Do Not Be Normal

Do not be conformed to this age [or world], but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

~ Romans 12:2

We must cling to God's Word as perfect, eternal, timeless, and transcendent; otherwise, what good is it? If we think the Bible is anything less, it becomes just another human work of philosophy and history. If we follow only those parts we agree with, we are not reading the Bible; we are writing it.

If we disagree or dislike something we read in the Bible, is God thereby wrong? Will He change to conform to our thoughts?

The famous writer and theologian G.K. Chesterton wrote, “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult, and left untried.” We could say that the primary purpose of the Bible is to show where our thoughts are wrong, so that we might change our thoughts to conform to God. So if we revise, ignore, or misinterpret something in the Bible, we are getting it backwards. We are blinding ourselves to a truth God has given us, because we do not like it. We are conforming God’s Word to agree with our sinful minds, instead of conforming our sinful minds to accord with God’s perfect truth.

Such is precisely what Paul wants to get across to us, in Romans 12:2. By telling us not to be conformed to the current “age,” he actually identifies not one, but two sources of temptation we must avoid. In fact, the passage is translated, correctly, two different ways.

The first, and most common translation, is: “Do not be conformed to this world . . . .” Translating the passage like this speaks to the eternal evil inherent in physical life. Lust and greed are not confined to a specific time or place; they are endemic in our human makeup.

The second (more literal) translation, “Do not be conformed to this age,” more specifically addresses the temptation to follow societal mores — the temptation to be “normal,” as defined by one’s current society.

For example, if we lived in Western Europe in 1900, the norm of our society would be that fornication was wrong. If we live in Western Europe in the 21st century, the norm of our society is that fornication is fine. In fact, fornication is today held as a mark of freedom, and those who oppose it are generally considered to be aberrant, “up tight,” enslaved by inhibition. But if we conform our thought to the Bible, rather than to the current age, we see that fornication is sinful.

Have we fully conformed ourselves to the Bible? Probably not. Many church members and leaders will rail and preach against homosexual fornication, eager to tell us it is sinful, while failing to mention the more widespread issues of heterosexual fornication and lust. We are more likely to criticize homosexual promiscuity than currently-accepted heterosexual “dating,” with its overtone of non-marital sexual behavior. Even if we only criticize in our own mind, most of us will condemn gay sex faster than straight sex.

Then, of course, there is the opposite error. The Bible clearly condemns homosexual behavior. More “liberal” churches simply ignore the teaching, and the most radical extol it as human “love” and ordain practicing homosexuals as pastors. Recently, a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church advertised that girls should send her their “purity rings”—rings worn by those who have taken a vow to remain chaste until they marry—so that she could melt them down and create a vagina statue to go in the church. (I'm not surprised that she has no regard for the Second Commandment, either.)

The degree to which Christians are swayed by societal norms, rather than the Bible, is pervasive and subtle. The banker who foreclosed on a widow’s house last week, the lawyer who encourages lawsuits, the shop owner who sells string bikinis — these will sit proudly in their church pews, filled with anger at, say, the current push for acceptance of gay marriage. And yet, they all engaged in conduct specifically prohibited by the Bible. They hide their sin behind societal norms.

If we are to know what God says, we must set aside our preconceptions of right and wrong and cease to absorb the values of the world around us.

Lord, let me never be swayed from your truth by the changing values of the world. Amen.

Transformation

Therefore putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.

~ James 1:21

Self-centered pride and malice toward others must be replaced by a humble acknowledgment of our need for walking in the light of the truths of Scripture. Just as we were brought to a knowledge of God by the word of truth (Jas. 1:18), so there is a present sense in which daily acknowledgment of the implanted word will save us from anger and foolish decisions. However, this will only be true to the extent that we hear and respond to the word.

“But prove yourselves to be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.” (Jas. 1:22). Hearing is, of course, the prerequisite to proper response, because we must know the truth before we can apply it. The problem is that most of us know much more than we live. It is far easier to theorize and postpone the truth than it is to put it into action.

“For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was” (Jas. 1:23-24). The Word is like a moral mirror that strips away our outer veneer and shows us what we are really like (see Heb. 4:12-13).

Working through Scripture, the Spirit reveals areas of our lives which need to be changed. When we see these areas and do nothing about them, it is as foolish as a person who looks in a mirror, realizes he has forgotten to put on his pants, and continues to walk out of the house. Revelation is designed to transform, not merely inform, but it cannot accomplish this without our response.

Lord, give me the strength and will and wisdom to allow you to transform me. Amen.

Let us Love in Deed and Truth

“Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”

~ 1 John 3:18

There is nothing wrong with kind words. Telling somebody you love them, or giving someone an honest compliment, can be a wonderful thing. Cheer and warmth are contagious, and most people can use a little reassurance.

But the best love comes not from words but from action, and it is almost always something of a burden, in human terms. The love of a mother for her child is possibly the most extreme form of natural love, and it doesn’t have much to do with talking. It is changing diapers and wiping off throw-up, getting up exhausted at 3 a.m., feeding, bathing, and going to the doctor.

Christian love, though, is not natural; Jesus told us to love our enemies, to love those who do us ill, which is about the most unnatural thing we could ever do. Because the world does not reward us for doing it; we are not fulfilling a natural instinct, but obeying the will of God, when we love other people towards whom we do not feel natural affection.

Our reward, though, is even greater. For it is part of our cross that we pick up when we follow Jesus. God smiles on us when we help other people, and if we talk to Him in our prayers, and listen carefully, He will reward us even while we are still on earth.

Prayer: Lord God, please move me to love others as Christ loved us, despite our imperfection and sin.

5/19A Moment in Infinite Time

He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

~ Ecclesiastes 3:11

The oddest little things can make my heart and spirit suddenly soar, beyond what I would have thought possible. This morning, I heard a bird singing outside my front door, a pure loud sweet outpouring, so I went to see this marvel. I pictured some beautiful creature as colorful as its song, but it wasn't there. All I could see was a plain brown little bird, hardly larger than a sparrow and even less prepossessing in appearance. Then it opened its little beak, and the world was once again filled with the song of an angel.

The line from Ecclesiastes immediately popped into my head: He has made everything beautiful in its time. But the beauty “in its time” was not the little bird; it was my appreciation of it. The bird was there and filled with radiant beauty all the time; it was only for the moment of hearing its song that I was able to perceive the beauty. God gave me the moment of song, so restricted in time and place, that I might know something was there all along; I just had not been able to perceive it.

Even more so, I was surely the only human alive who heard this specific song. As an act of human appreciation, at least, the song was sung for me and me alone. The bird no doubt had other ideas; still, I felt singled out for a tiny bit of magnificent beauty.

Then I noticed something. Little motions in the shrubs and trees. Something briefly overhead. The static-looking bit of ordinary suburban landscape around me hid uncountable worlds of life; all I had to do was see it, hear it, smell it. This is God at work, for I realized, it was not by my effort that I found the beauty. I did not go to it — it came to me. I was sitting at my computer when the song intruded into my isolation, when the ordinary humdrum landscape decided to call me.

We are not meant to see everything. “God has set the world in [our] heart,” so that none of us can know all of it. But an infinitesimal small part of the beauty in the world is beyond infinity in what it gives us. If we see a star in the evening sky, we know there are a hundred billion stars in a hundred billion galaxies. God calls us to know His bounty by a single instance.

And so, the Holy Spirit is infinitely great, and God’s mercies number greater than the stars. We are not allowed to actually see or know them all, in either space or time; in face, our time and space are minuscule, a few dozen years and a few hundred feet among trillions. But we are given more than we need. If we are called, if we are open to hearing and seeing and knowing, God will call us in holiness in our tiny time and space, as surely as the little bird called to me in beauty.

Lord God, thank you for your personal contact with me. Amen.

Treasure in the Bank

I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him.

~ Ephesians 1:18

Usually when we think of praying for people, it is the poor, the sick, and other people with problems. But in our passage from Ephesians, Paul says, in effect, that he is so joyful at the faith shown by the church at Ephesus that he prays for them! How much we should remember to pray thanks for our salvation and faith, lest we forget we have it.

When Heinrich Schliemann, the child of a poor Luthern minister, was seven years old, a picture of ancient Troy in flames captured his imagination. Somehow, Heinrich refused to believe that Homer’s great poems were fictional. The Iliad and the Odyssey, he persisted, had to be based on history. So - he set out to prove it. And in 1873, he discovered the site of ancient Troy (along with some fabulous treasure, which he smuggled out of the country, much to the anger of the Turkish government).

Schliemann became a famous, wealthy man because he dared to believe an ancient record and act on his faith. We discovered that we were “born rich” when we trusted Christ. But this is not enough, for we must grow in our understanding of our riches if we are ever going to use them to the glory of God.

Too many Christians have never “read their bank statement” to find out the vast spiritual wealth that God has deposited into their account through Jesus Christ. They are like William Randolph Hearst, who, reading about some wonderful antique treasures, decided he had to own them. He sent out his purchasing agent to locate them and the man found them - in Hearst’s own warehouse. Hearst had been searching frantically for treasures he already owned! Had he read the catalog of his treasures, he would have saved himself a great deal of money and trouble. Just so, Paul desired the Ephesian Christians to understand what great wealth they had in Christ.

Heavenly Father, let me keep always in my heart the wisdom of hope that comes from knowing You. Amen.

Drawing God Closer to Us

Every word of God is flawless. Do not add to his words or He will rebuke you and prove you a liar.

~ Proverbs 30:5-6

Most of the people reading this will be concerned, already, with deepening their faith and drawing nearer to God. Knowing how wonderful is our God, we want Him to come always closer to us, to be with us every moment of our lives. We have felt and tasted how good the joy of the Lord can be, and we want more. How, though, do we get God more fully into our lives?

James' epistle promises us, “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.” (James 4:8) Surely, this is a good place to start.

I want to concentrate, in this brief message, on conforming our thoughts and beliefs to those of God. How can we possibly please God if we do not know what He wants? It would seem to be an easy enough task, for God has given us an instruction manual: The Bible. These are God’s words, given to us that we might learn about Him. Not that the Bible is an easy read: Much of it takes work to understand, especially when we wrestle with the epistles in the New Testament.

But the Bible is intended to be read. And having been read, God intends that it educate us. We draw closer to God — and thus, God draws closer to us — only if we are willing to change our minds to conform to what we read. It sounds simple enough, but it is nigh impossible, for we are filled with pride in our thoughts. And once we get past 40 or so, it becomes almost impossible. We become convinced that we know what is true and false, what is right and wrong — and if the Bible disagrees with us, we find a way to ignore it!

What does the Bible say about us, when we prefer the version of the Bible in our mind to the version in the Book? “Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.” (Mark 10:13-16) In other words, we must read the Bible like a child, empty of preconceptions. Where our ideas conflict with it, we must change our ideas, instead of changing the Bible. Our minds must be born again.

The act of reading the Bible without preconception is counterintuitive. Our human nature, and our interaction with the world, teaches us to defend our ideas. To read and absorb something we do not like is painful. The temptation to find what we want to find in the Bible, rather than what is actually said by God, is horrendously difficult. My own thought about why — or at least one reason why — we find it so difficult, is that much of the Bible goes against our worldly knowledge about how to succeed in life.

We want to be powerful, for example. We want to rule the government. We want to be rich. We crave acceptance, praise, even adulation of other people. We want to follow our instincts. We want sex, we want to have long lives, we want to be beautiful. We want God to approve of our friends and allies. We want to be wise, or at least have others think we are wise.

But all of these thoughts and desires inevitably come into conflict with God’s Word. How can we possibly cope? It is an automatic and even unconscious process, this subversion of the Bible to our own desires.

We must constantly renew our childishness. Some spiritual practices become easier and easier as we get older. Certainly, most people are less tempted to sexual immorality as they age. We may learn that money and fame are fleeting, and find it easier to resist pursuing them. But there is a downside, for we become ever more “fixed in our ways.”

I will testify to this: Every person can grow in joy and contentment by reading the Bible, if they are willing to change their minds to accord with what they read. God will draw closer to us as we draw closer to God.

Lord, let me draw closer to you in my ideas and thoughts, abandoning the ideas of my own mind. Amen.

Babbling 5/14

When you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this:

~ Matthew 6:7-9

Luke 11:1 tells us that Christ was “praying in a certain place” when the apostles came to Him to ask for guidance on prayer. Perhaps His example spurred them to ask; they saw that He did something they did not, and they wished to become more like Him. People, at least if they have any spiritual sense at all, feel a natural need to pray; but sometimes we get stumped or feel a bit lost, especially when we are starting out, on just what to pray.

To pray is to come into intimate contact with God; in fact His Holy Spirit is physically present with us when we pray. It is a gift sent to us after Jesus left us, and God sent the Spirit not simply for our benefit, but also because He wants us to know Him. Prayer can be a bit selfish — we do and are encouraged to take our needs to Christ in prayer — but we also submit ourselves to Him in the process, knowing that the answer will have a wisdom that our limited vision of what we want can never have. God knows what we need before we ask; it is the opportunity to be in communion with Him that is important, and also the opportunity for us to hear and learn — sometimes without realizing it — how God wants us to change.

The Lord’s Prayer is recited mechanically a million, a billion, times every day; but it was intended as an experience to change our lives. Even the person, I imagine, who runs through the words without thought on a regular basis eventually must be affected by them. They will seep into our mind. Of course, Jesus warns against “heaping up empty phrases like Gentiles” or “babbling like pagans.” He wants us to think about what we pray, to question, to say what we are really thinking, to mean our praise and put some heart into it, and to listen for answers when we ask questions. So at least on occasion, say the Lord’s Prayer and pause to meditate on the meaning of each phrase. It holds enormous power for us.

Lord, lead me in my prayer life, for I desperately want a closer communion with you. Amen.

Slogans 5/13

Slogans

So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

~ 1 Corinthians 3:7

When my son, Danny, was a little boy, I was helping him with his spelling words for school. One word on the list was “turkey.” For some reason, he had a hang-up on only this particular word. He spelled all the other words with ease. I ended up singing a song to the Mickey Mouse theme, “M-I-C-K-E-Y,” but put in the letters, “T-U-R-K-E-Y” and with that, he learned to spell the word.

Advertisers learned long ago that a great little song or slogan helps one to remember the product. I can still recall the telephone number of a plumber and a flooring company only by their short songs. I know that “What’s in your wallet?” is Capital One, and “Don’t leave home without it.” is American Express. I know that M&M’s, “Melt in your mouth, not in your hands,” and “We know a thing or two because we’ve seen a thing or two” is Farmers Insurance. How would I know this when, most of the time, I fast-forward through commercials? I guess in the one or two times I heard them, they stuck in my head.

I have even seen ministries and churches use slogans to bring people into the doors. It’s not necessarily wrong to employ these types of advertising strategies to lure people to God, but unfortunately, attracting them for one visit and keeping them to grow roots is a whole different story. Usually, most companies believe that if the consumers try their product once, they will return to be a regular purchaser. That is the best strategy of all.

When we sow our seeds of Christ, we want the message to fall into good soil. We want it to grow roots. We can water and fertilize it in several ways. “Be all that you can be” (United States Army) by keeping well grounded in Christ. “Obey your thirst” (Sprite) by quenching yourself daily in God’s word, and “Just do It!” (Nike). “The greatest tragedy is indifference” (Red Cross), so “Care enough to send the very best.” (Hallmark) “All you add is love.” (Ralston Purina) The real thing is not Coke but Christ. After we have done our job, the growth is up to God.

Sow your seeds and tend the young plants with God’s love, making them feel welcomed, accepted, and cherished. Once they taste and see that the Lord is good they will be like David who said, “I was glad when they said unto me, ‘Let us go into the house of the Lord.’”

Help me, Lord, to sow your seeds of love. Please help me to work the soil, and bring nourishment to allow roots to take hold. In Christ, I pray, Amen.

~ Jenny Calvert

Running to God 5/12

Running to God

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.

~ Romans 8:26

I remember as a child, when I would fall down and scrape my knee, I would go running to mom. With arms and legs flying, blood running down my leg and my mouth wide open crying, I would lunge at her knowing that she could make all things better. With a little first aid care, including a Band-Aid, and the best part, a kiss and an embrace could somehow make the pain a lot less.

I read an excerpt from an author who said that she was always amazed at how some people, when they pray, plunge into their requests before acknowledging who God is. The Lord’s Prayer teaches us to begin our prayer with acclamation of God’s holiness, “Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.” The example that Jesus gave us is perfect, and it is the best way to start our prayers on a normal basis.

There are times however, in our lives where we are in extreme turmoil, so much so that the only thing we can utter is, “Help!” We run to God, with arms and legs flying and our mouths wide open crying. We lunge at Him to be kissed and embraced by His love. We don’t necessarily bow down and proclaim who He is first, because we are in pain and going to Him is our acknowledgment of who He is. We are like children running home with our scraped knees to mom. Mom knows we love her, she knows who she was without us proclaiming it, and the fact that we came to her first, is our proclamation of her importance.

When we run to God, don’t worry about what you say, or how you say it. God listens. He loves His children and is willing to apply first aid to our hurts. He wants to hold us in His arms. He enjoys kissing and telling us He loves us. Running to God is exactly what He desires. So, run to God! Run for dear life!

Dear Lord, Help! I need you! Amen

The Faith Of A Child 5/11

The Faith Of A Child

“Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

~ Matthew 18:3

This morning, on my knees, I asked God, ”What do you want me to write about today? Show me Lord and I will be your vessel.” When I got up, I went to my computer, still not knowing the words He was going to give me. My beginning title was, Pretend Faith,, but then God answered, and my title changed.

I heard a knock, knock at the front door. I went to answer, and there was my little 5-year-old grandson, his hand clasping a wad of dollar bills. He did not speak one word to me, but marched straight to his grandpa’s big money jar, and put his wadded bills in there. He was going to march straight out without a word, but I grabbed him, picked him up, gave him a kiss, and said, “I am so proud of you, and God is too. God is watching you, and you just made Him smile. Grandma will remember this.” I put him down, and he marched right back to the car where his mother was waiting, without a single word spoken.

You see, the night before, he had stolen money out of that jar, and his mother caught him. She made him put all the money back. He did it in two trips, because he also found some money hidden in his pocket. I told him on his second trip, that God did not like stealing, however because he was being obedient, I would reward him and that I loved him for being honest. I also told him that anytime he needed money, just to ask, and we would be happy to supply his need. So, this morning, I assumed he was returning more money he had taken. That was not the case.

His mother came to me and said, “You know that was not your money he was returning this time. He collected his own money, and said he wanted to put it in grandpa’s jar.” His mom told him he did not have to do this, but he insisted.

I’m not really sure of his intentions. He may have thought about making God happy, but more than likely he was thinking of his reward. Either way, it’s perfectly fine with me, and his actions were oh so cute. I would have given him any amount he needed. Grandpa and I love him so much.

I think God looks at us like that at times. We steal money, time, love, service, and devotion from Him when we do not give what rightfully already belongs to Him. He sees us sheepishly come back with our hands wadded with our things, giving it back to Him, admitting our erroneous ways. He loves us so, and He does reward us for our obedient hearts.

So God’s devotional today is, come to Him! Give Him your heart. That is the first and foremost thing He wants. He loves us. He wants our love. He is not asking for much, as He gave His all when He sent His Son Jesus, to die on the cross, taking the punishment we deserved. March in to Him without one word spoken. He can hear the groaning of your heart. He will scoop you up in His arms and tell you He loves you, He’s proud of you, and He has a reward, just for you! Come with the faith of a child to Him!

Dearest Jesus, Thank you for taking my punishment. I do love you. Help me to show that love to others. Amen

~ Jenny Calvert

The Bible is True 5/10

The Bible is True

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

~ Hebrews 13:8

One of the most profound acts of obedience we can make to God is to believe what He says, when what He says is different from what we think. Indeed, changing a person’s mind can be a huge task . . . even when that person is ourselves. Human psychology can be puzzling. Why do we cling so stubbornly to what we learn as children, even when we learn, beyond any doubt, that it is incorrect? Or why do we defend ideas about religion, politics, and all manner of subjects, as if our lives depended on our ideas being right, even when the ideas are clearly wrong—or at least, just matters of opinion—and not particularly important, to boot?

I'll tell you a short story about a divinity student. I heard this from a young assistant pastor in a class, once. We were talking about Revelation, and how hard it is to glean specific facts from the enormous mass of imagery. It is generally impossible to determine which statements are plain statements of fact, and which are metaphor. This young pastor related that he knew a student, in divinity school, who was a “dispensational premillennialist” and would not even speak to other students who believed otherwise!

There are many and very different interpretations of Revelation 20. “Dispensational premillennialists” believe that there will be a pre-tribulation rapture. “Historical premillennialists” believe that Christ will not return until the end of the Great tribulation and that Christians will suffer for the faith as they bring forth the final witness associated with the 5th seal of the book of Revelation. Is your brain dizzy yet? There are also “amillennialists” who believe that Christ is presently reigning through the Church, and that the 1000 years of Revelation 20:1-6 is a metaphorical reference to the present church age. There are also a large number of “post-millennialists”!

But all of these theologies, and many variants, have one thing in common. They do not make one whit of difference to us. Our faithfulness, our obedience, our actions, the means of salvation and the nature of God, are utterly unaffected by this intellectual trap. It is a variant of the most famous theological absurdity: How many angels can dance on the head of a pin? And the more time Christians spend considering and arguing about such things, the less time they spend helping the poor, preaching the salvation of Christ, praying, and all the other clear actions Christ commanded us to take.

So this divinity student got so lost in the bizarre world of Revelation 20 that he lost sight of a clear and important teaching about which there is no room for disagreement: “I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.” 1 Corinthians 1:10.

We can see the evil effect of taking our opinions too seriously by remembering this young divinity student. Where the Bible states something clearly, we must be willing to change our opinions and conform ourselves to the Word of God. The Bible’s statements about Christian unity and harmony are crystal clear; beliefs about millennialism are the product of unclear Bible verses being interpreted by fallible human minds.

Where the Bible is clear, we must follow it, no matter how badly we want to believe something different. Moreover, we must appreciate one of the greatest things about the Bible: It never changes. Unless some inept or dishonest translator has altered the meaning in translation, it is the same now as it was 2,000 years ago. It is a fixed anchor in a world where human thought can drift into all sorts of error.

Let nobody tell us “times have changed” and therefore we may alter or ignore teachings we don’t like. Is the Bible the Word of God, or is it not? Is not God eternal? Did He not know we would be reading His Bible in the 21st century? Was He unable to tell us where parts of His Bible were contingent on societal norms? Society cannot change the Bible, for the very purpose of it is to tell us where society has gone wrong!

Christ appears as “the Word” in the first sentence of John’s Gospel, meaning that He was present at the beginning of time. There is one Christ and He never changes.

Lord, let me always remember that your Word is perfect and timeless. Amen.

Wings Like Eagles

But those who wait on the Lord

Shall renew their strength;

They shall mount up with wings like eagles,

They shall run and not be weary,

They shall walk and not faint.

~ Isaiah 40:31

We want things done in our own time; but when we realize that God loves us and that we are important to Him, we can know that He requires patience. God’s timing is better than ours. He always answers prayers. He might say “yes”; He might say “no.” (And, according to Jimmy Carter, He might say “You’ve got to be kidding.”) But very often, His response is “yes, but not now.” If we recognize how important we are to God, we will realize that what He is actually telling us is “Yes, but I love you too much to give you your prayer prematurely.”

Sometimes I think that God delays answering prayers simply because He wants us to learn, for our own good, to depend upon him. In Hebrew (ruach) and Greek (pneuma), the word for “wind” and the word for “spirit” are the same. And thus, when Isaiah wrote that we shall mount up with wings like eagles, there is some wordplay going on. God’s spirit is to us like the wind is to the great soaring birds. They do not even have to flap their wings to rise higher and higher.

Usually when we read in Scripture about a great victory by one of the saints, or Christ Himself, the event is the culmination of a long period. God works on a long clock. He took 1500 years to train the Hebrews for the coming of Christ, and the church age has been going on for 2000 years.

We have to learn to wait upon God. We have faith in Him, so we can trust His timing to be correct. Impatience is an attribute of children, and God seems to be waiting for some sort of maturity to be reached over a period of time before Christ comes again. So the word for the day: Be patient. All good things will come to us, when the time is right.

Lord God, give me patience in all things; teach me to trust you completely, including the timing of all things to come. Amen.

The Wonder-Worker

All the nations that you’ve made will come and bow down before you, Lord; they will glorify your name, because you are awesome and a wonder-worker. You are God. Just you.

~ Psalm 86:9-10

The Platters released a recording of the song “Only You” in 1955. Since then, other artists have recorded this song because of its great melody with beautiful words. The lyrics hold an even deeper message when we change a few words and put God or Christ in for the term “you.”

With a few changes in the lyrics, the words would go something like this: Only God can make this world seem right. Only God can make the darkness bright. Only God and God alone can thrill me as He does and fills my heart with love for everyone. Only Christ can make this change in me. For it’s true, He is my destiny. When He holds my hand, I understand the miracle He does. He’s my dream come true, my one and only God.

The Psalms are songs to God, and with a few changes, many love songs today could be our songs to God. The Psalmist in today’s scripture said basically, “Only you--God, just you, are an awesome wonder-worker.” Yes, God is precisely that. God not only makes the world seem right but made it right through His Son. Only God can turn the darkness of our hearts in His light. He thrills us daily with His graceful gifts of mercy. God fills our hearts to overflowing with His bountiful love.

When we place our trust in Christ and allow Him to hold our hands, He will make an incredible change in us by making our destiny steadfast and sure. He also performs His magic in what we call miracles of changed hearts, forgiven sins, restored souls, and hope eternal. It’s a wonder-working dream come true, the reality of the highest, most glorious magnitude when we acknowledge Christ as our Lord and Savior.

There is no other like Christ Jesus, our redeemer, and friend. When we come to God through His Son, Jesus, our world will change, and He will put a new song in our hearts. As the melody to “Only You” plays in your head today, let it be a praise song to Him, because let’s face it; there is only one who fills our deepest needs. Raise your voice and sing, “You’re my dream come true, my one, and only you!”

Thank you, Father, for being my Wonder-Worker. I love you. Amen

A Cheerful Heart

In the world you will have tribulation. But, take heart; I have overcome the world.

~ John 16:33

Our faith is tested in times of trouble. It might be easy enough to put on the mental clothing of a Christian when all is well: when we feel good and our health is robust, when we have plenty of money, when our loved ones are happy. But how do we react when we discover we have a serious, painful, possibly fatal illness? When a doctor tells us we are going blind? When our pension is wiped out in some sort of financial meltdown or securities fraud?

I have seen people repudiate Christ when a husband or wife or child dies. This is, truly, a tragedy, and one which is incomprehensible to me. How can one lose faith during a time of tribulation? It is life taking off a life jacket when we find out our ship is sinking. It is like cancelling our health insurance, when we learn we are seriously ill.

Looking at it from one perspective, the reason we spend so much time in prayer and good works, the reason we learn to love Christ, is that He is the only answer to life’s worst afflictions. Our only hope to overcome death, and pain, and loss, is our hope in Christ. We have faith that He can and will deliver on His promise: eternal life spent in the joy of knowing God, face to face.

Our faith is tested by life in this world. If we are saved, our love for Christ will abide through every sort of trouble. Our faith in God will remain steadfast, no matter the temptation to blame Him for our pains. But here is the kicker: if we know Christ and our faith is strong, we will not suffer so much.

Christ is the only antidote for death. He is our doctor who has promised to return and “cure” us, when our body inevitably sickens and dies. But there is an extra benefit: The cheerful heart that we get from our faith, the joy that comes from life in the Spirit, remediates our suffering even when it is occurring. Through Christ, we not only escape the pain of death; we also escape much of the pain of dying!

“Come unto me,” He urges, “all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28) “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” (Isaiah 41:10)

What do we tell a child who has the measles or the flu, and cannot go out and play? “You’ll feel better in no time, I promise.” The greatest comfort we can have, if we are ill, is to know that we will feel better soon. The pain is temporary. And this is exactly what Christ promises us. “Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid,” he urges us.

And if our faith is strong . . . it works! We feel better, knowing that our pain will end in perfect joy. How much easier it is, to spend the night in a hard, cold place, if we know that we will be released in the morning to a world of warmth and comfort. And that is exactly the truth that Christ tells us.

So we need never give in to pain, to sorrow, to depression. No matter how much it hurts today, it will be gone tomorrow. We can adopt our future joy into our lives today.

Lord, let me always be cheerful, for I know that any trouble I encounter in life is short-lived. Let me look to the reality of heaven, even when my temporary circumstances on earth are difficult. Amen.

The Greek Answer to the Meaning of Life

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

~ Matthew 7:7

I try to restrain myself from talking about the Greek or Hebrew original text of the Bible — with mixed success — because when I hear teachers do it, it turns off the audience and adds little or nothing to their message. (Not to mention, about 99.9% of the time they say something wrong.)

But there is an important lesson to be learned from the original of this passage, because in the Greek New Testament, all three verbs in Matthew 7:7 — ask, seek, knock — are in the present tense rather than the simple imperative tense.

Greek uses tenses very differently from the way English does. What is called the “present” tense does not necessarily say anything about when an action occurs! If you want to say, “Give me the book at the present time,” in ancient Greek, you do not use the present tense. (I’m sorry if this is confusing, but it is a confusing subject; divinity students, who receive two semesters of introductory Greek, generally never are able to grasp how differently Greek uses tense.)

Instead, and unlike English, the “present” tense is used to indicate continuous or habitual action — whether now or ten years from now (or sometimes even ten years in the past). “With the present, the force generally is to command the action as an ongoing process.” (The Basics of New Testament Syntax, by Daniel B. Wallace (Zondervan, 2000), p. 210.)

That does put the quote in a different light, doesn't it? Do we knock once, asking to be let in; and then once we are in, we stop knocking? No, that is not what the Bible says. The Bible says, “Knock, ask, and seek continually and habitually.”

A lot of people do exactly that. Their church life and personal spiritual life becomes settled and set. But this is not what Christ tells us to do. We are supposed to knock on his door every day. He is not a stressed-out homeowner and we are not residential telecom salesmen; He has invited us, nay, He has commanded us, to knock on his door habitually.

The other two parts are even clearer. We should certainly ask Him for what we want every day, but it is the “seek” part where we really have a chance to do ourselves a favor: For the wise person will seek God every minute of every day of his life; this is the meaning of the Scripture. This is such a powerful action that it constitutes, in my mind, the meaning of life.

So many people live in an anxious, confused existentialist state, trying to ponder the “meaning of life.” And yet, they never knock on the one door that will open for them and give them the answer, much less do so continually or habitually. Seek after Christ and, if you think you have found Him, keep on seeking. He isn't hiding. We only have trouble finding Him because we are blind. But it is in the trying to know Him that our lives are filled with purpose; for it is the highest and best goal of humanity.

Lord, let me seek you every waking minute of my life. Amen.

Loving the Stranger

You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

~ Deuteronomy 10:19

The term “stranger” here imperfectly translates the persons to whom the commandment applies. To the Hebrews, a stranger was a person of another race or culture who lived, or sought to live, among them; what we would call a “Gentile.” In other words, the quote means “love the foreigner living among you.” Some Bibles, in fact, replace the word “stranger” with the phrase “foreigner living among you.”

The admonition caused the Jews of the Old Testament a great deal of consternation, for there were also rules, given under the Law of Moses, that forbade the Hebrews from some forms of interaction with Gentiles. Primarily, they were to “destroy” the tribes living in Canaan. They were required to tear down all of these tribes’ altars and heathen statues, they could make no covenant with them, and they could not intermarry with them. Deut. 7. In some specific cases, they were required to annihilate them, e.g., in Jericho the Hebrews “utterly destroyed everything in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword.” Joshua 6:21.

But Deuteronomy gives a reason for these extreme measures. Intimate dealings with these tribes, and especially marriage, might cause the Hebrew to adopt their religious practices, such as the worship of idols. Deuteronomy 7:4.

We do not have nearly enough space here to flesh out the Hebrews’ proper relationship to Gentiles. The rules changed over time, applied with different force to different tribes (eventually, the grandchildren of marriage to Egyptians and Moabites would be accepted as Jews), and primarily dealt with marriage. What is clear is this: by the time of Christ, the extreme and nit-picking discrimination against Gentiles living in Canaan, created and enforced by the Pharisees, came from their own minds and not from the commandments of God.

We see the error of the Pharisees time and time again in the Gospels. They had stretched the rules to the extreme of forbidding Jews from eating with Gentiles; yet Christ freely ate with Gentiles. (E.g. Mark 2:15-17.) But Christ’s greatest pronouncement came in the parable of the Good Samaritan. The parable was a gloss to the pronouncement, “Love thy neighbor as thyself,” when He was asked, “Who then is my neighbor?” His answer was, in short, “Your ‘neighbor’ might be a Samaritan.” The inhabitants of Samaria were great enemies of Judea. Furthermore, Christ traveled to Samaria, spoke with a Samaritan “woman at the well” (John 4:4–42), and in all things treated them as He would treat a fellow Jew. (John 4.)

Christians have a similar problem, for the Bible tells us not to “yoke ourselves to non-believers.” (2 Cor. 6:14) We should not marry a non-Christian, yet, if we find ourselves married to one, we should not divorce him or her. (1 Cor. 7:12-13.) Most commentators believe that we should read this to mean that we may not become so closely bound to non-believers that we become participants to sin or find ourselves tempted away from the gospel.

Yet, like the Hebrews of old, we must love the foreigners who live among us. No matter where we live — in the United States, in Nigeria, in Brazil — we are going to have immigrants living with us, both Christian and non-Christian, whom it would be easy to dislike. Some of them will look odd to us, perhaps smell odd, speak our language with difficulty (if at all), dress oddly, have peculiar ideas about things, etc.

How does the Bible tell us to treat such people? Without any doubt whatsoever, it commands us to love them. If they are Christians, we must seek to treat them just as we treat Christians who are native-born. If they are non-Christians, we must still love them, although we might keep a bit more distance so that we do not become “yoked” to them.

Lord, let me always treat foreigners living in my community with love. Amen.