As the deer pants for streams of water ...

This morning I have read Psalm 42, and seen David’s words: “When shall I come and appear before God?”
After a couple of weeks absent from our congregation because of sickness, and now by emergency COVID-19 restrictions, I am better able to appreciate David’s longing.
Charles Spurgeon commented, “He who loves the Lord loves also the assemblies wherein his name is adored. Vain are all pretences to religion where the outward means of grace have no attraction. David was never so much at home as in the house of the Lord; he was not content with private worship; he did not forsake the place where saints assemble, as the manner of some is.”
I appreciate the opportunity of worshipping with the help of electronic means that so many churches including my own are providing, and thank God for them. Nonetheless it will be wonderful to worship again shoulder to shoulder with brothers and sisters in Christ.

March 19, 2020

How is Our World Doing?

Have you ever looked out on the world and wished you could do something to relieve its agony? I have. We’re not the only ones. Two millennia ago Jesus looked at the state of the world and saw that it was time to offer the sacrifice He and the Father had planned. He therefore humbled Himself and became one of us, to set in motion the atonement that would liberate all generations of His people and deliver them to eternal life with Him - and one another - in a new earth under new heavens. 1/

”For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.” 2/

1/ John 3:16-17; 2 Peter 3:13. New American Standard Bible, NASB
2/ Romans 5:6–11.NASB

Political strife, a barrier to communication of truth ...

Christians, of all people, ought to appreciate that engaging in political strife creates a barrier to communication. 

Especially to communicating the good news about Jesus Christ. 

If we want anyone to consider the truth about Jesus, we must express all things we believe to be true in his spirit; not like gladiators. 

If our belief in Christ is true, we will conduct ourselves in politics in the spirit he displayed. 

“Strife” has been described as, “bitter sometimes violent conflict or dissension.” “Discussion”, on the other hand, has been called, “consideration of a question in open and usually informal debate.” 

I believe Christians must as citizens participate in earnest conversation and advocacy about important questions; but not engage in strife. Of course an earnest discussion can trend toward strife, but a godly spirit can restrain the trend. 

May I myself heed this caution: Earnest conversation and advocacy can lead toward truth and understanding. No one knows where unrestrained strife or conflict leads.

10-18-2019

The Good News - Live it or Hide it?

There is justifiable concern that candidates for president have expressed willingness to use tax laws to force conformity of religious institutions with social thought about sex and marriage. What are Christians to do?
Rather than retreating into silence in the face of outcry against God in our time, should we not live, breath and speak the gospel truth with loving conviction even as we seem to hold an increasingly disadvantaged position in the culture?
Let’s consider some old-time people who believed God is to be worshipped, loved, and honored.
While captives in Babylon, the Jewish men Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego took courage and spoke for the Lord and refused to bow to the idol set before them by King Nebudchanezzar. He condemned them to death and set in motion the machinery of execution. Yet look at the power that changed the king’s heart about the Lord! (Daniel 3 & 4)
Likewise the case of Daniel. (Daniel 6)
Don’t we Christians, their spiritual successors, underestimate our ability to arouse amazement about our God by faithful life and speech even when events put us in a seemingly weaker position vis a vis government?
We must diligently defend freedom of speech and the free exercise of faith, and most importantly we must live and express our faith!

October 14, 2019

A spiritual question plagues me ...

The personal choices of Christians don’t bind or represent the church.

If I were not already a person who believes in Jesus Christ, would I be likely to believe in him if I were convinced he is the ally of my political enemy?

I mean, shouldn’t Christians ponder whether we are screening Jesus from view when we seem to identify the church with any political leader or political movement?

How do we square affiliation of the church with a political leader or political movement when the Bible says, “Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.”
Psalm 146:3

And, “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.” Zechariah 4:6.

Christians can and should make choices about political leaders and political movements they will support as a civic duty in a Republic. Jesus said to the religious authorities of his day, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” Mark 12:17

I repeat, the personal choices of Christians don’t bind or represent the church.

If we represent our civic choices as the choice of Christ’s church, we misrepresent Christ. If we misrepresent Christ, how can anyone believe we are carrying his message of salvation?

How easily pride sneaks up ...

How easily I see the need of other people for correction. How often I think I recognize the attitude that is leading them to err. How slowly I realize that their bad attitude is one I have indulged in myself!

I am not bold enough to describe myself as a peacemaker: that’s a judgement for someone else to make. I have been trained as a conflict coach and mediator, however. In those roles I have mediated a number of conflicts. Early on I began seeing attitudes in people that impeded reconciliation.

In time I recognized that the bad attitudes typically originated in what the ancients described as “pride” -  the certainty that I am right and that the only good outcome is the one I desire. 

I made a mental note to stay away from this kind of pride. I have failed. That’s because I’m unaware of it when it grips me. It sneaks up on me! 

How easily pride sneaks up …

I have read of the destructive effect of pride in historical figures like the capable revolutionary war general Benedict Arnold, a traitor. I get a self righteous impulse to say “I’d never go there.” Then I do, within the context of my much less spectacular life.

I was preparing to write a piece on the destructive power of pride in public men, when my grandchildren dropped in. Feeling I was engaged in an important scholarly investigation, I begrudged them but little time and attention. My wife kindly asked me if I was feeling well. Suddenly I realized I was practicing the same kind of flawed conduct I was hastening to point out in two prominent American military men!

The next time the grandchildren came over, I reminded myself over and over of the reason we moved into a home two blocks from them: to be close to our family. Not to write judgmental articles about public figures now long dead.

May God grant that I never again forget why He has left me here. To pursue what He considers good. And may He forgive and correct me if pride sneaks up on me successfully again and I give in

What can possibly be wrong with pride?

If I hear someone say about me, “He is proud of his achievements,” how tempting it is to for me to consider that a compliment. However, the statement is not a compliment if the person means “He is preoccupied with his achievements and, in his own mind, is the leading person in the drama that is his life.”

In the preceding sentence I paraphrased a statement that author Nathaniel Philbrick made in His book “Valiant Ambition” about the Revolutionary War traitor Benedict Arnold.

Arnold was a very successful American general till pride took him down the road to ruin.

Shall I not ask myself, “Is my pride taking me to a different place?” Scripture says: “Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’” 1 Peter 5:5 (ESV)