Forgiveness
Forgiveness is good for you! Nelson Mandela took a bit of proverbial wisdom and made it his: “Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.” Others had said it before him, but Mandela lived it out in a public way, showing nothing but forgiveness toward those who kept him in prison. When inaugurated as President of South Africa, Mandela even invited one of the prison guards to the ceremony. Studies have shown resentment to be harmful to our health, while forgiveness has the opposite effect. A 2004 Harvard study found five principal benefits to forgiveness: Reduced stress Better heart health Stronger relationships Reduced pain Greater happiness Jesus offered more powerful reasons. One is that we forgive others because God forgives us. He told the story of a man who was forgiven an impossible debt who then had another man thrown into prison because of a much smaller debt. God is willing to forgive every one of our sins; how can we then turn around and be unforgiving toward others? Jesus said: “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins” (Matthew 6:14-15). Forgiveness is good for you. Resentment is harmful. The choice should be easy, yet we often find ourselves keeping a record of the wrongs done against us. Let me encourage you to let them go. Forgive. Move on with your life, focusing on the future and not the past. Find the peace that God can bring to your life when you’re willing to forgive. To talk more about forgiveness, write to me at tarcher@heraldoftruth.org or join the discussion at www.hopeforlife.org. (Expressed written consent must be obtained prior to republishing, retransmitting or otherwise reusing the content of this article. Contact us at info@hopeforlife.org) About the author: Tim Archer is the author of Church Inside Out and leads a seminar by the same name on behalf of Hope For Life, a Herald of Truth ministry.
I Will Not Abandon You, Ever!
What can we really expect the Spirit to do for us, today, in our world? The articles in “The Jesus Window” section for 2021 will be tied to our daily Bible reading that takes us through the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) once each quarter. Our reading focus this past week has been on John chapters 15-21. (Download the “Chasing Jesus” reading plan.) Years ago, we were going to a new church. When it came time to head home one evening, we could not find our 22-month-old son. He had been with us just a few moments earlier, but as they were turning off the lights and closing the building, Zach was nowhere to be found. The building was new turf for him. He didn’t know his way around. Worst of all, we didn’t know his favorite places in the building. All the lights, except a few in the foyer, were off. Donna and I were frantic! What if he made it to the street with it already dark outside with busy streets on both sides? Where could he be? How had he gotten away so quickly? Why wasn’t he crying? I began a search of the parking lot and the street. Donna searched through all the classrooms in the children’s wing. She found him in his Sunday morning classroom. The lights were off, but a window let light from the parking lot filter through the vertical blinds into where Zach played quietly with the teaching props. He was perfectly happy, playing with a few toys in near-total darkness. He talked and sang his Sunday school songs, unaware of his crazed parents looking for him. He didn’t feel alone in that room because he was in a place where people who loved him taught him to talk to God in prayer. They had spoken to him about God loving little children in this room where he now sat in darkness. This Bible classroom was home for him. He could be alone and unafraid because his church classroom was a familiar and safe place. We had telescoped our fear for our lost son onto him. We expected him to be frantic because he was alone and lost. We had transposed our adult fears onto him. Most of us know the terror of being a child who momentarily is lost. Many of us remember a time when we thought we were left alone as a child. Adults who are left alone and left behind collide with even deeper pain. Think of these jarring adult realities: Left at the altar. Left alone in ER after a beloved one dies. Left alone to pay the bills after a business partner has stolen funds. Left by a rebellious child who has run away from home determined to leave behind all the values a parent holds dear. Abandoned by a parent who left you alone as a child so she or he could live her or his own life. Left alone after having been served divorce papers by an officer of the court, surprised, devastated, and in shock. Jesus’ disciples were about to be left behind by their Lord. So, Jesus shared with them some of the most beautiful and comforting words ever recorded: [Jesus said,] “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am (John 14:1-3). As beautiful as these words can be in times of death, our question remains: “What do we do when we feel alone… today… at this moment in history… in the depths of our isolation… in our darkest moments of chaos and uncertainty?” Jesus’ words of comfort don’t stop with his promise that he is preparing a place for us with the Father later. They don’t stop with his promise to come back to take us home with him later. Jesus makes the following promises based upon the Holy Spirit’s coming to us and living in us, NOW: “I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you” (John 14:18). “I too will love [you] and show myself to [you]” (John 14:21). “My Father will love [you], and we will come to [you] and make our home with [you]” (John 14:23). “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14:26). Because of the Holy Spirit within us, Jesus reminds us that we will never be alone. The Spirit will live in us and make our heart the home for “all the fullness of God” living within us (Ephesians 3:16-19). God never abandons, forgets, or leaves us on our own (Romans 8:26-39). God is not only near; he is also present within us. Until the Father is ready for us to come home to him, He chooses to make his home in each of us! We are never left behind. The Spirit is always there with us, within us, to do God’s work and bring God’s blessings to us! (For a list of some of the things the Spirit does for us, with us, and through us, see the list at the end of this article.) Several months ago, I walked out into a field from my truck. It was a cold, dark, crisp morning, two hours before the sun would come up. There were no clouds in the sky. It was a new moon, so there was no moonlight. The first two hundred yards of my half-mile hike was a bit treacherous, so I used a green light to walk carefully yet not scare the wildlife. Once on an old
Broken Bread
Why is it so important to recognize that the bread is broken? Because we are broken, too! Scripture: [Jesus] replied, “You give them something to eat.” They answered, “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish – unless we go and buy food for all this crowd.” (About five thousand men were there.) But he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” The disciples did so, and everyone sat down. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them. Then he gave them to the disciples to distribute to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over (Luke 9:13-17). When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.” … And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:16-17, 19) Reflection: When Jesus shared a meal with his followers, he gave thanks and then broke the bread and passed it to others to share. At a common meal on the night of Jesus’ resurrection Sunday, the disciples on the road to Emmaus could describe “how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread” (Luke 24:35 ESV). Paul would later add, “And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ?” (1 Corinthians 10:16). As we gather around the Lord’s Table, we break bread and drink wine. What we share goes way beyond bread and wine. This breaking of bread is a holy moment and a sacred experience. We would do well to pause and think a moment or two about this bread that is broken and why it is broken. This breaking of the bread can be so much more than just symbol, custom, language, and idiom. Something about our brokenness connects deeply to the bread that is broken. We acknowledge our world is tragically broken and enslaved to the power of sin and death. We confess our own brokenness without the gift of God’s grace. We remember the brokenness of Jesus’s body as he faced his torturous route through betrayals, trials, denials, beatings, and crucifixion to the empty tomb. We recognize the brokenness of Jesus’ friends as they saw him die and saw all their dreams shattered. Praise God! All of this brokenness is absorbed and transformed by the Lord’s triumphant victory over hell, sin, and death when he rose from the grave (1 Corinthians 15:56-58). We celebrate this victory as we celebrate The Supper as the earliest Christians did: we take the broken bread on the first day of the week, Sunday, the day of Jesus’ resurrection (Acts 20:7). Brokenness is absorbed in new life, new hope, and the promise of a better day! Yes, our world is still broken and sometimes breaks us and those we love. Yes, sinful people still break our hearts and our hopes. Yes, we can become discouraged in our brokenness and want to give up or even, like Jesus, feel abandoned by God (Mark 15:34). So, we break the bread. We break the bread as more than just a symbol and an idiom we repeat. We break the bread to remind us that this broken bread is for broken people. We break the bread because of the triumphant love of Jesus that allowed himself to be broken by the same mortal humanity we wear. We break bread on the day of his resurrection to remind ourselves that he has triumphed through his brokenness to become our Lord and pioneer (Hebrews 2:10; Hebrews 12:1-2). We break bread to remind us who is welcome at The Table – broken people. The healing in the broken bread is for those who are broken by life’s harshest blows. This healing is also for those broken by their own sinful choices. This healing is powerfully demonstrated in one chapter where we meet three very different people – very broken people. We first meet a Centurion who is a good man. The Centurion deserves Jesus’ favor because of his rank and his character (Luke 7:1-10). His servant is very ill, and he longs for Jesus to speak healing into the servant’s life. Jesus does! We next meet a widow, utterly broken by the death of her son (Luke 7:11-17). She is alone and powerless. So, Jesus raises her son from the dead, and in the beautiful language of Luke, “Jesus gave him back to his mother.” We also meet a woman broken by her life of sin. She intrudes into a meal at a table where Jesus is invited. She comes to share her extravagant love for Jesus who has saved her from her desperate slavery to her brokenness. While others look down on her, Jesus affirms her faith and blesses her with a life of peace (Luke 7:36-50). The bread is broken because this bread, this gift of Jesus’ body we hold, was broken. It was broken so we can know that salvation, grace, healing, and Jesus are reachable in our brokenness (Hebrews 2:14-18; Hebrews 4:14-16). When are broken by fear because of the diseases that afflict those we love, we are welcomed by the broken bread. When we are broken by the loss of a loved one to death, we are welcomed to the table of grace that anticipates the great reunion feast of glory. When we are broken by our sin and its consequences, we are welcomed by Jesus to his table to be forgiven, transformed, and sent back out into the world with his peace. The bread is broken. So are we. Broken people are welcome here – not to wallow in their brokenness, but to rejoice in a Savior who
Turning our Hearts Back to Egypt?
Are you looking back or straining to what’s ahead? I was reading the Scriptures recently, and God reached out and smacked me in the head and got my attention! No, I don’t mean that literally, but spiritually and emotionally it happened. I was reading about the arrest of Stephen (Acts 6:8-15) and his preaching before the Jewish leaders (Acts 7:1-60). I’ve read this countless times before, but a phrase spoke to me in a way it had never done before. In his sermon, Stephen rehearses the general history of the Jewish nation to make a point that they demonstrated a continual pattern of rejecting God and his prophets. He speaks about Moses, and how the people rejected him. Listen to the words: He was in the assembly in the desert, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers; and he received living words to pass on to us. But our fathers refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt (Acts 7:38-39). Now the application I want to make is not necessarily about rejecting God, but about how frequently we find that our hearts have “turned back to Egypt.” I have been guilty of this, and still am to a certain extent, but I’m working on it. Think about one of the ways we can apply this concept. Like many of you, I tend to look to my past and remember “the good old days” and compare them to today. I remember churches where I have worshipped, friendships I have had, works in which I have been involved, and think, “I sure wish I could go back there again” or “I sure wish it could be like that again.” I’ve been guilty of sometimes doing this to the point that I forget my present journey or overlook the opportunities in the place where I am. If we believe that God opens doors and directs steps, then why are we so unhappy with where we are? Why in our hearts do we turn back to Egypt? The Israelites remembered the “leeks and onions” and other good things they experienced in Egypt to the point of forgetting how bad things were for them as slaves there. They rebelled against God and where he was directing their journey. In fact, they rejected the journey, they rejected where they were, and they ended up rejecting God’s instructions, and in that rejected God. Contrast that with the description of the Apostle Paul and his struggle in life: I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection! But I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ Jesus saved me for and wants me to be. No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven (Philippians 3:12-14). The next time we are tempted to compare the present with the past, might I suggest that we stop ourselves and try to refocus on the present. We have so many blessings, but we also have so much work to do. Let’s focus on making these days “the good old days.” Let’s build relationships and churches and love the way we use to do and stop turning back to Egypt in our hearts. Let us do as Paul did. Let’s forget the past, look forward, and strain to reach the prize God has for us! About the author: Russ Lawson is a former missionary to Africa and minister in Ohio. He now works with World Christian Literature Outreach and writes a weekly email devotional, Messages from the Heart. For more information about Russ, click here.
Sunk by Our Own Desires
What are you chasing that is destructive to you? Recently, I was watching the National Geographic special on the Golden Baboons of Africa’s Luangwa Valley. It was advertised as a tranquil scene of animal drama found nowhere else. However, these baboons and other animals were experiencing violent and fatal struggles every day. A particular scene that did not involve the baboons really gripped me. This scene – or struggle to be more accurate – reminded me of our human predicament as we cast about on our most base and unredeemed instincts and drives. This unexamined approach to living often results in decisions that negatively impact life and can actually cause death – emotionally, spiritually, and even physically. A terrible drought gripped the Luangwa Valley. The rivers and lakes were dry. Only a few mud holes existed. In one of these mud holes, a thirsty and mature water buffalo stepped into quicksand and was trapped in mud that covered all four legs. The water buffalo could not move. Any attempt to move caused the animal to sink hopelessly a bit deeper into the mire. It was an intractable situation for the buffalo. As the buffalo bellowed loudly, his incessant crying alerted the “King of the Beasts.” Three very muscular and hungry lions – one male and two females – laboriously waded through the mud and mounted the fleshy backside of the water buffalo and began to eat him. As they did, they also began to sink in the mire with their prey. Each bite caused their weight to descend a few centimeters and more assuredly brought them closer to their own death. As they dined, one large lioness came to the edge and very cautiously pawed at the mud. She took a few steps into the mud, but the sinking sensation alerted her to back off and leave the self-destructive conquest to the others. She overcame the temptation and overpowering instinctive drive and lived for another day. Meanwhile, the three cats devouring the buffalo eventually sunk to their own deaths in a natural grave of unforgiving mud. This reminds me of our lives. Our greed and addiction for power can, and often, lead us into similar danger. Too often, the prize seems like an easy target. Perhaps it requires a risk to get to that prize. Calculations are necessary. Most often the risks are obvious and not worth the effort. But on other occasions, on we go plunging headlong toward our precious prize. For a few moments, we thump our chests and believe we are the conquerors. We rest on the back of the beasts and help ourselves. Unknowingly, we sink, but the taste is too gratifying and we do not notice our own impending destruction. We continue until we realize all at once that we now have a greater problem and we have gone too far to change the inevitable. Honestly, our blind and ambitious pursuit was not safe to begin with, but we reasoned that it was possible. We could not control our appetites long enough to survey the risks and rewards, the dangers and the potentialities, the rightness and wrongness of our goal. Then all at once, we realize that the devoured beast is no longer worth our attention and effort. We recognize that we have lost our capacity to devour and depart with all the vitality we had acquired. We are not even sure we will survive, stuck in the mire of our own mess. Even if we do survive, others must work our rescue, carry our weight, and cover our losses. We end up damaging the whole pride. We also damage our families. Ultimately, we damage our nation. Really, isn’t it worth the time to think about the best way to pursue our prey … our goals … our achievements? Will we continue to plunge headlong into the muddy slush that snares all of its victims just because we’ve found an easy target? Perhaps, the smart lioness is the best example. Don’t go in there! There are better prospects elsewhere and better things to do. They may not be presented to us as such an easy target or such an easily acquired feast, but they also won’t lead us to be trapped and destroyed by our unrestrained, unexamined, and uncontrolled desires. It is the evil things a person wants that tempt that person. His own evil desire leads him away and holds him. This desire causes sin. Then the sin grows and brings death. (James 1:14-15 ERV) About the author: Jerry is a retired educator and coach. He worked for public schools in Texas and Louisiana for 18 years as a teacher, coach, and administrator. In addition, he also coached at the college level for 22 years at three universities, and worked for the Texas Education Agency almost three years.
Pollyanna Piety
Is God really going to protect from us from every bad thing? Pain is an important element of reality in this world. It is not only often helpful but is absolutely necessary to human health and well being. How do you know to keep your hands away from an open flame? To wash a grain of sand from your eye? Any physician will tell you that a person whose nerves can’t send pain signals will have serious problems in living a normal life. Yet there is a serious error in some churches, Bible study materials, and personal belief systems when the naïve claim is made that true faith makes one immune to suffering. Really? Then I wonder why it didn’t keep innocent Naboth from being stoned to death when wicked King Ahab decided to seize his land? How could Stephen have been murdered for bearing witness to Jesus? Or Cassie Bernall at Columbine? Or Martin Burnham in the Philippine jungle? God allows suffering, but he is not the one who causes it and sends it into our lives. We experience pain because we live in physical bodies in a contingent world. We suffer psychic pain because we are sensitive to misfortune, loss, and death. And the most horrible wounds that come to our spirits are traceable to our own wrong choices – rebelling against God and hurting one another. Faith is not a vaccine against these things. If it were, everyone would be a Christian for the worst possible reason! It would indulge our selfishness. It would exempt us from the tough things everybody else has to face in this life. More correctly, faith is a relationship with God that provides the daily presence, strength, and encouragement of the Living Christ for whatever comes your way. Are miracles real? Does God still deliver people from their suffering by clear and direct intervention? Certainly. But miracles are by definition rare and out of the ordinary. So I’m suspicious of the person who – especially in front of a camera – offers to make the uncommon and infrequent into on-demand events. The answer Paul was given is surely the more typical reply to suffering people: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9) Instant peace and easy answers are not God’s promise to you. His pledge is that you will never be unloved and alone. Pray for pain to be a bridge rather than a barrier for you. Never feel obliged to deny its reality or menace. But trust God to provide sufficient grace for each day. And give him the chance to work the world’s worst to a spiritual victory. About the author: Rubel Shelly preached for decades, been a professor of medical ethics, Bible, and philosophy at multiple universities and a med school. He is currently Professor of Philosophy & Religion at Lipscomb University. He is the author of more than 30 books and hundreds of inspirational articles.
I Trust in Your Unfailing Love
Can you still hold on to trust? Do these words from David ring true for you today? O Lord, how long will you forget me? Forever? How long will you look the other way? How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul, with sorrow in my heart every day? How long will my enemy have the upper hand? Turn and answer me, O Lord my God! Restore the sparkle to my eyes, or I will die. Don’t let my enemies gloat, saying, ‘We have defeated him!’ Don’t let them rejoice at my downfall. (Psalm 13:1-4 NLT) Are you feeling forgotten by God? Do you find yourself wondering where He is while you are in the midst of battle and struggle and hurt and disappointment? Are you wishing God would do something to help, but not sure your prayers are getting through? That’s apparently what David was feeling. Alone. Forgotten. Ignored. Weak. Almost defeated. Constantly hassled by his enemies. Those are not uncommon feelings, even for the strong of faith. Sometimes life is like that. We experience attacks from all sides, and it seems that trouble and distress is around every corner. During those days of anxiety and sorrow, it is easy to fall into the trap of believing that it will always be this way. We settle into the mindset that life will never get any better. When these times continue for long periods there is the potential to lose hope. Those are dangerous times. Those are times when we must consider our steps very carefully and wisely. Nothing would please our enemy more than for us to lose hope, to give up, to accept defeat, and to lose the joy found in the Lord. Like David, you may be almost there. If so, do what David did. In verse 4, David is dreading how his enemies will gloat and rejoice over his defeat. Then, suddenly, as the psalmist often does in the Psalms, the tone changes. He looks above his fears and throws himself into the arms of the Lord. But I trust in your unfailing love. I will rejoice because you have rescued me. I will sing to the Lord because he is good to me. (Psalm 13:5-6) We must do the same. When we sink low into the despair and hopelessness of what seems certain defeat, we must look up to the Lord and say: But I trust in your unfailing love. I will rejoice because you have rescued me. I will sing to the Lord because he is good to me. That’s the power of our faith. That’s a test of our faith. That’s what can happen when we draw near to God. If we bring it all to Him and leave it there, through His grace and mercy He will enable us to sing again. He will rescue us. Here’s another version of David’s prayer: Lord, my life is hard right now. Nothing is turning out like I thought it would. Instead of victory, I’m experiencing defeat on every side. It seems like the Enemy is winning all the battles. I feel like a loser and I feel like my enemies see me as a loser. I’m not sure how long I can go on like this. Sometimes, when it gets really bad, I become afraid. I feel like You have left me here all alone. But, I know that’s not true, because I trust You. I know You will never leave me. And I believe that one day I will again sing and rejoice because You are good to me. I trust in Your unfailing love. About the author: Tom Norvell is the author of “A Norvell Note” — Thoughts and reflections on God, life, people, and living as a follower of Jesus. He has ministered with followers of Jesus for four decades and loves Jesus, his family, and those seeking Jesus, passionately.
Uncluttering
Are you willing to get rid of the stuff in your life that is just in the way? Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out, and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved (Matthew 9:17). In anticipation of a construction project that will necessitate moving our church’s food pantry, we’ve been doing a little cleaning at church. Like a lot of homes – maybe like your home, in fact – church buildings accumulate stuff. And while some of the stuff they accumulate is important and necessary, a good portion of it is “we-might-want-to-use-this-again-sometime” stuff. We have a lot of that kind of stuff lying around, waiting for “sometime.” By the look of it, some of it has been waiting since the Nixon administration. Anyway, watching people sorting through cabinets and shelves and throwing out stuff that’s no longer useful has me thinking about the old stuff that one finds lying around church buildings. Old stuff like hymn books that are no longer used, or leftover Bible class curriculum, or old sound equipment, or broken furniture. It’s got me thinking, as well, about old stuff like traditions, ways of doing things, values, and assumptions about the world around us and the community in which we live. I’ve been thinking about how most churches could stand to do some “uncluttering,” for lack of a better word. I’ve been thinking how most churches need every now and again to look at all the stuff that’s lying around and ask if it’s worth keeping. I wonder if that wasn’t what Jesus was getting at with his “new wineskins” comment. I look at that, I look at where it’s located in Matthew, and it starts to dawn on me what Jesus had in mind. He’s announced to a paralyzed man that his sins are forgiven, and people are calling it blasphemy because forgiving sins is God’s business. He’s invited a hated, traitorous, corrupt tax collector to join his inner circle. (Imagine, for comparison, if he asked a businessman laundering drug money for the mafia.) The pious people have called him and his disciples out for not fasting. He’s just about to be touched by a woman made “unclean” by her constant hemorrhage, and then he’ll go on to touch an “unclean” dead body. He heals the woman and raises the dead little girl, but clearly he’s giving the religious folks plenty of ammunition. See, I think the folks that criticized Jesus for doing the things he did needed to clean out their church buildings, if you take my meaning. They had some stuff lying around that wasn’t doing them or the people God called them to teach and lead and serve much good at all. They had some assumptions, traditions, and practices that were just taking up space, causing people to stumble, and getting in the way of the things that really mattered. But it was stuff that had always been there, and as far as they were concerned, always would be there. And so they left it in place and got very grumpy and impatient whenever someone tripped over it or wondered aloud if it wouldn’t be better to toss it out. It happens in churches. Stuff accumulates over the years. Oh, there’s always a reason that it does, and usually it’s a very good reason. At least at the beginning. Over time, though, the reason fades and what’s left is the tradition, or the practice, or the assumption. I bet you can think of some stuff at your church like that. A lot of it is innocuous and harmless enough. I recently conducted an experiment at my church to try to find out why, after the servers pass the communion trays, one of them always comes back up to the front to put the lids from the grape juice trays back on the pedestals that the stacks of trays start on. The trays aren’t there anymore, but someone always moves those lids. No one seems to know why, but there you are. (The best answer I got was, “I don’t know: so there’s room for the offering plates later?”) A lot of the old stuff that’s lying around my church, and yours too, is like that. It doesn’t interfere with anything, and doesn’t take up much space, so why not hang on to it? And some of the old stuff is there for a really good reason, and shouldn’t be thrown out unless it’s for an even better reason. And some of it – well, it’s the equivalent of walls and columns and floors and ceilings in a building. It’s load-bearing, and to get rid of it would be to forsake the gospel and cease being the church. So, really, I’m not advocating throwing out old stuff without discernment, just getting rid of the clutter! About the author: Patrick Odum lives in Chicago, Illinois, with his wife, Laura and son, Joshua. He is one of the ministers at Northwest Church of Christ, and an avid Heartlight fan. He enjoys writing and maintains a website of his work called Faith Web where you can find all of his articles. Email Patrick
Is It Really All Just So Much Talk?
Does your faith move you beyond just talk? [Jesus said] “I’m telling you to love your enemies and do good to them. Lend to people without expecting to get anything back. If you do these things, you will have a great reward. You will be children of the Most High (God). Yes, because God is good even to the people that are full of sin and not thankful.” (Luke 6:35 ERV) “Religion is as religion does – all the rest is talk,” writes Irving Greenberg. A Jewish theologian, Greenberg had the Holocaust in view with his statement. It was not enough to say a prayer for Jews in the time of Hitler. It didn’t help to feel sad or to wish that someone would come to the aid of people being murdered. It was a time that called for very specific and practical behaviors. A European Jew in 1943 needed something as specific as a Gentile home or shop where she could hide. Money. Food. Spiriting across a border. “But that would involve risk to the person providing it!” someone cries. Of course, it would. But that is the point. Faith, godly living, justice, compassion don’t have meaning until they are deeds instead of mere pious conversation. It is pretty easy to see that now. We are more than a half century away from Hitler’s gas chambers and crematoria. It is even possible to watch a movie or TV documentary and tell ourselves we would have done something back then. We can hope so. But there are good reasons to wonder. Where does a stranger fit into your life? All of us do kind things for our family and close friends. I insist on buying lunch this time. You go to the hospital to cheer her up. You take care of his yard for six weeks while his ankle heals. You babysit their kids when they need to run an errand or just see a movie. But you’ll get all those kindnesses back. You may even be repaying things they’ve already done. It is wonderful to have such positive, supportive relationships in your life. The challenge for many of us, though, is to name something we do for strangers. People who will never pay us back. People of a different color or religion. People whose politics we don’t like. An enemy. If those of us who say we are disciples of Jesus do not grow in our ability to care about others in very concrete, self-sacrificing ways, we are only fooling ourselves. Poverty, sickness, loneliness, hunger, fear – no individual or family, local church or civic group can tackle all these problems. But there is one situation, one family, or one person you can help. And “help” isn’t warm feelings or kind thoughts. It is time. Putting money down. Having somebody into your home or going to theirs. Making a lonely person feel cared for. Tutoring a child. Religious rituals are no substitute for compassionate actions. If the Marines are looking for “a few good men,” Jesus is searching for a few real disciples – people whose religion is Christ-imitating love and not mere church prattle. My brothers and sisters, if a person says that he has faith, but does nothing, then that faith is worth nothing. … A brother or sister in Christ might need clothes or might need food to eat. And you say to that person, “God be with you! I hope you stay warm and get plenty to eat.” You say these things, but you don’t give that person those things he needs. If you don’t help that person, your words are worth nothing. It is the same with faith. If faith does nothing, then that faith is dead, because it is alone. (James 2:14-17) About the author: Rubel Shelly preached for decades, been a professor of medical ethics, Bible, and philosophy at multiple universities and a med school. He is currently Professor of Philosophy & Religion at Lipscomb University. He is the author of more than 30 books and hundreds of inspirational articles.
Connecting with Jesus Personally
Can I really know Jesus personally? Life can turn on a dime. Circumstances, events, people, words of a song, a movie, or moment of introspection can change us forever. Sometimes that life-altering turn comes because of what appears to be a chance word we hear in a song, or because of a note we receive from a friend, or because of a phrase we read. Other times, that dramatic turn comes through what appears to be a random opportunity. Other times, our life-change comes through the bewildering touch of grace that introduces us to someone whose influence unsettles our ordinariness and redirects our energies in surprising new directions. No matter the source of this kind of change, our plans are re-routed toward fresh hope. Such a moment happened in the life of Andrew and a friend after getting to know Jesus. Andrew had prepared himself to be ready for the Messiah – “God’s Chosen One” – regardless of the cost. That’s why he had become a disciple of John the Baptizer (Mark 1:1-9; John 1:6-8; John 1:19-27). John the Baptizer’s ministry also set in motion Andrew’s life of connecting people with Jesus. John’s gospel describes Andrew’s moment of life-altering change in these words: “I baptize with water,” John replied, “but among you stands one you do not know. He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.” This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing. The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.” Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.” The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?” “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon (John 1:26-39). After meeting the Lord, when we see Andrew in Scripture he is connecting people with Jesus – what we are calling “The Andrew Effect.”* So this event with Jesus is especially important because this is the pivot point in Andrew’s life. This moment is where he rerouted his life from fishing for fish in his shared business with his brother Simon Peter and began “to fish for people” (Mark 1:16-18). This afternoon meeting with Jesus changed Andrew forever. It also provides us a window into the first principle of “The Andrew Effect”: connecting with Jesus personally. When Andrew and another of the Baptizer’s disciples followed Jesus, Jesus turned and asked them a crucial question: “What are you seeking” (John 1:38 ESV). This is a question of watershed importance. How a person answers it redirects all of life that follows. Andrew’s answer changes everything. Yet translating his answer into English is a bit tricky. Most translations go with something like, “Rabbi… where are you staying?” Literally, the question is this: “Rabbi, where do you abide?” Clearly, Andrew’s question wasn’t about Jesus’ physical address. He wasn’t going to look up Jesus’ house on Zillow.com and find out about the neighborhood. Andrew wanted to know where Jesus’ heart was, what mattered to him most and what made Jesus tick. In cornbread (though incorrect) English, Andrew and his friend were asking Jesus, “Teacher, I desperately need to know where you’re at!” Andrew followed Jesus because he was after much more than an afternoon at Jesus’ house; he wanted an in-depth look at Jesus’ values, teaching, mission, and purpose. He wanted to know if Jesus was the person the Baptizer had claimed him to be. He wanted to know if Jesus was God’s Messiah. He wanted to know if Jesus was the one person in whom he would invest his hopes, dreams, and life. Jesus was looking for followers with Andrew’s kind of passion. He invited Andrew and his friend to come to spend time with him with these words: “Come and you will see.” Then we are told: So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon (John 1:39). The results of this afternoon of deep conversation were immediate and astounding: Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus (John 1:40-42). Andrew begins his life’s work of connecting people with Jesus after this important time with Jesus. The principle derived from Andrew’s life is as important as it clear: if we are going to connect people with Jesus, we’ve got to know Jesus. More than knowing about Jesus, we have to know Jesus’ values, teaching, mission, and purpose. We have to know what made him tick. We have to feel the passion and know the love he has for people – all kinds