest king independent of any other country who Abraham offered to way back in Genesis 14. Abraham had gone to fight a bunch of people who had taken his nephew Lot prisoner. On the way back, Melchizedek came out and Abraham offered a tithe of his spoils, the stuff he had take, to him in homage.
Melchizedek was a priest king who lived at the city that would become Jerusalem one day.
This was before the Old Testament law came into being. By doing this, Abraham recognized Melchizedek’s place as a priest king. And by doing it, the nation of Israel did it because Abraham was their ancestor.
When Jesus came, he came into a situation in which there was an established priesthood. There was a group of men whose job it was to bring the people before the Lord. Without these men, the people really couldn’t do the stuff they needed to do to sacrifice to the Lord.
It was a closed-ended situation. To be one of these men, you had to have been born to women from a special family. No other way.
And if you couldn’t find one of these men to make your sacrifice, it was too bad.
When Jesus came, God said, I am changing the situation. I am going back to the way it was before I gave Israel my law. From now on, everyone will come to me, not just a special group of men. Everyone will be able to make sacrifices and offerings to me, whether men or women, no matter what family they are in. As long as they are members of the family of God they are welcome.
That is the order of Melchizedek. Melchizedek was not Jewish or from a tribe of priests. God says to us that we do not have to be special priests to come to him. We can just come. Jesus was a high priest from the order of Melchizedek and as such was independent of the priestly system in the Old Testament. Since he was and we are his followers, so are we.
Being of the order of Melchizedek means that we can just come to God ourselves without having to have a preacher or priest or rabbi or someone like that to carry our prayers or offerings. It is a special relationship.
We are independent and can come to God through Jesus by ourselves.
Nobody can tell me how to worship. As a follower of Jesus, a high priest after the order of Melchizedek, I worship how I feel best. As long as my relationship with God is good, I am fine.
There is a certain liberation there. I am free from the confines of religion and other people’s ideas and mandate. I am free.
"You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek." (Psalm 100:4)
When I was younger, some preacher would always talk about the order of Melchizedek. I had no idea what it meant, and it just sounded more like religio-babble.
When I found out what it meant, it was great. It was something that mattered to me. It meant that I was free.
Melchizedek. He was a man who was a priest king independent of any other country who Abraham offered to way back in Genesis 14. Abraham had gone to fight a bunch of people who had taken his nephew Lot prisoner. On the way back, Melchizedek came out and Abraham offered a tithe of his spoils, the stuff he had take, to him in homage.
Melchizedek was a priest king who lived at the city that would become Jerusalem one day.
This was before the Old Testament law came into being. By doing this, Abraham recognized Melchizedek’s place as a priest king. And by doing it, the nation of Israel did it because Abraham was their ancestor.
When Jesus came, he came into a situation in which there was an established priesthood. There was a group of men whose job it was to bring the people before the Lord. Without these men, the people really couldn’t do the stuff they needed to do to sacrifice to the Lord.
It was a closed-ended situation. To be one of these men, you had to have been born to women from a special family. No other way.
And if you couldn’t find one of these men to make your sacrifice, it was too bad.
When Jesus came, God said, I am changing the situation. I am going back to the way it was before I gave Israel my law. From now on, everyone will come to me, not just a special group of men. Everyone will be able to make sacrifices and offerings to me, whether men or women, no matter what family they are in. As long as they are members of the family of God they are welcome.
That is the order of Melchizedek. Melchizedek was not Jewish or from a tribe of priests. God says to us that we do not have to be special priests to come to him. We can just come. Jesus was a high priest from the order of Melchizedek and as such was independent of the priestly system in the Old Testament. Since he was and we are his followers, so are we.
Being of the order of Melchizedek means that we can just come to God ourselves without having to have a preacher or priest or rabbi or someone like that to carry our prayers or offerings. It is a special relationship.
We are independent and can come to God through Jesus by ourselves.
Nobody can tell me how to worship. As a follower of Jesus, a high priest after the order of Melchizedek, I worship how I feel best. As long as my relationship with God is good, I am fine.
There is a certain liberation there. I am free from the confines of religion and other people’s ideas and mandate. I am free.
daily java
Daily Java:
11 I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you.
52 I remember your ancient laws, O LORD,
and I find comfort in them. (Psalm 119)
I was reading from Psalm 119 this morning and these two verses kind of jumped out at me.
The reasons so many have trouble doing what God wants is that they just don’t know what exactly it is that God wants them to do. it makes for a problem in life
In order to be a part of you, things have to be familiar. Learning to play the guitar was difficult. It means that the fingers of your left hand have to do one thing while the fingers of your right hand do another.
It also means that the fingers of your left hand, the hand that isn’t that great at doing stuff in most people has to do some special movements.
You don’t learn the guitar in a day. It has to be reinforced. You practice and practice until everybody in the house hates the song you are playing.
The same with the piano, clarinet, violin, sewing, machinist word, anything that you want to be good at. Nothing but practice will work: practice until you have learned what it is that you need to know.
The thing that God wants you to know are not surface things. For someone to really know them, they have to be deep in the heart, well-practiced and well-learned. We aren’t talking about memorizing scriptures, although that doesn’t necessarily hurt.
We are talking about placing these things deep in your heart, down at the level where they become a part of you. Hiding them in your heart, remembering stuff that has been forever.
His laws are ancient. They have been with you for so long that you cannot imagine a life without them. They guide your every move, measure your every motivation, they move you in service to God.
Just like savings. Savings are for a reason. You put the money is what you hope is a safe place to keep it for when you need it. When you do, then you can withdraw it and use it.
You put the word so deep in your heart that when you need it, it is automatically there. It is the same as learning the guitar so well, that you play without effort. Like operating a machine, driving a car, using a sewing machine – anything that has to be learned. You learn it so that it becomes a part of you.
God’s word is no good unless it is a part of you, unless it goes deep down into your heart.
It is that depth that brings the comfort of knowing that you are going the right way.
11 I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you.
52 I remember your ancient laws, O LORD,
and I find comfort in them. (Psalm 119)
I was reading from Psalm 119 this morning and these two verses kind of jumped out at me.
The reasons so many have trouble doing what God wants is that they just don’t know what exactly it is that God wants them to do. it makes for a problem in life
It also means that the fingers of your left hand, the hand that isn’t that great at doing stuff in most people has to do some special movements.
You don’t learn the guitar in a day. It has to be reinforced. You practice and practice until everybody in the house hates the song you are playing.
The same with the piano, clarinet, violin, sewing, machinist word, anything that you want to be good at. Nothing but practice will work: practice until you have learned what it is that you need to know.
The thing that God wants you to know are not surface things. For someone to really know them, they have to be deep in the heart, well-practiced and well-learned. We aren’t talking about memorizing scriptures, although that doesn’t necessarily hurt.
We are talking about placing these things deep in your heart, down at the level where they become a part of you. Hiding them in your heart, remembering stuff that has been forever.
His laws are ancient. They have been with you for so long that you cannot imagine a life without them. They guide your every move, measure your every motivation, they move you in service to God.
Just like savings. Savings are for a reason. You put the money is what you hope is a safe place to keep it for when you need it. When you do, then you can withdraw it and use it.
You put the word so deep in your heart that when you need it, it is automatically there. It is the same as learning the guitar so well, that you play without effort. Like operating a machine, driving a car, using a sewing machine – anything that has to be learned. You learn it so that it becomes a part of you.
God’s word is no good unless it is a part of you, unless it goes deep down into your heart.
It is that depth that brings the comfort of knowing that you are going the right way.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
joel cheatwood
I mentioned Joel Cheatwood the other day, the homeless man who lived with us in Kansas City for a while until he died of AIDS.
Here is his picture.
I do not want to forget him.
I never knew exactly how old he was but he was about 49 when he died. Helived a truly rough life before he found the Lord. I thank God I got to know him.
Here is his picture.
I do not want to forget him.
I never knew exactly how old he was but he was about 49 when he died. Helived a truly rough life before he found the Lord. I thank God I got to know him.
my son's first day of kindergarten
I just read an article about a man’s son’s first day of kindergarten. I thought about my own son, Sam’s first day and it made me miss him.
He lives in Kansas City and I don’t get to see him or my grandson much.
He looked forward to his first day of kindergarten so much. I took him to school and walked with him up to the school. Children, of course, were everywhere, noise was high. I offered to hold his hand, but he said, no, Dad. He was just too big to hold hands.
However, the closer we got to the classroom, the smaller he seemed to get. We walked down the hallway toward his classroom and he reached up to hold my hand. He suddenly wasn’t too big.
When we got to the room, he was obviously afraid. We looked inside and there were a few children already there sitting around coloring or drawing or just sitting. They all looked up to see who was coming in with equal amounts of fear, dread, acceptance of their fate.
He stood there for a minute, and I let go of his hand. He was so small. Was I really ready to surrender him to the machine? No, but what could I do? It was time.
I stepped back. He looked at me again and began his long lonely plod to a table where a little girl awaited her unwelcome guest.
The teacher came over and I told her Sam’s name and she went to him and welcomed him.
Since he was, after all, raised in church with lots of adults around and had been in Bible school all his life, he rallied but was clearly reluctant for me to leave.
I clearly remember my first day of kindergarten. My mother, who had to have been incredibly young – 24? – walked me to school, OA Fleming Elementary in Freeport, TX, and left me in the hands of the teacher. Since we only lived about 6 or 7 blocks away, it was a simple task.
When school was over (I do not remember much of the day except for a turn war over some toys) I came out the front door. I didn’t see her, but I figured I could just walk home by myself.
As has always been my wont, I turned the wrong direction and went towards town rather than our house, 527 W 8th St. I remember the address so well.
The territory looked absolutely unfamiliar to me but I kept on. After a while, I got to a gas station and went up to the attendant. Of course, they had guys who came out to fill your car and all.
I asked him in my best adult voice, Excuse me. Could you tell me the way to 527 West 8th St, please? As he probably stood there trying to figure out what to do, a man in a pickup truck called my name.
It was Fred Zimmerman, my dad’s supervisor. He recognized me. He asked me why I was there and I told him I was walking home, of course. He knew I didn’t live there and that my mother was probably beside herself by this time not having found me after school.
He took me back to school and my, probably, as I don’t really remember, just having had an adventure, probably crazed mother. Her little boy was gone, having been taken. That wasn’t a big deal in those days, being an absolutely safe society.
I picked up my son after school. I wasn’t going to let him get away. He was a timid child anyway and probably wouldn’t have gone far.
I miss that little guy.
He lives in Kansas City and I don’t get to see him or my grandson much.
He looked forward to his first day of kindergarten so much. I took him to school and walked with him up to the school. Children, of course, were everywhere, noise was high. I offered to hold his hand, but he said, no, Dad. He was just too big to hold hands.
However, the closer we got to the classroom, the smaller he seemed to get. We walked down the hallway toward his classroom and he reached up to hold my hand. He suddenly wasn’t too big.
When we got to the room, he was obviously afraid. We looked inside and there were a few children already there sitting around coloring or drawing or just sitting. They all looked up to see who was coming in with equal amounts of fear, dread, acceptance of their fate.
He stood there for a minute, and I let go of his hand. He was so small. Was I really ready to surrender him to the machine? No, but what could I do? It was time.
I stepped back. He looked at me again and began his long lonely plod to a table where a little girl awaited her unwelcome guest.
The teacher came over and I told her Sam’s name and she went to him and welcomed him.
Since he was, after all, raised in church with lots of adults around and had been in Bible school all his life, he rallied but was clearly reluctant for me to leave.
I clearly remember my first day of kindergarten. My mother, who had to have been incredibly young – 24? – walked me to school, OA Fleming Elementary in Freeport, TX, and left me in the hands of the teacher. Since we only lived about 6 or 7 blocks away, it was a simple task.
When school was over (I do not remember much of the day except for a turn war over some toys) I came out the front door. I didn’t see her, but I figured I could just walk home by myself.
As has always been my wont, I turned the wrong direction and went towards town rather than our house, 527 W 8th St. I remember the address so well.
The territory looked absolutely unfamiliar to me but I kept on. After a while, I got to a gas station and went up to the attendant. Of course, they had guys who came out to fill your car and all.
I asked him in my best adult voice, Excuse me. Could you tell me the way to 527 West 8th St, please? As he probably stood there trying to figure out what to do, a man in a pickup truck called my name.
It was Fred Zimmerman, my dad’s supervisor. He recognized me. He asked me why I was there and I told him I was walking home, of course. He knew I didn’t live there and that my mother was probably beside herself by this time not having found me after school.
He took me back to school and my, probably, as I don’t really remember, just having had an adventure, probably crazed mother. Her little boy was gone, having been taken. That wasn’t a big deal in those days, being an absolutely safe society.
I picked up my son after school. I wasn’t going to let him get away. He was a timid child anyway and probably wouldn’t have gone far.
I miss that little guy.
acting wise
Whoever is wise, let him heed these things
and consider the great love of the LORD. (Psalm 107:3)
There is wisdom and there is wisdom. Some claim wisdom who just don’t seem very smart. And some don’t claim any wisdom at all who look pretty smart.
I always distrusted people who call themselves apostles. It you are, I will know it. If you aren’t, I will also know that.
That is one reason Jesus said to not call people Master or Rabbi or Teacher. He didn’t mean you couldn’t use honorifics in dealing with others. What he meant was don’t love names of honor. There is nothing wrong with having a title. What is wrong is insisting on one.
If you are wise, you will act wise. Proverbs 4:7 says, Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. If you want to be wise, in other words, act wise. Act wise long enough and you will probably become wise.
Order your life around wise things, do wise things, think wise thoughts, just in general be wise. And after a while, people will notice that you are wise.
Being wise is not a matter of having wisdom appended to your name or on your business card or stationery. It is a matter of heeding the will of God. If you are wise, you will, as the psalmist says, heed these things and consider the great love of the Lord.
A wise person knows what is important. That wise person will do what is important. And that wise person will think what is important.
And you will know it.
and consider the great love of the LORD. (Psalm 107:3)
There is wisdom and there is wisdom. Some claim wisdom who just don’t seem very smart. And some don’t claim any wisdom at all who look pretty smart.
I always distrusted people who call themselves apostles. It you are, I will know it. If you aren’t, I will also know that.
That is one reason Jesus said to not call people Master or Rabbi or Teacher. He didn’t mean you couldn’t use honorifics in dealing with others. What he meant was don’t love names of honor. There is nothing wrong with having a title. What is wrong is insisting on one.
If you are wise, you will act wise. Proverbs 4:7 says, Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. If you want to be wise, in other words, act wise. Act wise long enough and you will probably become wise.
Order your life around wise things, do wise things, think wise thoughts, just in general be wise. And after a while, people will notice that you are wise.
Being wise is not a matter of having wisdom appended to your name or on your business card or stationery. It is a matter of heeding the will of God. If you are wise, you will, as the psalmist says, heed these things and consider the great love of the Lord.
A wise person knows what is important. That wise person will do what is important. And that wise person will think what is important.
And you will know it.
daily java
Daily Java: For you, O LORD, have delivered my soul from death,
my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling,
that I may walk before the LORD in the land of the living.
I believed; therefore I said, "I am greatly afflicted."
And in my dismay I said, "All men are liars."
How can I repay the LORD for all his goodness to me?
I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD.
I will fulfill my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people.
Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.
(Psalm 117:8-15)
Stuff happens to you that you hate. Sometimes it happens right in the middle of some good times. They may be times when you are praising God, or feeling close to him, or just feeling good.
In the middle of his psalm of praise, the psalmist says, all men are liars. Kind of an explosion of anger. You have helped me, Lord. You have kept me from harm, I walked with you, I know my need for you, but all men are liars.
Things happen. People lie to you and use you and hurt you and do all kinds of evil against you (Matthew 5:11), and you can do nothing about it. Even though God could stop it, he does nothing about it either.
But when it happens, you go right back to praising him. I mean, what else can you do? He is your God and they are jerks. To spend all your time pondering their jerkness would be counterproductive.
Your life of praise and service, small though it may be sometimes, is interrupted by people being jerks. You deal with it as best as you can, and realize that God is still God and is still in control. And you go back to his goodness. You lift up his cup and you call on his name, fulfill your vows where everybody can see you.
And you recognize that, even if worse comes to worse, your death will be precious to him. He will not leave you unavenged.
Romans 12:18-20 says, Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."
The person does stuff to hurt you, you go on praising God. And you know that one day God will deal with him. In fact, not only do you go on praising God, you are nice to the person and treat him with kindness. To do so makes it worse for him in many ways. He is looking for retaliation and you will not give it. If anybody does God will.
When Jesus was dying on the cross, and people had hammered nails into his hands and feet, they had whipped him and treated him worse than anybody ought to be treated, bad or good, in the middle of all this, he forgave them. His comment: they really don’t know what they are doing.
Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t. but keep on praising anyway. It is all that will matter in the long run.
my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling,
that I may walk before the LORD in the land of the living.
I believed; therefore I said, "I am greatly afflicted."
And in my dismay I said, "All men are liars."
How can I repay the LORD for all his goodness to me?
I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD.
I will fulfill my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people.
Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.
(Psalm 117:8-15)
Stuff happens to you that you hate. Sometimes it happens right in the middle of some good times. They may be times when you are praising God, or feeling close to him, or just feeling good.
In the middle of his psalm of praise, the psalmist says, all men are liars. Kind of an explosion of anger. You have helped me, Lord. You have kept me from harm, I walked with you, I know my need for you, but all men are liars.
Things happen. People lie to you and use you and hurt you and do all kinds of evil against you (Matthew 5:11), and you can do nothing about it. Even though God could stop it, he does nothing about it either.
But when it happens, you go right back to praising him. I mean, what else can you do? He is your God and they are jerks. To spend all your time pondering their jerkness would be counterproductive.
Your life of praise and service, small though it may be sometimes, is interrupted by people being jerks. You deal with it as best as you can, and realize that God is still God and is still in control. And you go back to his goodness. You lift up his cup and you call on his name, fulfill your vows where everybody can see you.
And you recognize that, even if worse comes to worse, your death will be precious to him. He will not leave you unavenged.
Romans 12:18-20 says, Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."
The person does stuff to hurt you, you go on praising God. And you know that one day God will deal with him. In fact, not only do you go on praising God, you are nice to the person and treat him with kindness. To do so makes it worse for him in many ways. He is looking for retaliation and you will not give it. If anybody does God will.
When Jesus was dying on the cross, and people had hammered nails into his hands and feet, they had whipped him and treated him worse than anybody ought to be treated, bad or good, in the middle of all this, he forgave them. His comment: they really don’t know what they are doing.
Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t. but keep on praising anyway. It is all that will matter in the long run.
Monday, August 23, 2010
i have been young and now i am old
I was young and now I am old. (Psalm 37:25)
I saw a guy tonight at the mall that looked so much like I looked when I was in 20’s. He was big and tall, he had curly hair in a kind of afro, with muttonchop sideburns and a mustache.
I got to thinking. I miss my hair. I had great muttonchop sideburns and a strong curly head of hair and a great mustache. And I was big and tall without being fat.
Now you are thinking, what a vain guy. Thank you for thinking that. It is so kind of you.
But it is more of a feeling of loss than anything else. There is no way you can stay young and vibrant. It is foolish to think so. But you do miss those things that you had and were able to do.
I watch my wife getting older and realize that life is winding down for both of us. It is only 25 years to 85 for me. That is less time to that age than there was to the age of 35, a vibrant time of my life.
But there is something to getting older.
I have been young and now I am getting old. And I have seen a lot in that time, in some ways more than I wanted to.
There are things I have seen that I would just as soon not seen, and there are things I have seen that I will treasure the rest of my life. Those things, along with the accompanying experiences make me who I am.
Because of them I am me.
I am no longer the man I saw at the mall tonight. Nor really do I necessarily want to be.
But I did enjoy the hair and sideburns.
I saw a guy tonight at the mall that looked so much like I looked when I was in 20’s. He was big and tall, he had curly hair in a kind of afro, with muttonchop sideburns and a mustache.
I got to thinking. I miss my hair. I had great muttonchop sideburns and a strong curly head of hair and a great mustache. And I was big and tall without being fat.
Now you are thinking, what a vain guy. Thank you for thinking that. It is so kind of you.
But it is more of a feeling of loss than anything else. There is no way you can stay young and vibrant. It is foolish to think so. But you do miss those things that you had and were able to do.
I watch my wife getting older and realize that life is winding down for both of us. It is only 25 years to 85 for me. That is less time to that age than there was to the age of 35, a vibrant time of my life.
But there is something to getting older.
I have been young and now I am getting old. And I have seen a lot in that time, in some ways more than I wanted to.
There are things I have seen that I would just as soon not seen, and there are things I have seen that I will treasure the rest of my life. Those things, along with the accompanying experiences make me who I am.
Because of them I am me.
I am no longer the man I saw at the mall tonight. Nor really do I necessarily want to be.
But I did enjoy the hair and sideburns.
praising God
I will praise God's name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving.
This will please the Lord more than an ox, more than a bull with its horns and hoofs. (Psalm 69:30-31)
I hate boring church. I have been to so many. And I have found myself leading a few too. Since I hate it as much as I do, it becomes one of those nightmarish trapped situations that you are in occasionally.
Boring praise and worship is my worst hate. I was raised in a church that believed that music was to be energetic and you could enjoy it, maybe, but it was not for entertainment. In fact, there were even several times through the years that someone worried about the music people were listening to for fear that they were engaging in entertainment.
Praise and worship are not entertainment. To put them in that category is to miss the whole point of what you are doing.
But to put people in a position of not being able to enjoy their music is wrong. Can you imagine someone coming to you and singing a song they made for you with no real expression, no real joy, just rote singing? Your boyfriend reciting a poem he wrote for you as a sense of duty?
It is like giving a gift when you don’t even bother to wrap it and give it out of a pure sense of duty.
One of the first churches we went to that had a great praise band was one that the pastor told me had “blow your face off music.” I told my wife, we have to go there to see what it was. They had a Friday night service, so it was perfect. And they did, too.
It was phenomenal music, very energetic and very well played. And the people responded in kind. They sang, they clapped, they danced, they had tears streaming down their faces. It was wonderful. There was a sense of worship – unadulterated loud energetic worship that I had never seen before in my life.
I wanted more. And I began to ask myself, why not? of course, people in church will respond with the comment that if the music is too loud they will leave.
I worried about that for a long time. But no more. Loud is not the only way to worship. But soft does not mean reverent. Sometimes it just means dead.
Some of the greatest reverence I have has been with in your face music. And some of the deadest times I have been at worship have been with loud music.
But praise has to be meant. Psalm 66:8 says Praise our God, O peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard. Let people know that you are praising.
The Lord doesn’t just want singing. He wants praise. You are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the praise of Israel (Psalm 22:3). He lives in our praise.
Psalm 150 says it so well. Now here is spontaneous, loud praise to the everlasting God.
Praise the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens.
Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness.
Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre,
praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute,
praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals.
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord.
This will please the Lord more than an ox, more than a bull with its horns and hoofs. (Psalm 69:30-31)
I hate boring church. I have been to so many. And I have found myself leading a few too. Since I hate it as much as I do, it becomes one of those nightmarish trapped situations that you are in occasionally.
Boring praise and worship is my worst hate. I was raised in a church that believed that music was to be energetic and you could enjoy it, maybe, but it was not for entertainment. In fact, there were even several times through the years that someone worried about the music people were listening to for fear that they were engaging in entertainment.
Praise and worship are not entertainment. To put them in that category is to miss the whole point of what you are doing.
But to put people in a position of not being able to enjoy their music is wrong. Can you imagine someone coming to you and singing a song they made for you with no real expression, no real joy, just rote singing? Your boyfriend reciting a poem he wrote for you as a sense of duty?
It is like giving a gift when you don’t even bother to wrap it and give it out of a pure sense of duty.
One of the first churches we went to that had a great praise band was one that the pastor told me had “blow your face off music.” I told my wife, we have to go there to see what it was. They had a Friday night service, so it was perfect. And they did, too.
It was phenomenal music, very energetic and very well played. And the people responded in kind. They sang, they clapped, they danced, they had tears streaming down their faces. It was wonderful. There was a sense of worship – unadulterated loud energetic worship that I had never seen before in my life.
I wanted more. And I began to ask myself, why not? of course, people in church will respond with the comment that if the music is too loud they will leave.
I worried about that for a long time. But no more. Loud is not the only way to worship. But soft does not mean reverent. Sometimes it just means dead.
Some of the greatest reverence I have has been with in your face music. And some of the deadest times I have been at worship have been with loud music.
But praise has to be meant. Psalm 66:8 says Praise our God, O peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard. Let people know that you are praising.
The Lord doesn’t just want singing. He wants praise. You are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the praise of Israel (Psalm 22:3). He lives in our praise.
Psalm 150 says it so well. Now here is spontaneous, loud praise to the everlasting God.
Praise the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens.
Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness.
Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre,
praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute,
praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals.
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord.
trying to find god in your life is hard
Not to us, O LORD, not to us but to your name be the glory,
because of your love and faithfulness.
Why do the nations say, "Where is their God?"
Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him. (Psalm 115:1-3)
Trying to find God in your life is hard. Problems come in, things that you hate about yourself, the sin that so easily entangles (Hebrews 12:1). And they hurt you. They damage not only you, but also your relationship with God.
You hate it. You hate the weakness that comes in whenever it feels like it. It doesn’t even take a moment of depression. Sometimes the sin comes in when you are happy. It comes in, it seems, to mitigate that happiness, to show you that no matter how close you might feel to God, you are still a jerk.
People look at you and say, well, where is your God? Aren’t you Christians supposed to be bubbly and happy God people that always have everything under control?
And you feel like a jerk just like the evil one wants you to.
Our God is in heaven; he does whatever he pleases.
It is he who is in control, anyway. In Romans 7, the apostle Paul wrote about trying his best to do all the stuff he was supposed to do and failing miserably. No matter how hard he tried, he could not get it done. Romans 8 says that there is a different motivation in the life of a Christian, though.
The Christian, the follower of Jesus with the mind of Jesus within him and the fulness of the Spirit present cannot do what he has to do by himself. God takes all of his parts and fuses it into a whole. The whole is the child of God by faith in Christ Jesus. That is us.
God does what he wants. He is not a predictable God no matter what other people may say. You cannot predict him to do anything except to love and that is because it is his nature to do so.
The glory does not come to us. The failure belongs to us. The glory belongs to him.
Anything we do that is good, no matter how small, is because of him. We serve him, we love him, we acknowledge him. And when we do, he acknowledges us. It is all because of his love and faithfulness.
May he fill me and keep me from sin and the sadness that always follows such, the knowledge of my failure to do what he wants.
To your name be the glory.
because of your love and faithfulness.
Why do the nations say, "Where is their God?"
Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him. (Psalm 115:1-3)
Trying to find God in your life is hard. Problems come in, things that you hate about yourself, the sin that so easily entangles (Hebrews 12:1). And they hurt you. They damage not only you, but also your relationship with God.
You hate it. You hate the weakness that comes in whenever it feels like it. It doesn’t even take a moment of depression. Sometimes the sin comes in when you are happy. It comes in, it seems, to mitigate that happiness, to show you that no matter how close you might feel to God, you are still a jerk.
People look at you and say, well, where is your God? Aren’t you Christians supposed to be bubbly and happy God people that always have everything under control?
And you feel like a jerk just like the evil one wants you to.
Our God is in heaven; he does whatever he pleases.
It is he who is in control, anyway. In Romans 7, the apostle Paul wrote about trying his best to do all the stuff he was supposed to do and failing miserably. No matter how hard he tried, he could not get it done. Romans 8 says that there is a different motivation in the life of a Christian, though.
The Christian, the follower of Jesus with the mind of Jesus within him and the fulness of the Spirit present cannot do what he has to do by himself. God takes all of his parts and fuses it into a whole. The whole is the child of God by faith in Christ Jesus. That is us.
God does what he wants. He is not a predictable God no matter what other people may say. You cannot predict him to do anything except to love and that is because it is his nature to do so.
The glory does not come to us. The failure belongs to us. The glory belongs to him.
Anything we do that is good, no matter how small, is because of him. We serve him, we love him, we acknowledge him. And when we do, he acknowledges us. It is all because of his love and faithfulness.
May he fill me and keep me from sin and the sadness that always follows such, the knowledge of my failure to do what he wants.
To your name be the glory.
daily java
Daily Java: Praise the LORD. Praise, O servants of the LORD,
praise the name of the LORD.
Let the name of the LORD be praised, both now and forevermore.
From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets,
the name of the LORD is to be praised. (Psalm 113:1-3)
We had a good day at the church yesterday. Morning worship went well, but the afternoon really stood out. It was a pastors’ meeting for the area pastors in our Foursquare District.
We met at church and had a late lunch. I had the chance to meet two pastors I hadn’t known before. One from an urban church in Omaha., and two from an small-town church in Columbus.
We had a short time of praise and worship that I led with my guitar that was really very good. It isn’t often that I get to worship with other pastors. Pastors tend to worship on a different level from their members. No great holiness involved, I don’t thing, but these are people who have given their lives to the pursuit of the kingdom of God and it makes an impact on the way they worship. It is an indefinable quality and one that others may want to argue (which I won’t) but I feel it.
We talked about church growth and a couple of programs that were used by two of the churches. A couple of the pastors gave a short testimony of things that were happening in their churches. We talked and laughed together.
It was just in general, a good meeting.
Afterwards, Doug and Liana, pastors of the Foursquare Church in Columbus, stayed and we talked for 2 ½ hours. It isn’t often that I get to talk to like-minded pastors and it was very good. Since they had to drive an hour and a half back home and get up tomorrow and do stuff, I really appreciated it, as did Ella.
She gets lonely, and we have always been our family unit. Living as far as we do from our kids, we depend on each other a lot. It’s always good when she finds someone she can talk to and that will encourage her.
From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised. You see God in so many places. In fact, it is hard to not see him, unless you just refuse to do so. He inhabits all our lives.
The word says that everything good comes from God. God doesn’t send bad things. When people say, I don’t know why God sent that death, or that illness or whatever, I always say, God didn’t send it. Satan sent it to demoralize. God may have allowed it to come, but he can also use it to do something great in your life or someone else’s.
Robert Mitchum played a preacher in some western movie. Dean Martin and Inger Stevens were down in a draw and Martin was shooting at something. Mitchum came up on a horse on the top of the hill, pulled his gun and shot whatever it was they were aiming at several times. Ms Stevens said, you shoot well for a preacher. Mitchum said something I will always remember. “Every preacher was something else before he became a preacher.”
That sun of the love of the Lord rises in a person’s life and it sets. When it does, so many things happen. But mostly what happens is that people change. Some become pastors, others other stuff, but in whatever they do, the name of the Lord is praised, both now and forevermore.
praise the name of the LORD.
Let the name of the LORD be praised, both now and forevermore.
From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets,
the name of the LORD is to be praised. (Psalm 113:1-3)
We had a good day at the church yesterday. Morning worship went well, but the afternoon really stood out. It was a pastors’ meeting for the area pastors in our Foursquare District.
We met at church and had a late lunch. I had the chance to meet two pastors I hadn’t known before. One from an urban church in Omaha., and two from an small-town church in Columbus.
We had a short time of praise and worship that I led with my guitar that was really very good. It isn’t often that I get to worship with other pastors. Pastors tend to worship on a different level from their members. No great holiness involved, I don’t thing, but these are people who have given their lives to the pursuit of the kingdom of God and it makes an impact on the way they worship. It is an indefinable quality and one that others may want to argue (which I won’t) but I feel it.
We talked about church growth and a couple of programs that were used by two of the churches. A couple of the pastors gave a short testimony of things that were happening in their churches. We talked and laughed together.
It was just in general, a good meeting.
Afterwards, Doug and Liana, pastors of the Foursquare Church in Columbus, stayed and we talked for 2 ½ hours. It isn’t often that I get to talk to like-minded pastors and it was very good. Since they had to drive an hour and a half back home and get up tomorrow and do stuff, I really appreciated it, as did Ella.
She gets lonely, and we have always been our family unit. Living as far as we do from our kids, we depend on each other a lot. It’s always good when she finds someone she can talk to and that will encourage her.
From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised. You see God in so many places. In fact, it is hard to not see him, unless you just refuse to do so. He inhabits all our lives.
The word says that everything good comes from God. God doesn’t send bad things. When people say, I don’t know why God sent that death, or that illness or whatever, I always say, God didn’t send it. Satan sent it to demoralize. God may have allowed it to come, but he can also use it to do something great in your life or someone else’s.
Robert Mitchum played a preacher in some western movie. Dean Martin and Inger Stevens were down in a draw and Martin was shooting at something. Mitchum came up on a horse on the top of the hill, pulled his gun and shot whatever it was they were aiming at several times. Ms Stevens said, you shoot well for a preacher. Mitchum said something I will always remember. “Every preacher was something else before he became a preacher.”
That sun of the love of the Lord rises in a person’s life and it sets. When it does, so many things happen. But mostly what happens is that people change. Some become pastors, others other stuff, but in whatever they do, the name of the Lord is praised, both now and forevermore.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
daily java
Daily Java: Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. (Hebrews 4:13)
The Old Testament prophet Jonah figured this out early. He didn’t want to do what God wanted him to do so he tried to run away. Of course, there is the story of the fish swallowing him for three days while he considered how stupid it is to try to hide from God. You can run but you cannot hide. God not only sees where you are and he also sees who you are.
A Christian can pretend he is something good when he isn’t, and the only one he is fooling is himself (maybe). 1 John says that if we say we have no sin we lie and the truth is not in us.
Not that the truth is not known by God, because it is. He truly sees our hearts. “The heart is deceitful above all else and desperately wicked, who can know it. I the Lord know the heart, I know the mind” (Jeremiah 17:9ff - my own translation).
God knows us even when we refuse to know ourselves.
The amazing thing in all this is even though he knows us, he loves us with an everlasting love. Just like you will love your children even when they act stupid, God will love us anyway.
My wife is one of those rare creatures who loves her husband with an unqualified love. It would be interesting (from a purely academic viewpoint, of course – not first hand) to see what would make her stop loving me.
She would love me if I were in the gutter, she would love me if I were wealthy, she would love me anyway.
And the same goes for me. I will always love her.
However, if I had to admit it, my love for her stands short next to her love for me. She is that kind of woman. I know that she loves me.
In the same way, I know that God loves me, even when I am short of his expectations. He knows us, yet he loves us.
The Old Testament prophet Jonah figured this out early. He didn’t want to do what God wanted him to do so he tried to run away. Of course, there is the story of the fish swallowing him for three days while he considered how stupid it is to try to hide from God. You can run but you cannot hide. God not only sees where you are and he also sees who you are.
A Christian can pretend he is something good when he isn’t, and the only one he is fooling is himself (maybe). 1 John says that if we say we have no sin we lie and the truth is not in us.
Not that the truth is not known by God, because it is. He truly sees our hearts. “The heart is deceitful above all else and desperately wicked, who can know it. I the Lord know the heart, I know the mind” (Jeremiah 17:9ff - my own translation).
God knows us even when we refuse to know ourselves.
The amazing thing in all this is even though he knows us, he loves us with an everlasting love. Just like you will love your children even when they act stupid, God will love us anyway.
My wife is one of those rare creatures who loves her husband with an unqualified love. It would be interesting (from a purely academic viewpoint, of course – not first hand) to see what would make her stop loving me.
She would love me if I were in the gutter, she would love me if I were wealthy, she would love me anyway.
And the same goes for me. I will always love her.
However, if I had to admit it, my love for her stands short next to her love for me. She is that kind of woman. I know that she loves me.
In the same way, I know that God loves me, even when I am short of his expectations. He knows us, yet he loves us.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
daily java
Daily Java: Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:23-25)
One of the hardest things to do is to get people to come to church when there are no special things happening.
Stuff at church is not to reward someone for coming by having a great program or an interesting day; it is to worship the Lord and praise his name, and to encourage each other. You cannot encourage or be encouraged if you are absent. There is also no glory to be found in staying home from church.
A preacher once made the comment about how sad it was to stay away from a church service for some reason and when you came back, the Spirit had moved and everybody else had moved to the next level.
Church attendance it to encourage each other to move to that next level, to encourage each other to grow, to encourage each other to be better at serving God. Just in general, to encourage each other.
As Christians we look for ways to spur one another, to push one another, on to love and good deeds. Church attendance, or that is attendance at worship services, allows us that opportunity.
It is pathetic when we come and sit and participate and listen, yet get nothing from it. We just give our presence and that’s all.
It is when we give ourselves to God and ourselves to the worship, to the teaching, that we gain something.
Church is dead to so many because they are dead themselves. The preacher can only do so much, the church council can only give so much support, the worship leader can only do so much. There comes a point where the attendee has to enter into the worship. You have to do something yourself.
What a service that would be when all who attend give themselves totally to the worship of God and the encouragement of each other.
One of the hardest things to do is to get people to come to church when there are no special things happening.
Stuff at church is not to reward someone for coming by having a great program or an interesting day; it is to worship the Lord and praise his name, and to encourage each other. You cannot encourage or be encouraged if you are absent. There is also no glory to be found in staying home from church.
A preacher once made the comment about how sad it was to stay away from a church service for some reason and when you came back, the Spirit had moved and everybody else had moved to the next level.
Church attendance it to encourage each other to move to that next level, to encourage each other to grow, to encourage each other to be better at serving God. Just in general, to encourage each other.
As Christians we look for ways to spur one another, to push one another, on to love and good deeds. Church attendance, or that is attendance at worship services, allows us that opportunity.
It is pathetic when we come and sit and participate and listen, yet get nothing from it. We just give our presence and that’s all.
It is when we give ourselves to God and ourselves to the worship, to the teaching, that we gain something.
Church is dead to so many because they are dead themselves. The preacher can only do so much, the church council can only give so much support, the worship leader can only do so much. There comes a point where the attendee has to enter into the worship. You have to do something yourself.
What a service that would be when all who attend give themselves totally to the worship of God and the encouragement of each other.
Friday, August 20, 2010
the homeless man who lived with us
My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, "Here's a good seat for you," but say to the poor man, "You stand there" or "Sit on the floor by my feet," have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? (James 2:1-4)
Thinking about the Bible’s comments in James 2 on favoritism. We all claim to be against it, yet when was the last time you spoke directly to a homeless person? Or gave something that was valuable to you to someone else who really had a need for it? or spoke politely to a cashier in the grocery store, or the guy who sweeps the floors at WalMart?
It is easy to ignore some people.
We had a homeless man live with us for several months. His name was Joel. Joel was a big guy, my size, who had in the past ruled the camps in which he lived with his fists. By the time he came to us he had AIDS and was pretty sick. I offered him a room to live in because I knew that he would die if he had to live under the bridge where he was going to have to go. He had been living in an empty house with the permission of the people who owned it, but they had sold the house and he had to move. He and his friend were going to have to move out.
His friend was healthy, Joel was not. and Joel was a Christian, a brother in Christ. So he came. I got to know him, and a lot of his homeless friends. And I got to love him. He became my friend. He participated with my family in the first Thanksgiving and Christmas he had been in for over a decade. I gave him a couple of presents in a stocking and he just sat and looked at them. It had been so long since he had a family. He bought presents for Ella and our daughter and son with his food stamps.
It began to dawn on me that these were real people, people I had overlooked for years. Or at least looked at without really seeing them. I have always been an easy touch for homeless people, but I always give my money to Ella or something so I won’t be tempted to give it all away.
But having Joel with us changed my whole perception of people. He died on a Tuesday morning with no one around with him in the hospital. When I called to see how he was, they told me he was gone. When I told them that we would take care of him, they were glad that the country didn’t have to pay for the burial.
Oddly enough, he knew a lot of church people and his funeral was well-attended. He just didn’t like to be told what to do or have to follow rules. So he lived on the streets until he was just too sick when he came to us.
I miss him. I only knew him for less than a year, but he made an impact on me. I have never looked at a homeless person or even one of the guys who stand out on the parking lots the same after knowing him.
Thinking about the Bible’s comments in James 2 on favoritism. We all claim to be against it, yet when was the last time you spoke directly to a homeless person? Or gave something that was valuable to you to someone else who really had a need for it? or spoke politely to a cashier in the grocery store, or the guy who sweeps the floors at WalMart?
It is easy to ignore some people.
We had a homeless man live with us for several months. His name was Joel. Joel was a big guy, my size, who had in the past ruled the camps in which he lived with his fists. By the time he came to us he had AIDS and was pretty sick. I offered him a room to live in because I knew that he would die if he had to live under the bridge where he was going to have to go. He had been living in an empty house with the permission of the people who owned it, but they had sold the house and he had to move. He and his friend were going to have to move out.
His friend was healthy, Joel was not. and Joel was a Christian, a brother in Christ. So he came. I got to know him, and a lot of his homeless friends. And I got to love him. He became my friend. He participated with my family in the first Thanksgiving and Christmas he had been in for over a decade. I gave him a couple of presents in a stocking and he just sat and looked at them. It had been so long since he had a family. He bought presents for Ella and our daughter and son with his food stamps.
It began to dawn on me that these were real people, people I had overlooked for years. Or at least looked at without really seeing them. I have always been an easy touch for homeless people, but I always give my money to Ella or something so I won’t be tempted to give it all away.
But having Joel with us changed my whole perception of people. He died on a Tuesday morning with no one around with him in the hospital. When I called to see how he was, they told me he was gone. When I told them that we would take care of him, they were glad that the country didn’t have to pay for the burial.
Oddly enough, he knew a lot of church people and his funeral was well-attended. He just didn’t like to be told what to do or have to follow rules. So he lived on the streets until he was just too sick when he came to us.
I miss him. I only knew him for less than a year, but he made an impact on me. I have never looked at a homeless person or even one of the guys who stand out on the parking lots the same after knowing him.
daily java
Daily Java: When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power. (1 Corinthians 2:1-5)
When I was a young preacher, I tried so hard to find the right way to say something, the best way to present the gospel so people would understand it and accept it. I felt it was all on my shoulders.
One of the hardest things for a preacher to do is realize that his power comes from God, not his own ability.
We are not salesmen trying to find a way to present the word of God. The word of God is power and great in its own right, and really doesn’t need our help.
It is after all, the mighty and everlasting word of God that comes from the mind of the all-powerful heavenly Father. It doesn’t need our help,
If someone accepts it, that is good and the ability to accept comes from God. But if someone doesn’t, it is not our fault.
Jesus says No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him (John 6:44). If anyone comes to God, it is God that draws him, not you. You can try and you can teach and preach to the best of your ability, but when it comes down to it, it is God who is at work.
That takes the burden off you. If someone refuses God, it is because they refuse him, not because you are a bad teacher or preacher.
He is Lord, he is God, and his will shall be done, no matter how badly you may botch up the telling. You do the best you can and God will take up the slack.
After all, it is his word anyway. All you are is an inadequate presenter. If you love him, that is all that matters.
The apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 3, wrote that it was he who planted, others watered, but God gives the increase. It is his seed, his word, and his will. We have to realize that and let him work.
When I was a young preacher, I tried so hard to find the right way to say something, the best way to present the gospel so people would understand it and accept it. I felt it was all on my shoulders.
One of the hardest things for a preacher to do is realize that his power comes from God, not his own ability.
We are not salesmen trying to find a way to present the word of God. The word of God is power and great in its own right, and really doesn’t need our help.
It is after all, the mighty and everlasting word of God that comes from the mind of the all-powerful heavenly Father. It doesn’t need our help,
If someone accepts it, that is good and the ability to accept comes from God. But if someone doesn’t, it is not our fault.
Jesus says No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him (John 6:44). If anyone comes to God, it is God that draws him, not you. You can try and you can teach and preach to the best of your ability, but when it comes down to it, it is God who is at work.
That takes the burden off you. If someone refuses God, it is because they refuse him, not because you are a bad teacher or preacher.
He is Lord, he is God, and his will shall be done, no matter how badly you may botch up the telling. You do the best you can and God will take up the slack.
After all, it is his word anyway. All you are is an inadequate presenter. If you love him, that is all that matters.
The apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 3, wrote that it was he who planted, others watered, but God gives the increase. It is his seed, his word, and his will. We have to realize that and let him work.
awake at 3:00 in the morning
Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. (Psalm 103:1-2)
It is three-ten in the morning and I am awake. I am not sure why, as I was sleeping soundly. But whatever the reason, I am awake.
I use a sleep mask which makes me sleep like a dead man in one position all night. When I wake up in the mornings, my right shoulder and my right ear usually hurt because I slept on them all night without moving.
Tonight, I woke up about 2:30 and couldn’t get back to sleep. I was relatively comfortable just lying there feeling the air blowing in my face, but I was awake.
And I was thinking.
Three o’clock thinking is the worst kind in the world. It embodies all that you hate in thinking. You are going round and round about stuff you would just as soon not think about. Failures, problems, difficulties, politics, the itch on your nose that is under the mask and that you will have to open one side to get to – all go round and round in your suddenly overactive mind.
My wife had to get up for a moment. When she came back to bed, I said, I am awake.
Well, maybe you need to get up and write, she replied. Yeah, I guess so, I said.
So here I am, at the computer and it is 3:20. And I have written. But I feel absolutely no sleepiness at all.
Before I got the mask, I did this a lot. I got up in the middle of the night and prowled around the house. We were in a one bedroom apartment so that didn’t take long. We are in a two bedroom house with a full basement, so if I wanted to, it could take longer. But I don’t really feel like walking around.
A lot of times when I wake up, I pray just lying in bed until I go back to sleep. For some reason, that didn’t strike me this morning. I was thinking about the president, and again, for some reason, I wondered what would happen if he were killed, how they would explain it to his children, how people would react. I don’t have any idea why that came to mind.
I remember how the commenters on the internet reacted when Mr Cheney had his heart problems not long ago, how many of them gibbered about how it was a good thing and that they hoped he would die. I was thinking that I hoped it would not be the case.
Okay, an odd thing, true, but it was three o’clock in the morning. You are never your most logical at that time.
I also began to dwell on a host of other stuff, stuff that I would just as soon not think about. That is the stuff that comes at this time in the morning if you can’t sleep. I hate that stuff.
Praise the Lord , O my soul; all my inmost being praise his holy name.
The cat just came in and is surprised to find someone up at this hour. He is making something of a nuisance of himself, something he does well – in general, he has been a disappointment as a cat – but he just wants affection.
Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.
The VCR just clicked off. I had it set to record Forbidden Planet, one of my favorites on TCM. We got rid of our cable and the DVR Monday, but he told me that it may be a while until the cable itself is shut off. So I thought I would record a few things on the VCR. It is getting harder and harder to find VCR tapes. One day I will go to the store and there won’t be any. And that will be sad.
The benefits of God are one thing I try to think on. One of those benefits is the knowledge that at 3:40 in the morning, when my mind is active on things that I wish I had done and that I wish I hadn’t done, that when my heart condemns me, he is greater than my heart (1 John 3:19ff). Even though I lie awake awash in self-recrimination, he still loves me and is greater than my feelings. Those are the benefits I think about right now.
I praise him from my inmost being. If I didn’t, the praise would be kind of worthless, just a surface praise. Do you like me? Yeah, I guess you’re okay. The kind of praise that you might get from someone indifferent.
All that I have and all that I am, sorry and pathetic that it may be, is to his praise. How else could a person live his life.
It is 3:45. The cat gave up and left. My right hand keeps going to sleep and I have to stop to let it wake up. Carpal tunnel syndrome. Especially a curse if you play guitar. Oh, well, at least some part of me can sleep.
Praise the Lord.
Maybe I’ll go make some coffee or something. Just the thing to help you sleep. Caffeine.
Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. (Psalm 103:1-2)
It is three-ten in the morning and I am awake. I am not sure why, as I was sleeping soundly. But whatever the reason, I am awake.
I use a sleep mask which makes me sleep like a dead man in one position all night. When I wake up in the mornings, my right shoulder and my right ear usually hurt because I slept on them all night without moving.
Tonight, I woke up about 2:30 and couldn’t get back to sleep. I was relatively comfortable just lying there feeling the air blowing in my face, but I was awake.
And I was thinking.
Three o’clock thinking is the worst kind in the world. It embodies all that you hate in thinking. You are going round and round about stuff you would just as soon not think about. Failures, problems, difficulties, politics, the itch on your nose that is under the mask and that you will have to open one side to get to – all go round and round in your suddenly overactive mind.
My wife had to get up for a moment. When she came back to bed, I said, I am awake.
Well, maybe you need to get up and write, she replied. Yeah, I guess so, I said.
So here I am, at the computer and it is 3:20. And I have written. But I feel absolutely no sleepiness at all.
Before I got the mask, I did this a lot. I got up in the middle of the night and prowled around the house. We were in a one bedroom apartment so that didn’t take long. We are in a two bedroom house with a full basement, so if I wanted to, it could take longer. But I don’t really feel like walking around.
A lot of times when I wake up, I pray just lying in bed until I go back to sleep. For some reason, that didn’t strike me this morning. I was thinking about the president, and again, for some reason, I wondered what would happen if he were killed, how they would explain it to his children, how people would react. I don’t have any idea why that came to mind.
I remember how the commenters on the internet reacted when Mr Cheney had his heart problems not long ago, how many of them gibbered about how it was a good thing and that they hoped he would die. I was thinking that I hoped it would not be the case.
Okay, an odd thing, true, but it was three o’clock in the morning. You are never your most logical at that time.
I also began to dwell on a host of other stuff, stuff that I would just as soon not think about. That is the stuff that comes at this time in the morning if you can’t sleep. I hate that stuff.
Praise the Lord , O my soul; all my inmost being praise his holy name.
The cat just came in and is surprised to find someone up at this hour. He is making something of a nuisance of himself, something he does well – in general, he has been a disappointment as a cat – but he just wants affection.
Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.
The VCR just clicked off. I had it set to record Forbidden Planet, one of my favorites on TCM. We got rid of our cable and the DVR Monday, but he told me that it may be a while until the cable itself is shut off. So I thought I would record a few things on the VCR. It is getting harder and harder to find VCR tapes. One day I will go to the store and there won’t be any. And that will be sad.
The benefits of God are one thing I try to think on. One of those benefits is the knowledge that at 3:40 in the morning, when my mind is active on things that I wish I had done and that I wish I hadn’t done, that when my heart condemns me, he is greater than my heart (1 John 3:19ff). Even though I lie awake awash in self-recrimination, he still loves me and is greater than my feelings. Those are the benefits I think about right now.
I praise him from my inmost being. If I didn’t, the praise would be kind of worthless, just a surface praise. Do you like me? Yeah, I guess you’re okay. The kind of praise that you might get from someone indifferent.
All that I have and all that I am, sorry and pathetic that it may be, is to his praise. How else could a person live his life.
It is 3:45. The cat gave up and left. My right hand keeps going to sleep and I have to stop to let it wake up. Carpal tunnel syndrome. Especially a curse if you play guitar. Oh, well, at least some part of me can sleep.
Praise the Lord.
Maybe I’ll go make some coffee or something. Just the thing to help you sleep. Caffeine.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
daily java
Daily Java: We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" — but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. (1 Corinthians 2:6-10)
When the Passion came out, Hollywood said such a movie would never sell and Mel Gibson would be broke and never work in Hollywood again. To their surprise, it was a smash.
Hollywood said, okay, we’ll make some “Christian” movies too to tap into that obviously big audience. So they made The Nativity, a boring and badly acted movie about a whiny little Mary.
It busted. Hollywood said, what is the deal? The Passion was so big, why didn’t our offering do well? The could not understand that the mind of man couldn’t understand the mind of God. What they offered was nothing more than uneducated surface stuff.
Mel Gibson was a Christian. He understood Jesus because he identified with him. In fact, it was his hand that held the nail as it was driven into the Jesus character’s hand.
Hollywood, on the other hand, was made up of people who were not Christians and were against all of the things that Christians stood for. They had no idea why people went to see the Passion. All they saw was a possible cash cow.
Every movie Hollywood makes that has a “Christian” theme flops because they do not know the mind of God.
God’s secret wisdom. To those who are outside the grace of God it is indeed secret. They cannot grasp it, cannot understand it, cannot figure it out. All they see is a bunch of people who, when they get angry, “they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”
I read of a couple of singers who hated it when Bible thumpers come to their concerts.
The mind of God is so far from the mind of the world that to the world it looks like some kind of secret thing. They do not understand it so they try to get rid of it.
But God knows and nothing that we have seen yet can tell us of the greatness of his love and what he has prepared for us. In one way. But in another, if we are in him, we see a glimpse of it.
God has such greatness in store for us if we love him and are called according to his promises.
When the Passion came out, Hollywood said such a movie would never sell and Mel Gibson would be broke and never work in Hollywood again. To their surprise, it was a smash.
Hollywood said, okay, we’ll make some “Christian” movies too to tap into that obviously big audience. So they made The Nativity, a boring and badly acted movie about a whiny little Mary.
It busted. Hollywood said, what is the deal? The Passion was so big, why didn’t our offering do well? The could not understand that the mind of man couldn’t understand the mind of God. What they offered was nothing more than uneducated surface stuff.
Mel Gibson was a Christian. He understood Jesus because he identified with him. In fact, it was his hand that held the nail as it was driven into the Jesus character’s hand.
Hollywood, on the other hand, was made up of people who were not Christians and were against all of the things that Christians stood for. They had no idea why people went to see the Passion. All they saw was a possible cash cow.
Every movie Hollywood makes that has a “Christian” theme flops because they do not know the mind of God.
God’s secret wisdom. To those who are outside the grace of God it is indeed secret. They cannot grasp it, cannot understand it, cannot figure it out. All they see is a bunch of people who, when they get angry, “they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”
I read of a couple of singers who hated it when Bible thumpers come to their concerts.
The mind of God is so far from the mind of the world that to the world it looks like some kind of secret thing. They do not understand it so they try to get rid of it.
But God knows and nothing that we have seen yet can tell us of the greatness of his love and what he has prepared for us. In one way. But in another, if we are in him, we see a glimpse of it.
God has such greatness in store for us if we love him and are called according to his promises.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
richard corey
Richard Cory by Edwin Arlington Robinson
Whenever Richard Cory went down town,
We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean-favoured and imperially slim.
And he was always quietly arrayed,
And he was always human when he talked;
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
“Good Morning!” and he glittered when he walked.
And he was rich, yes, richer than a king,
And admirably schooled in every grace:
In fine — we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.
So on we worked and waited for the light,
And went without the meat and cursed the bread,
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet in his head.
There was a song by Simon and Garfunkel called Richard Corey in which they retold this poem in song I still remember the words almost half a century later. It is a fact that people lust after wealth even when it is self-destructive.
There was also a movie called the Magic Christian that had as it ending piece a lot of money thrown into a vat filled with manure and animal waste. People jumped into this unholy mixture while Badfinger sang “If You Want It Here It Is Come And Get It.” Even when it kills them, they will try to get wealth.
Simon and Garfunkel sang this:
They say that Richard Cory owns one half of this whole town,
With political connections to spread his wealth around.
Born into society, a banker's only child,
He had everything a man could want: power, grace, and style.
But I work in his factory
And I curse the life I'm living
And I curse my poverty
And I wish that I could be,
Oh, I wish that I could be,
Oh, I wish that I could be
Richard Cory.
The papers print his picture almost everywhere he goes:
Richard Cory at the opera, Richard Cory at a show.
And the rumor of his parties and the orgies on his yacht!
Oh, he surely must be happy with everything he's got.
But I work in his factory
And I curse the life I'm living
And I curse my poverty
And I wish that I could be,
Oh, I wish that I could be,
Oh, I wish that I could be
Richard Cory.
He freely gave to charity, he had the common touch,
And they were grateful for his patronage and thanked him very much,
So my mind was filled with wonder when the evening headlines read:
"Richard Cory went home last night and put a bullet through his head."
But I work in his factory
And I curse the life I'm living
And I curse my poverty
And I wish that I could be,
Oh, I wish that I could be,
Oh, I wish that I could be
Richard Cory.
Interesting song and poem.
Whenever Richard Cory went down town,
We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean-favoured and imperially slim.
And he was always quietly arrayed,
And he was always human when he talked;
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
“Good Morning!” and he glittered when he walked.
And he was rich, yes, richer than a king,
And admirably schooled in every grace:
In fine — we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.
So on we worked and waited for the light,
And went without the meat and cursed the bread,
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet in his head.
There was a song by Simon and Garfunkel called Richard Corey in which they retold this poem in song I still remember the words almost half a century later. It is a fact that people lust after wealth even when it is self-destructive.
There was also a movie called the Magic Christian that had as it ending piece a lot of money thrown into a vat filled with manure and animal waste. People jumped into this unholy mixture while Badfinger sang “If You Want It Here It Is Come And Get It.” Even when it kills them, they will try to get wealth.
Simon and Garfunkel sang this:
They say that Richard Cory owns one half of this whole town,
With political connections to spread his wealth around.
Born into society, a banker's only child,
He had everything a man could want: power, grace, and style.
But I work in his factory
And I curse the life I'm living
And I curse my poverty
And I wish that I could be,
Oh, I wish that I could be,
Oh, I wish that I could be
Richard Cory.
The papers print his picture almost everywhere he goes:
Richard Cory at the opera, Richard Cory at a show.
And the rumor of his parties and the orgies on his yacht!
Oh, he surely must be happy with everything he's got.
But I work in his factory
And I curse the life I'm living
And I curse my poverty
And I wish that I could be,
Oh, I wish that I could be,
Oh, I wish that I could be
Richard Cory.
He freely gave to charity, he had the common touch,
And they were grateful for his patronage and thanked him very much,
So my mind was filled with wonder when the evening headlines read:
"Richard Cory went home last night and put a bullet through his head."
But I work in his factory
And I curse the life I'm living
And I curse my poverty
And I wish that I could be,
Oh, I wish that I could be,
Oh, I wish that I could be
Richard Cory.
Interesting song and poem.
the sun on my face
I was walking to the church just now. It is a short walk less than 5 blocks and very pleasant. It isn’t real warm (83 according to Yahoo) and the breeze is nice.
As I walked, I do what I have been doing a lot this summer. I was holding my face up to the sun, letting it bake in.
Because of that, I have a good tan. But above all, I feel the sun. last winter was so cold that I wondered at time if there would ever be a time when the sun was warm and bright and hot on my face.
It has been, of course. The seasons take their course, but because of the cold, I love the sun. this is the first year I have not even minded getting hot mowing the yard.
I was so cold last year. I am warm as long as the sun shines and it is summer.
I don’t mind the cold, but this was our first Nebraska winter and the wind is so strong. 20 below and a 30 mph wind. It kind of takes the starch out of a guy. And it makes said guy long for the sun in the summer.
I love weather in general. I like rainy days and cold and warmth. But when you don’t have one, you sure miss it.
Yesterday it was in the high 60’s all day. Kind of a freak, but it made me look forward to fall, a favorite time of year.
But now, as long as the sun shines, I will enjoy the warmth on my face.
As I walked, I do what I have been doing a lot this summer. I was holding my face up to the sun, letting it bake in.
Because of that, I have a good tan. But above all, I feel the sun. last winter was so cold that I wondered at time if there would ever be a time when the sun was warm and bright and hot on my face.
It has been, of course. The seasons take their course, but because of the cold, I love the sun. this is the first year I have not even minded getting hot mowing the yard.
I was so cold last year. I am warm as long as the sun shines and it is summer.
I don’t mind the cold, but this was our first Nebraska winter and the wind is so strong. 20 below and a 30 mph wind. It kind of takes the starch out of a guy. And it makes said guy long for the sun in the summer.
I love weather in general. I like rainy days and cold and warmth. But when you don’t have one, you sure miss it.
Yesterday it was in the high 60’s all day. Kind of a freak, but it made me look forward to fall, a favorite time of year.
But now, as long as the sun shines, I will enjoy the warmth on my face.
shooting our wounded
I was reading an article about Christians who no longer attend church. One of the people interviewed said that one reason he left church was that “priorities are so screwed up, and we shoot our wounded.”
Trying to do church without any real heart or desire to serve God makes it difficult. It becomes all power and control. Anyone who doesn’t go along with it or, worse yet, has a failing or sin, we leave behind. It is easier to shoot our wounded than to deal with their brokenness.
It is a tactic of war to shoot someone when there is a group of people following or fighting you. If you can wound one or more of their number, they are crippled. They have to carry that person. At least one other person is out of commission in trying to help the wounded person. It is a mean and cruel thing to do, but it is easier to shoot the wounded person than it is to help him.
In church, it is easier to shoot our wounded, or at least to ignore them until they spiritually die. It is a lot of trouble to help a wounded person, but it is also a lot of bother.
Galatians 6:1-2 tells us to bear one another’s burdens and in this way fulfill the law of Christ. It also says that we need to be careful that we don’t fall into the same sin.
It is real easy to get wounded. Remember that the next time you get judgmental. It could be you wounded and needing help. The world is a tough place and we are a family.
Trying to do church without any real heart or desire to serve God makes it difficult. It becomes all power and control. Anyone who doesn’t go along with it or, worse yet, has a failing or sin, we leave behind. It is easier to shoot our wounded than to deal with their brokenness.
It is a tactic of war to shoot someone when there is a group of people following or fighting you. If you can wound one or more of their number, they are crippled. They have to carry that person. At least one other person is out of commission in trying to help the wounded person. It is a mean and cruel thing to do, but it is easier to shoot the wounded person than it is to help him.
In church, it is easier to shoot our wounded, or at least to ignore them until they spiritually die. It is a lot of trouble to help a wounded person, but it is also a lot of bother.
Galatians 6:1-2 tells us to bear one another’s burdens and in this way fulfill the law of Christ. It also says that we need to be careful that we don’t fall into the same sin.
It is real easy to get wounded. Remember that the next time you get judgmental. It could be you wounded and needing help. The world is a tough place and we are a family.
i will not take food stamps or ride in a store scooter if i can help it
I will not, unless circumstances change and I am unable to stop it, ever take food stamps. Nor will I ride in a scooter in WalMart or anywhere else until I am absolutely incapable of doing otherwise.
My sense of personal pride prevents me from doing so. I know people who ride the scooters simply because they are too large to comfortably walk. I know people who take the food stamps because they are too lazy to get money for food any other way. I know people who have lost their sense of personal pride. For example:
I took Ella to the doctor today for one of her regular check-up things. There was a woman in the waiting room who was on a walker and had an oxygen tank. She was quite large and could barely move. The ladies at the front desk asked her a question to which she brayed out the answer. She moved to the water fountain across the waiting room, realized that she hadn’t told them something and brayed it across the room. She had a shrill whiny voice that carried quite well across the room.
As I looked at her and since I had to hear her, I wondered how it is that a woman can degenerate so far. She had turned into a sad person who felt that everyone didn’t mind if she did whatever she needed to do, talked as loud as she felt she needed to, etc.
The look on her face was sad. It was the look of a person who had given up in life. She was there to get along until she died, and she would probably fight death to the end.
She had a voucher of some kind. I heard of that several times. She had a walker. She had everything she needed except personal pride.
What is it that diminishes a person? Many times it is the simple lack of personal pride.
I am not talking about foolish pride, the kind that makes us think we are, like the sorcerer guy in Acts 8:9, “Someone Great.” I have known a lot of people that had that kind of feeling of overactive empowerment in their lives. It is the kind of pride that is spoken against throughout the Bible. It puts a person in the place of God the Father.
I am talking about the sense of personal pride, a feeling of who you are and what is right for you to do. My wife, Ella, has it. Even though she is in pain, she will go to get whatever she needs herself rather than ask me. I have told her again and again that I will get it, but her sense of personal pride hates the handout, even from someone who loves her.
It was a while before she could bring herself to ride a scooter. She just hated looking like someone who needed help. Now she rides one everywhere we go and I get it, glad, I might add, out of the car for her. Without it, she and I couldn’t go places unless I pushed her in a wheelchair.
The same goes for dressing in such a way that shows pride in self. Young women are dressing less and less, and it doesn’t seem to matter. Young men have managed to attain a fashion sense that is slob. At the mall, people look like they have no sense of personal pride at all. At WalMart, it is even worse.
When we give up that sense of personal pride, we do great damage to ourselves and to our relationship to God. There is no witness in that kind of person. How can you preach a God of power when you show that you are a victim of life and have no power.
I am not talking about people who are forced into these things by circumstances beyond their control. The young mother who has been deserted by her husband and has to find food for her children. Super emergency situations. Things like that. And I have ridden the scooter when I sprained my ankle and could not walk otherwise. But as soon as I get better, I got off.
That sense of personal pride is missing from so many right now in our society. Food stamp usage is on the rise. It is even renamed to make it sound better: Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Plan (SNAP). People looking for a handout is on the rise.
I have received help before when I was absolutely desperate. But I hated it. And will not unless it is absolutely necessary for Ella to have what she needs. And I have always felt that if I took Food Stamps, or SNAP, I would be telling God he was incapable of giving me what I need.
Pride goes before a fall, true. But the lack of a sense of personal pride means you have no regard for yourself.
It was Jesus himself who said that you love your neighbor as yourself. If you do not love yourself, if you have no sense of personal pride, how in the world can you possibly love your neighbor. With that lack of a sense of personal pride, it is no wonder we all treat each other like dirt.
All this from hearing a woman whining loudly at the doctor’s office.
My sense of personal pride prevents me from doing so. I know people who ride the scooters simply because they are too large to comfortably walk. I know people who take the food stamps because they are too lazy to get money for food any other way. I know people who have lost their sense of personal pride. For example:
I took Ella to the doctor today for one of her regular check-up things. There was a woman in the waiting room who was on a walker and had an oxygen tank. She was quite large and could barely move. The ladies at the front desk asked her a question to which she brayed out the answer. She moved to the water fountain across the waiting room, realized that she hadn’t told them something and brayed it across the room. She had a shrill whiny voice that carried quite well across the room.
As I looked at her and since I had to hear her, I wondered how it is that a woman can degenerate so far. She had turned into a sad person who felt that everyone didn’t mind if she did whatever she needed to do, talked as loud as she felt she needed to, etc.
The look on her face was sad. It was the look of a person who had given up in life. She was there to get along until she died, and she would probably fight death to the end.
She had a voucher of some kind. I heard of that several times. She had a walker. She had everything she needed except personal pride.
What is it that diminishes a person? Many times it is the simple lack of personal pride.
I am not talking about foolish pride, the kind that makes us think we are, like the sorcerer guy in Acts 8:9, “Someone Great.” I have known a lot of people that had that kind of feeling of overactive empowerment in their lives. It is the kind of pride that is spoken against throughout the Bible. It puts a person in the place of God the Father.
I am talking about the sense of personal pride, a feeling of who you are and what is right for you to do. My wife, Ella, has it. Even though she is in pain, she will go to get whatever she needs herself rather than ask me. I have told her again and again that I will get it, but her sense of personal pride hates the handout, even from someone who loves her.
It was a while before she could bring herself to ride a scooter. She just hated looking like someone who needed help. Now she rides one everywhere we go and I get it, glad, I might add, out of the car for her. Without it, she and I couldn’t go places unless I pushed her in a wheelchair.
The same goes for dressing in such a way that shows pride in self. Young women are dressing less and less, and it doesn’t seem to matter. Young men have managed to attain a fashion sense that is slob. At the mall, people look like they have no sense of personal pride at all. At WalMart, it is even worse.
When we give up that sense of personal pride, we do great damage to ourselves and to our relationship to God. There is no witness in that kind of person. How can you preach a God of power when you show that you are a victim of life and have no power.
I am not talking about people who are forced into these things by circumstances beyond their control. The young mother who has been deserted by her husband and has to find food for her children. Super emergency situations. Things like that. And I have ridden the scooter when I sprained my ankle and could not walk otherwise. But as soon as I get better, I got off.
That sense of personal pride is missing from so many right now in our society. Food stamp usage is on the rise. It is even renamed to make it sound better: Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Plan (SNAP). People looking for a handout is on the rise.
I have received help before when I was absolutely desperate. But I hated it. And will not unless it is absolutely necessary for Ella to have what she needs. And I have always felt that if I took Food Stamps, or SNAP, I would be telling God he was incapable of giving me what I need.
Pride goes before a fall, true. But the lack of a sense of personal pride means you have no regard for yourself.
It was Jesus himself who said that you love your neighbor as yourself. If you do not love yourself, if you have no sense of personal pride, how in the world can you possibly love your neighbor. With that lack of a sense of personal pride, it is no wonder we all treat each other like dirt.
All this from hearing a woman whining loudly at the doctor’s office.
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