Authentic heroes. People of integrity, whose lives inspire us to do better, to climb higher, to stand taller. This has always been true.
Maybe that explains why biographies of great men and women have fascinated me throughout my life. I can still remember the first Bible I owned because of the colorful pictures of various characters interspersed through its pages. Each one loomed larger than life as I relived each drama, imagining the sounds, entering into the action-packed scenes portrayed on the pages. I still find delight in entering those scenes from antiquity. My soul is stirred and my heart inspired as those saints of old, people of “whom the world was not worthy” (Hebrews 11:38), play out their lives, make their mistakes, accomplish their incredible feats, and finally pass on into glory. What encouragement! What enrichment!
The words of the Russian poet Boris Pasternik come to mind: “It is not revolutions and upheavals that clear the road to new and better days, but someone’s soul inspired and ablaze.” It is my hope that you will be enlightened and encouraged from beginning each new and better day spending time with the Great Lives you’ll discover in this daily devotional. Since our world is desperately in need of models worth following, here are ten deserving of our time and attention to help us endure the uncertain challenges of the future.
-Chuck Swindoll
Frisco, Texas
Cream still Rises, As Does the Sun, Yet!
Since beginning this blog in late ’18, I’ve searched out and recycled dozens of slightly used devotionals from thrift stores posting their worthy wisdom over the years that captured my attention. The Introduction above is taken from my favorite published 20 years ago and first opened by Loretta and I during the drama of visiting the Republic of Panama nearly two years ago. Each interval of visitation from this devotional book has profoundly blessed us as did my first encounter with Chuck’s radio ministry back in 1980.
I remember it well as I was sitting in my car near the UVA campus in Charlottesville VA preparing myself mentally for an appointment. At the time, I was really struggling spiritually. A decade earlier, while working in the very same vicinity near campus, I was on the top of my game. Now, a decade exactly later, I was in the valley of discouragement & despair because of earlier sinful choices. I was floundering when Chuck’s clarion call came out of my radio that day; I heard every word, loud and clear, and it’s as much of me now as knowing exactly where I was standing in Jr High when I heard JFK was shot! And as with JFK, I have been reminded of that UVA gospel invitation whenever I’ve encountered Chuck over the past 45 years since. I hope you too have such a recollection of being confronted by your sin.
It has always been my intention to introduce & promote reading worthy wisdom among you readers, especially since reading is seriously declining among all ages today. I firmly believe reading worthy wisdom literature today is even more vital to your spiritual transformation, thriving, and subsequent empowerment, than good nutrition and exercise is for an Olympic champion. I’m just old fashioned enough to know in my heart that more good stuff is happening to you inside physically & mentally when you read and digest good stuff, than when you merely watch YouTubes & podcasts. Just as science has now been freed to learn how vital nutrition really is on so many repressed fronts prior, so do I believe spiritual scientists will soon, if they’ve not done so already, validate man’s need to both read and then compose his thoughts from those readings most often by sharing in conversation with other believers; or in my case and Chuck Swindoll’s, by writing them out…
Frequently I introduce you to paragraphs from, if not chapters, to draw you into to buying the book either for your library or even better, your “seeds of ministry loaning bin.” This particular book of Chuck’s is not likely in print but I found several dozen used copies available on Thrift Books for far less than two coffees…. The books title is “Great Lives with the Great Lives.” Thomas Nelson Publisher. Joseph-Moses-David-Elijah-Esther-Job-Paul (Snapshots of Abraham-Samuel & Saul) Future posts will provide you sampling….. merlin
I met Dr. Timothy Zellmer three weeks ago at the Boquete farmers market, that reminded me of the Mt Hope sale; though no livestock, only organic foods and crafts. I even met some Mennonites that come every week from Volcan, 90 minutes away toward Costa Rico. Tim was giving away free Kindle downloads of his new book, that I finally read during the Houston Cleveland leg Sat afternoon. What a treat!
Tim, born in Minnesota as I, though 11 years later, grew up exposed to his grandpa’s Hereford bull breeding ranch in the Dakotas, immersed in the vibrant cowboy-Indian culture next to two Indian Reservations, the Lower Brule and Crow Creek, as I, within 30 minutes of the White earth Reservation. His father was a pastor in the MN, ND, and MT Lutheran Churches. My dad was in the lot and I sat with him during the ordeal, but mom’s prayers over-ruled and I escaped being a PK. And fortunately too, as I garnered more than enough of my own challenges/baggage!
Tim and a friend after high school in ’77 hiked the Appalachian Trail (AT) dreaming of someday having a Hostel on the AT. Back then on the trail, they called it the Miracle of the Day. Now it’s called the Trail Magic, where everyone sees you doing your hard thing, and they are so attracted to that. People join up when they see you are living your life aligned with a vision. (What does that remind us of?) Writing is now his hard-thing now. Not mine, yet!
His path led him from working as a cowboy dentist on those two Indian reservations and many others to now living with the native Ngabe tribe in Panama. Having been in Boquete 15 years now, he has evolved into a flexible entrepreneur and a committed humanitarian. He was former president of the Rotary Club of Boquete, before entering the field of hospitality, building the Hotel Central Boquete, juggling roles from builder to barista, closely fulfilling his hostel dream spawned during his AT hike in ’77.
Below is Chapter 21 from his recent book, “The Best Place in the World to Retire? Boquete, Panama, titled Service, Volunteering, and Gratitude.
I really love you guys. I call you my superfans. I love the way you make me feel. I love to trade stories. You get me tell you of long-forgotten things I’ve learned, seen, or done. You’re the ones who make me dust off long-gone memories of places I’ve been. This story will guide you toward happiness in Boquete.
Once, when I was helping my mom run Meals on Wheels back in Ponca City OK, we delivered free meals to the homebound, both handicapped and elderly. My mom gave me a big black trash bag and food for an old lady.
I asked, “Mom, what’s this for?” She said, “This lady never throws anything away. We must steal back the old food and throw it out because she won’t do it! She eats like a bird. And I’ve noticed since we started delivering here that she keeps pecking at the old stuff, and I think it will kill her.”
My eyes bugged open, and I asked, “We’re stealing her old food?” She answered, “Yep, And I need you to help me do it. I’m going to distract her in her back room. Before then, I’ll stack up all the old stuff, so you grab it when she’s not looking!” I was worried.
She said, “Head straight to the car and don’t return. Hide it in the trunk where she can’t see it. She’ll have a fit if she catches us, so we both have to be real careful about this, OK?” I nodded, shocked but in agreement, and we headed in.
Sure enough, her refrigerator was full of a library of crushed-down, half-food-filled clamshells from past deliveries. She whispered, “The other drivers don’t do this, but they should. I’m sure it’s because she has a hissy fit over it. She was a pack rat! My mom was right. She could die from this!
Good grief! I could see from the green stuff out of the ones on the bottom that she could be developing a deadly botulism strain. My mom beat on the door but then walked right in. It wasn’t even locked. The old lady came, and my mom hugged and kissed her. Mom asked her how she was doing and told her she loved her. She did it while diving into the refrigerator and pointing at the problem.
I thought, holy crap! She wasn’t kidding. In a high happy voice, she says to the lady, “Let’s move some stuff around and make room for the new, OK?” Then she proceeds to stack the old stuff on a stool she’s drugged out from the corner.Holy smokes, I thought! It was such a tall stack that it could not fit on the stool. She was stacking it on the floor, too.
Then my mom distracted her by pointing to pictures of the lady’s family and asking her about them, and they wandered into the back. I stood there dumbfounded, horrified. Behind her back, mama pointed at me, wiggled her finger, and suddenly turned around and gave me a look a cat burglar would provide his partner when they see the owners stirring in their bed at night. She whispered, “Now!” I whipped out the bag hidden in my pocket, filled it as quietly as possible, dashed for the door, and loaded it in the trunk. Then, I hid, waiting in the car.
About three minutes later, my mom came out of that house with an enormous, satisfied grin and a happy gait. She gets back in and drives us to the next customer. And you know what she says to me with a big dumb grin? She says, “Those who Help are Happy! If we can, we should. Not for them. We do it for us. Your dad and I get such joy from doing this. You can’t imagine.”
Boquete has a long list of volunteer opportunities. Volunteering is a good lifestyle choice here. It gets you out of the house, you will meet nice people, and you will serve the mission of your group you volunteer for. It’s good for your heart; you’ll feel great helping others.
Ride The Joy Bus of Gratitude. People who lead lives of service tend to be the happiest people ever. So, I hope, that you found this book to be of good service on your life journey…
No comments, except I just thought you all could benefit from some “lighter” material.
I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Jer. 29:11
Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Heb. 12:11
Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. I Pet. 5:6
The vital relationship which the Christian has to the Bible is not that he worships the letter, but that the Holy Spirit makes the words of the Bible spirit and life to him. Oswald Chambers The Psychology of Redemption, 1066 L
Psalm 34:2 My soul shall makes it boast in the Lord.
When I feel afraid, I’m prone to pull the blanket over my head and hope it goes away. Or I nurse my fears. The adversary of our souls loves to get our attention focused on ourselves and not on the resources of our God.
What will happen when you praise and worship God? Your praise makes God big your heart and mind. Soon, your problem falls into perspective. When I worship God, sometimes even with tears coming down my face, my spirit is renewed as I praise God. My problem doesn’t go away, but all of a sudden, I see it in relation to the One who is in charge of everything.
Isn’t it interesting what we do boast about? Or even nonverbally message to those about us, whether by our attitude, demeanor, eyebrows, breathing, etc. At the last party, social event, opportune encounter, what did you boast about? And don’t give me this humble jumble that you don’t boast! We all have opportunity to so engage, perhaps even lead conversations if they are dragging or being negative. Put the spotlight on the Lord, give Him center stage.So many good things are happening in our lives as individuals, in our families, in our churches, that there is no scarcity for boasting on the Lord virtually continually.
It’s all perspective. Begin with praise prayer & worship!
David Jeremiah Sanctuary: Finding Moments of Refuge in the Presence of God 2002 July 5
“The job of mainstream media is not to inform, but to misinform the public, making it harder for people to make informed decisions about things that impact their own lives, and that of their families.
Mass media is used to divert public attention from important issues and changes that are decided upon by the political and economic elites, through the technique of derailing important facts or information through the continuous flood of distractions, mindless entertainment and insignificant information.”
Reading upon awakening this morning from Evening June 11 dailylightdevotional.org The Isaiah 65:17 verse led to reading the entire chapter well into the next book of Jeremiah providing future assurance. Be not mocked today by the Prince of the airways mentioned in “Is AI ah” 65:25 “…but snakes-they’ll get dirt! Neither animal nor human will kill hurt or kill anywhere on my Holy Mountain,” says God. Relish in the reality His Spirit provides you today from these verses… Just thinking… Is AI ah really an Ah-Ha moment? Sorry. Just my humor. But I’m deadly serious about the “lateness of the hour! Remember the ten foolish & the ten wise? Why the oil? Blessings as you go forth today. And tomorrow too.
Behold, I make all things new. Rev. 21:5
Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. John 3:3
If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. II Cor. 5:17
A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. Ezek. 36:26
Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump. I Cor. 5:7
The new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Eph. 4:24
Thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name. Isa. 62:2
Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. Isa. 65:17
Seeing … that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness? II Pet. 3:11
And now for the CLINCHER
Isaiah 65:1-25 (MSG)
“I’ve made myself available to those who haven’t bothered to ask. I’m here, ready to be found by those who haven’t bothered to look. I kept saying ‘I’m here, I’m right here’ to a nation that ignored me. 2. I reached out day after day to a people who turned their backs on me, People who make wrong turns, who insist on doing things their own way. 3. They get on my nerves, are rude to my face day after day, Make up their own kitchen religion, a potluck religious stew. 4. They spend the night in tombs to get messages from the dead, Eat forbidden foods and drink a witch’s brew of potions and charms. 5. They say, ‘Keep your distance. Don’t touch me. I’m holier than thou.’ These people gag me. I can’t stand their stench. 6. Look at this! Their sins are all written out— I have the list before me. I’m not putting up with this any longer. I’ll pay them the wages 7. They have coming for their sins. And for the sins of their parents lumped in, a bonus.” God says so. “Because they’ve practiced their blasphemous worship, mocking me at their hillside shrines, I’ll let loose the consequences and pay them in full for their actions.” 8. God’s Message: “But just as one bad apple doesn’t ruin the whole bushel, there are still plenty of good apples left. So I’ll preserve those in Israel who obey me. I won’t destroy the whole nation. 9. I’ll bring out my true children from Jacob and the heirs of my mountains from Judah. My chosen will inherit the land, my servants will move in. 10. The lush valley of Sharon in the west will be a pasture for flocks, And in the east, the valley of Achor, a place for herds to graze. These will be for the people who bothered to reach out to me, who wanted me in their lives, who actually bothered to look for me. 11. “But you who abandon me, your God, who forget the holy mountains, Who hold dinners for Lady Luck and throw cocktail parties for Sir Fate, 12. Well, you asked for it. Fate it will be: your destiny, Death. For when I invited you, you ignored me; when I spoke to you, you brushed me off. You did the very things I exposed as evil; you chose what I hate.” 13. Therefore, this is the Message from the Master, God: “My servants will eat, and you’ll go hungry; My servants will drink, and you’ll go thirsty; My servants will rejoice, and you’ll hang your heads. 14. My servants will laugh from full hearts, and you’ll cry out heartbroken, yes, wail from crushed spirits. 15. Your legacy to my chosen will be your name reduced to a cussword. I, God, will put you to death and give a new name to my servants. 16. Then whoever prays a blessing in the land will use my faithful name for the blessing, And whoever takes an oath in the land will use my faithful name for the oath, Because the earlier troubles are gone and forgotten, banished far from my sight. 17. “Pay close attention now: I’m creating new heavens and a new earth. All the earlier troubles, chaos, and pain are things of the past, to be forgotten. 18. Look ahead with joy. Anticipate what I’m creating: I’ll create Jerusalem as sheer joy, create my people as pure delight. 19. I’ll take joy in Jerusalem, take delight in my people: No more sounds of weeping in the city, no cries of anguish; 20. No more babies dying in the cradle, or old people who don’t enjoy a full lifetime; One-hundredth birthdays will be considered normal— anything less will seem like a cheat. 21. They’ll build houses and move in. They’ll plant fields and eat what they grow. 22. No more building a house that some outsider takes over, No more planting fields that some enemy confiscates, For my people will be as long-lived as trees, my chosen ones will have satisfaction in their work. 23. They won’t work and have nothing come of it, they won’t have children snatched out from under them. For they themselves are plantings blessed by God, with their children and grandchildren likewise God-blessed. 24. Before they call out, I’ll answer. Before they’ve finished speaking, I’ll have heard. 25. Wolf and lamb will graze the same meadow, lion and ox eat straw from the same trough, but snakes—they’ll get a diet of dirt! Neither animal nor human will hurt or kill anywhere on my Holy Mountain,” says God.
and after listening to last Sundays Pastor Carl’s YouTube sermon titled “Oh be careful little eyes what you see,” for the third time, I’d sorta figured I’d be quenching the Spirit if I didn’t share it with you. Sermon starts 30 minutes in. I’m not providing either popcorn or my notes this time. Make and take your own. God’s just delivered a most appropriate message for our understanding and reflection. I pray God’s anointing on the best sermon I’ve ever heard (perhaps better said that I recall) on King David and Bathsheba. YouTube sent prior. Blessings.
Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Heb. 11:1
Virtue means manly spirit, bravery, courage, moral goodness or excellence.
We are in danger of forgetting that we cannot do what God does, and that God will not do what we can do. We cannot save nor sanctify ourselves— God does that. Nor will God give us good habits or character, and He certainly will not force us to walk correctly before Him. We have to do all that ourselves. God only operates invitationally; as we must too, with all those persons in our sphere of influence whom do not yet walk in His guiding presence. For first, we must “work out” our “own salvation” which God has worked in us by loving invitations (Philippians 2:12). To Add implies that we must get into the habit of actually doing things, such as completing assigned tasks, and during the initial stages of our walking the Kingdom Road, that can be really difficult. To take the initiative is to make a beginning— to instruct yourself in the way you must go.
Beware of the tendency to ask the way when you know it perfectly well. Take the initiative— stop hesitating— take the first step. Be determined to act immediately in faith on what God says to you when He speaks, and never reconsider or change your initial decisions. If you hesitate when God tells you to do something, you are being careless, spurning the grace in which you’re now standing. Take the initiative yourself, make a decision of your will right now, and make it impossible to go back. Burn your bridges behind you, saying, “I will write that letter;” “I will make that visit,” or “I will write up and present that volunteer proposal to area nursing homes I was given two years ago. Make it irrevocable.
In order to transition into new modes of service for Him as we mature spiritually, we must get into the habit of carefully listening to God from everything he places about us, perhaps in our devotional times or Bible study, or from our mentors or even, our mentees, or unusual circumstances that force us out of our comfort zones, hopefully that we then habitually first turn to Him for His wisdom, finding out what He says and promptly being obedient by heeding it. So, if and when those times of transitional crisis threaten us, we will instinctively turn to God, and we will know and be assured that His habits of spiritual survival and thriving under pressure have been formed in us.
BOTTOM LINE:
Yes indeed, we have to take the initiative practically where we now are, not merely theoretically where we have not yet been.
Wisdom From Oswald:
The Christian Church should not be a secret society of specialists, but rather, a public manifestation of believers in Jesus. Sincerity implies that our appearance and our reality are exactly the same.
NEXT UP:
Again, possibly the script of a unique Mother’s Day sermon May 12 delivered here in Wayne Co.
Reading of the text, Matt 5:1-12, begins at 32:00 minutes on the attached YouTube
My crudenotes from Pastor Carl’s sermon April 14
Psalm 46: nations are in uproar. Israel, Ukraine, Be still and know that I am exalted,
Our God is inviting us to be unshakable in the midst of overwhelming shaking and quaking,
Jesus said there be famines and wars, and rumors of wars, the church needs to be prepared, theme for the year 2024 is being unshakable, now we’re talking about an unshakable kingdom, being unshakable ourselves, on the sermon on the Mount, the beatitudes, Matt 5: 1-12, our boat is tied, it appears we’re moving, but that’s because the world about us is moving, but we are anchored. God, help us to understand the reality of our situation
We will look at three parts of this passage:
First, Jesus is teaching about our CITIZENSHIP: Process of naturalization, I want to be become a citizen here, forms, civics class, some basic functional knowledge, tested, ceremony, take an oath, similar to children of Israel, what does it mean for you to live in relationship with me, in a world that doesn’t acknowledge me? I’m making of you a nation, I’m giving you citizenship, you’ll have all the rights and responsibilities of citizenship in being in relationship with me, gave them and us the Ten Commandment, first four concerning our relationship to God as my people, next six for how are we going to live in relationship with people in His community, it’s all about citizenship in His kingdom, Sermon on Mount is 1.) instructional for us to join, 2.) invitational for us without to join, to become kingdom people, this is what it means to be citizens, to have a Savior from our past, to have a Lord of our lives right now, king & guide presently during this shaking, what does it mean for us to be kingdom people? Matt 6: 9 Kingdom prayer, not a ritual, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, seek first the K of G, kingdom Priority, then K Provision (seek His Rightousness, and thse things will be added to you, birds of the air, food, clothes, do not get so focused on provision, then onto K Priority, v 19,20, whoever Practices, unless you surpass the Pharisees, these are Practical, calls 4 , Peter, Andrew, James, John, He’s doing invitational, what does it mean to be Citizens in the Kingdom of God,
Second, Jesus is teaching about our CONVICTIONS(what you believe about God),CHARACTER(who you are before God), and your CONDUCT (how you do live before God), Sundays are getting the desserts after all the meals of your self-studies of of the Kingdom meals you’ve been eating & living all week long, so you need to be worshipping, studying, and growing all week long, because if you’re just coming for desert on Sunday, that is not going to hold you over, So looking at each of these Beatitudes, what is God desiring to teach us from each of them in regard to driving and undergirding the formulation and implementation of our convictions, our character, and our conduct?
Start with V 3, do I recognize my being poor in spirit, my poverty in the image God created me to be, and when I see Him, do I recognize who this Holy God is? that on my own I can’t achieve or attain His intended Rightousness for me, I’m spiritually impoverished, so how does that shape my character? How does that determine how I conduct my life?
V 4 Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted? Does my spiritual character reflect an awareness that comes to me when I become aware of my own waywardness? Do I grieve that I am spiritually deficient, or even that the world about me is so spiritually impoverished?
V5 Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth… meek … colt born, later time to be trained, or broke, Meek here in his verse means to be broken, have I been broken for Kingdom use by recognizing my impoverishment even though as a son of the King so that God can use me, Just as a horse must be broken in order to be trained so to be usable by his Master, to be guided and controlled by the reins to move and to work appropriately for his master’s wishes, commands,
V 6, hunger and thirst after Rightousness, Jesus reflected, Do I Hunger & Thirst after Rightousness, Do I actually crave His Rightousness being exhibited within me? Do I exhibit His fruit of the Spirit? Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-Control Gal. 5:22-23 Memorize them, because these are the character of Christ, don’t use another man to be your model, because you must want to be like Jesus, that is whom you are hungering for, how does that impact your 3 C’s (convictions, character, conduct)
V 7 blessed are the merciful… do I show mercy, compassion to those I meet?
V 8 blessed are the pure in heart…does my outward walk reflect my inward heart?
V 9 blessed are the peacemakers, do I believe (God’s desire) is it my desire? Do I bring people together in love & reconciliation? As citizen people we have a God who is defining in the example of Jesus Christ, what Kingdom Citizenship looks like; how your convictions of who God is and who we are, will shape your character, who you are, and out of that will determine your conduct, how you will live as a Kingdom Citizen in this world, so we can’t expect people to act right if they are not believing right, if their heart isn’t right. They may have the right conviction, but it must permenate who they are, and that is a training process (broken as a horse) for all of us, and over time, since none of us yet have fully arrived, that we become transformed and empowered (via our convictions, character & conduct) and do battle with church membership imposters (luke-warm cultural Christian who excel at sitting soaking and souring in our faith communities until their lack of fruit reveal to everyone, that they are tares and they choose to either split and to remove themselves from Kingdom fellowship, or if they are so overwhelmed by the forgiveness and the reconciling love from within their community, they choose to repent, turning from the evil one toward Christ for the absolution of their sin and their complete restoration in their local community of the Kingdom of God…)
Question? Did those on the mountain that day understand all Jesus’ teachings on the first setting? No, it’s an ongoing continual process, that of learning who God is, who Jesus is, allowing that to shape me into who I am, before Him, then living that out, in the world around me,
So in summary, your citizenship will determine your convictions, what you believe, your character, who you are; your conduct, how you live; and I need to tell you these Beatitudes are not exhaustive, they are just illustrations of who God is, what He wants you to be, and how He wants you to live.
Third, Jesus is teaching about your CONDITION, for if you are a Kingdom Citizen, your Convictions, Character and Conduct will reflect Christ in your life and that these 3 C’s (convictions, character, & conduct):will cause your life to exhibit a specific CONDITION, which will be called what? Can you guess? The word is blessed….It means happy or joyful, really. You will be blessed if you know you are a citizen in this kingdom, that is unshakable, that you serve an unshakable king, and that you absolutely know who He is, for when you know who He is, you will know more about who you are, you’re going to know about the past, present and future, and convictions on all kinds of things, such that you can declare, “I am a citizen of the Kingdom of God, part of the family of God, my Father is in heaven, He sent His Son because He loves me, and this is going to shape your character, and by the way He gives you His Spirit to just come along inside of you to help shape that character, that’s why we call it the fruit of the Spirit, but He keeps working on you, then guess what, the when you know who God is, and you know who He wants you to be, your life should show it, Ok? And then when all of that is happening, it really doesn’t matter what is happening all around you, I know this a little radical, yes, the world may be shaking, nations may be in uproar, mountains may be falling into the heart of the seas, or it may be your own life that is falling apart, the devil will try to bring things into your life, that will cause you to be shaken, but you don’t have to be, because you’ll say I know the King, And I’m part of his family… I’m a citizen of his kingdom, He is doing a work in my life, He is allowing me to live my life in a manner that reflects my relationship with Him, but I know and down the road, the war is won, even though the battle continues on….and I already know the outcome, so I can live a blessed (happy & joyful life now!!
As Paul says in Philippians Two, “I’ve learned the secret of being content,” and living the really blessed life, it is not found in all that stuff, power, prestige, in fact the world keeps telling you that all that stuff will be beneficial and helpful, but they are wrong, for Paul says again in ch 4, I’ve learned that whatever I’m going thru I can just go before the Lord in prayer, and I’ll just be given this peace from God that nothing is going to happen to me that the King is not already aware of, and because I serve that King, and because I’m a citizen in that kingdom, because I serve in that Kingdom, then I think what Paul is telling us then, is that my condition is blessed. I can ignore the prison, the chains, ignore the possible death thing coming up, ignore all that stuff, because I’m blessed, and what Paul wants us to know is that Jesus is trying to help us, through the Sermon on the Mount, throughout the gospels, is to know what it means to be a citizen of his kingdom, in Christ, and let’s remember that attaining that citizenship is our primary, single focus, for when we understand that He is our king and we are his citizens, in his kingdom, (I think the term Kingdom comes up 121 times in the gospels) for when I understand I’m a citizen of this kingdom, then I understand, that awareness, or knowledge, is going to shape my convictions, going to shape my character, going to shape my conduct, of who I am in Christ, shapes me in all those areas, for when I know I’m a citizen, that then changes my condition to blessed…to blessed being happy & joyful, and that joy transcends, prisons, chains, all those things that Paul went through. Next week, Matt will speak on what it means to be salt and light in that Kingdom…
Blessed are They Who Suffer in Faith for the Glory of God is Theirs…
Next Up: A revealing short five paragraph incident with Radio psychiatrist Frasier Crane , from the TV show Frasier, giving the quote “Who am I to draw the line at the acceptable level of force?” Realize anger and murder come from the same root!
We are experiencing an unparalleled assault on our civilization that will be experienced first by societies non compliant, Christians included, because the first move by any totalitarian dictatorship, is to get rid of houses of worship, for if I bow down to God, I’ll not bow down to them. The mechanism they are using is fear, and if you’ve studied psychological warfare, you’ll know that anxiety, fear, and human isolation, will cause people to de-compensate psychologically and become very vulnerable, gullible and easy to manipulate. Look at yourself and those around you now since covid. How else can you explain this passive emotional fragility?
Seriously church, we are now in a war unlike any prior. How and when it escalates, only God knows. This war may not be typically combatant with guns, tanks, & bombs. Our conflicts are now largely psychological, and I fear we’re not prepared at all to go up against its games, whether we choose compliance, apathy, a Goliath, a fiery furnace, even a lion’s den, or a guillotine or any of the other weapons recorded in Martyrs Mirror. How does one prepare for such? I’ve been so sheltered.
None of the above was in the works when I typed up what follows. The last two days have been an unsolicited and unexpected journey for me. Understand I’ve been under conviction for months that at some point I would need to speak more candidly about what little I have been privileged to learn about our world and its subsequent implications for the anabaptist community.
I was told year’s ago by a friend to readBrad Jersak’s book “A More Christlike God, A More Beautiful Gospel, which I finally did, and now it’s buried amongst many boxes, awaiting its release. Therefore, I am sharing this formerly prepared document with you from pages 10-13.
“I’ve been pleasantly surprised how this proposition – the message that Jesus shows us what God is like – is often well received by those who don’t profess Christian faith. If I say, “God is love and Jesus was love incarnate,” no problem! Jesus is seldom the issue, even for a rabid, self-avowed ‘non-Christian’ such as Saturday Night Live satirist Bill Maher. His primary attacks are not against Jesus at all, but against Christians whose religion does violence in the name of the Prince of Peace. He castigates:
“If you’re a Christian that supports killing your enemy and torture, you have to come up with a new name for yourself. . . . ‘Capping thy enemy’ is not exactly what Jesus would do. For almost two thousand years, Christians have been lawyering the Bible to try to figure out how ‘Love thy neighbor’ can mean ‘Hate thy neighbor’. . . .
Martin Luther King Jr. gets to call himself a Christian, because he actually practiced loving his enemies. And Gandhi was so Christian, he was Hindu. But if you’re endorsing revenge, torture, or war, … you cannot say of the guy who explicitly said, ‘Love your enemy’ and ‘do good to those who hate you.’ …
And not to put too fine a point on it, but nonviolence was kind of Jesus’ trademark – kind of his big thing. To not follow that part is like joining Greenpeace and hating whales. There’s interpreting, and then there’s just plain ignoring. It’s just ignoring if you’re for torture – as are more Evangelical Christians than any other religion. You’re supposed to look at that figure on the Cross and think, “how could a man suffer like that and forgive?” …
I’m a non-Christian. Just like most Christians.
If you ignore every single thing Jesus commanded you to do, you’re not a Christian – you’re just auditing. You’re not Christ’s followers, you’re just fans. And if you believe the Earth was given you to kick ass on while gloating, you’re not really a Christian – you’re just a Texan.”
Brad Jersak now:
Ok, Maher’s unbelief is actually biting hatred directed against un-Christlike perversions of God, the projections of religious fundamentalists. Audiences find this commentary comedic because the irony is tragically accurate and laughably contradictory. Instead of reacting defensively or hanging our heads in silent shame, why not hear his indictment as a clarion call back to explicit Christlikeness.
At other times, atheism is self-created through some offense. We despair of faith when a tragedy or disappointment makes nonsense of the God we inherited or imagined. Touched deeply by loss, our misperceptions of who God is, should have been or failed to be for us, can lead us from mere doubt to an active rejection of faith.
Charles Darwin exemplifies this experience. His discoveries about natural selection and the evolutionary process certainly undermined his faith in ‘special creation,’ but they did not ‘kill God’ for him altogether. In fact, Darwin’s theories were not generally regarded as problematic by key Christians of his day. That great battle comes later in America. Toward the end of his life, he wrote, It seems to me absurd to doubt that a man may be an ardent theist and an evolutionist.”
When his precious ten-year-old daughter died in 1851, it broke his heart and crushed his faith. Darwin could hold the good purposes of God and the suffering in natural processes in healthy tension until he had to endure the terrible suffering of his little girl. It was too much. Whatever Darwin had believed, about God, that belief could not survive his grief.
I wonder. In the case of the sardonic Bill Maher or the brokenhearted Charles Darwin, the real culprit may actually be a non Christlike image of God. Which is to say, no God at all. If so, I’m inclined to agree with Walter Wink, who affirmed such atheism as a first step toward true worship, because it represents the rejection of an idol. That is, people like Maher and Darwin might be turning from – i.e., repenting. The next step, which I don’t pretend they have taken, is a turning toward – i.e., faith. I say a Christlike God is worth turning to.
Continuing, when I personally turned my gaze to the God who is completely Christlike, I was confronted with how non Christlike the ‘church-God’ or even the ‘Bible-God’ can be. Setting Jesus as the standard for perfect theology, many of our current Christian beliefs and practices would obviously face indictment. Even significant swaths of biblical literature don’t line up well with the Christ of the Gospels. Claiming that God is revealed perfectly in Jesus triggers tough questions about the God I once conceived and preached. Jesus’ life and character challenges my religious cliches and standby slogans – especially the rhetoric of supreme power and irresistible force. Christ never reveals God that way in his teachings and especially not in his Passion ( that is, Jesus’ arrest, trial, torture, and death).
Yes, he proves victorious, especially in his resurrection, but remember that Paul resolved to preach ‘Christ and him crucified’ (I Cor 2:2). You could resist him, you could mock him and beat him up. You could kill him. And we did. Our God is the cruciform Christ, the ‘weakness of God’ I Cor 1:25) who is stronger than men. Why? Because he operates by overcoming love, not by overwhelming force.
Take heart. Assuredly, we will encounter whatever comes, transformed by His love, and empowered by His Spirit, as we turn from, by repenting; and toward, in faith. … GO FORTH IN HIS CONFIDENCE>>>> mle
Next Up: Eugene Peterson literally stole the non-believer’s catchphrase “A Long Obedience in the Same Direction” and made it the name of his best book released in 1980, as well as commandeered a key word phrase associated with atheist philosopher Frederic Nietzche “that the only way to live life is to find a standard and stick to it.” Unfortunately for Frederic and the world ever since, he rejected his childhood standard, Jesus Christ, and instead became the pawn of the Imposter, the Devil himself. I’ve summarized Peterson’s Ch 13 titled Obedience. Two of his quotes are “a Christian who stays put is no better than a statue waiting to be pulled down when the tide changes” and “you ever notice for all its interest in history the Bible never refers to the past as “the good old days.” The past is not, for the person of faith, a restored historical site that we tour when we are on vacation; rather it is a field we plow, disc, harrow and plant, fertilize, and lovingly work to insure a bountiful harvest.”
