God Rewards

It has been a while since I last posted because I have been busy finishing up Investing in Eternity, which has been published!

And I will give a free copy to the first ten people who ask for it!  Just email me at kevin.w.kaufman@gmail.com.

You can also find it at Investing


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Screwtape Revisited

This was not written by C.S. Lewis; but I think it might have been if he lived today.

My dear Wormwood,

We are entering the climatic period of our endeavor.  Keep using the tried and true methods we’ve perfected.  Remember the idols of old.  Remember how people “worshipped” those worthless figures.  They did so to get things:  health, security; wealth.  Humans still crave such things.  And while the idols could not deliver the goods, believe me, machines and “artificial intelligence” will give them all that they desire.  (“A.I.” is a stupid term, I know; but these are humans, after all.  They anthropomorphize everything.  It makes them feel important.  Encourage that hubris.)

Continue to remind humans that they risk persecution in serving the Enemy.  This will intimidate many into being quiet about their allegiance to the Enemy.  But be careful to hide persecution’s most pernicious form; for while they read the enemy’s propaganda about the suffering they will face, happily, they don’t realize that the enticements of life’s bounty are as effective as death in neutralizing their usefulness to the Enemy.  And do not let them come to know that, when the Enemy speaks of “persecution,” he means any form of our “chasing”.  Yes!  Chase them - with good things.  You know the old expression, “Kill them with kindness.”  Why would we kill their bodies if you can entice them into our service?  Besides, bodily persecution tends to embolden the fools. 

So, don’t actually harm them… yet.  You will accomplish much more by using the coming flood of pleasures and conveniences they will acquire with their tools of knowledge.  The things they want will become increasingly cheap and abundant; so, tempt them to escape into their leisure and entertainments.  Encourage them to quietly taste the delights of the flesh, to live in a virtual reality, to feel in command of their world through their “internet of everything”; to live for the pleasures of this world.  (I hope you still have the writings of Democritus I gave you.  He has a particular appeal to people in the West. That wretched human, Paul, did much damage to our cause when in Athens; but we are regaining our ground.)  Keep the humans focused on what they can have, here and now.  Let them enjoy their new toys!  

And assure them that they can control their machines and their “artificial intelligence”.  Let the humans in the West believe that their democracy and laws will protect them.  Don’t let them understand that some of our human agents will be able to manipulate the power of their machines to our advantage.  How delicious it will be when they realize, too late, that they have created the engines of their own destruction!

Wormwood, you know that I am not particularly excitable; but I can hardly contain my glee:  Our master is close to realizing his goal of becoming omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent!  Finally, our master will be like God!   He will use this power to completely enslave the humans!  Then, finally, he will kill those who stubbornly persist in serving the Enemy.  What a blessed day that will be! 

So, be patient, Wormwood.  It will come, soon.

Your affectionate uncle,

Screwtape

If Screwtape is right, then we need to be prepared.  May we learn to trust God in everything and for everything.  He alone is our hope and salvation.

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God's command to kill Isaac

In a sermon on the radio yesterday, Tony Evans talked about God's command to Abraham to kill Isaac.  He focused on verse 22:12, in which, after Abraham proves his intent to obey, God says:  "And now I know that you truly fear God."  

Really, I thought God knows everything!  Right?  Why put Abraham through that dreadful ordeal? (I always thought the sentence  meant that now Abraham knew that he truly feared God. But that's not what the verse says.)  Evans discussed briefly the incorrect, "God doesn't know how things will turn out," theological understanding of the sentence.  And then he gave his surprising understanding of it's meaning:  "God indeed does not know everything:  He doesn't have experiential knowledge of our praise and trust until we actually give it to Him."  

So I went to the Hebrew Bible and, sure enough, the word for "know" is "yadah": which can be understood as "experiential knowledge"; the same word as that is used, for example, to describe marital relations in the Bible.  (Mike, is that what the Moody Bible Commentary means by "actualized?')   

If this is the right understanding, then, Wow!  Worshipping and praising God is not something we merely should do because we are commanded to do it and because He deserves it.  We really do have something valuable to give to God in our worship and service Him!  "God inhabits the praise of His people."  What a great encouragement that is!  

What else can I do but praise God!  And when I do, I receive the great reward of experiencing God's pleasure.


(Here is a different Evan's sermon which makes the same point.)




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The whole tooth; so help me God.

I have a place in my teeth where food snags every time I chew.  So, I keep one of those flossing devices with me at all times.  And then, having started flossing anyway, I often floss all my teeth.  I've thought about getting that nuisance fixed; but I haven't because it encourages me do something I should be doing anyway:  floss my teeth. 

I have other "nuisances"in my life, most of which can't be "fixed" by me.  They are out of my control.  They, too, make me do something I should do anyway:  trust God.

The Apostle Paul, too, had his "thorn in the flesh", not to mention all the abuse he suffered for preaching Jesus.  Nevertheless, Paul understood that life's trials produce good in us; not just in this life, but forever:  Endurance "has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come."  I (Tim. 4:8)  

Paul endured suffering because he believed God's promise of blessing for faithfulness in this life.  Paul wanted a crown (and not the kind that goes on teeth); "a crown that will last forever", given him by Jesus Himself in heaven.  Paul endured all "for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings." He ran to "get the prize". (I Cor. 9:22-27)  The prize is not heaven.  That is a gift of God's grace.  The prize is what all who trust God in the midst of trials will receive someday.

Would I be rid of my life's struggles if I could.  I'm not so sure I would; because they spur me to trust in God and, to the extent I do so, I will "receive what is due [me] for the things done while in the body." (II Cor. 5:10.)  

And so will you.  




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Life's Hurricanes

The pleas of officials to evacuate before Hurricane Florence reminds me of the storm that Paul encountered, the firsthand and dramatic account of which is told by Luke in Acts 27. Tropical-like cyclones are rare meteorological phenomena in the Mediterranean Sea; so perhaps that is why the ship's captain ignored Paul's warning not to set sail.  For two weeks the ship was battered and eventually ran aground on Malta. It's a fascinating story.

I've wondered:  Why did God allow that to happen to Paul?  After all, he was on his way to Rome to meet Nero, who was still relatively sane at that point in his reign.  Why waste the time of one His most valuable assets with a detour that could have been avoided?  What was the point of that?  

Luke doesn't tell us.  But we do know that God will go to any length to bring people to Himself.  Almost certainly at least one person on the ship or on the island came to trust in Jesus through Paul's testimony.  That alone would have been worth the detour.  And maybe that person then led others to Christ and those people led still more to Christ, and so forth, for 2000 years.  Maybe there are tens of thousands or even millions of spiritual descendants of that one person.  Maybe you are - or will be - one of them!  I can't wait to hear the rest of the story at the Throne of Christ.

The next Atlantic hurricane will be called Gordon.  We are early in this year's hurricane season, so it will come; as will personal hurricanes in our lives.  But God is always in control.  For those who love Him, He will bring good out of the storms of life.  



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Recalculating

We have a new (used) car!  (See earlier post, God Provides, for why we needed one.)  On it's maiden voyage, I missed an exit.  I was using Google Maps, but I'd inadvertently turned down the volume, so I didn't hear the instruction to "Take the next exit."  

Google Maps did what Google Maps does:  It automatically recalculated.  We found ourselves behind a pickup truck whose driver obviously knew the road's dangerous, just-over-the-hill, hairpin curves.  So, since our new car has radar-enable cruise control, we simply set it to follow the truck, with my foot off of the gas and the brake.  We relaxed and enjoyed scenery we would have missed via the planned route.  Twenty minutes later than we had planned, we arrived at our destination.

It occurred to Sandy that Google Maps does what God does when, mistakenly or willfully, we make a wrong turn in life.  He recalculates.  He gives us new directions to our destination.

That destination is the Throne of Christ, where we will talk with Jesus about our journey to heaven.  He will point out all the ways He helped us. (Like how He provided that pickup-truck to be our guide.) Jesus will show us why He allowed the wrong turns in life and what He accomplished through our mistakes, our bad decisions and our inattention to His instructions. He will praise us for the times we trusted Him throughout the journey.  And we will praise Him for all of eternity for His loving provision throughout.

So, enjoy the trip!  Though perhaps the path will not always be straight and direct, if your "Maps" destination is set to where Jesus is, you will get there!  

Bon Voyage!





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The Good Shepherd

My experience of God's provision on Sunday notwithstanding (see previous post "God provides"), I felt nervous going into a meeting this morning.  I just didn't know what to expect from it.

So, God directed me to open my Bible to Hebrews 13:20-21.  I'll first quote the parts of the verses that first struck me:

Now may God... equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him... ”   Then I noticed the verse actually said, "Now may the God of peace... equip you..." etc.  I didn't have to worry about the meeting because God would equip me "to do His will", which is to be pleasing to Him.  

I reread the passage and wondered why the writer included this phrase: God "who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus..."  Then I realized that he was saying, "If God can raise Jesus from the dead, He will have no trouble equipping me with all that I need."

Then I read , "...that great Shepherd of the sheep" and another thought hit me:  A good shepherd loves his flock.  And it must have been painful for a Jewish shepherd to regularly see some of his flock slaughtered as sacrifices for sin at the Temple.  Sacrifice involved slitting the throat of the animal.  It was (is) a gruesome, bloody business.  (Watch this, if you dare.)

Well, the Great Shepherd loves his sheep:  You and me.  Jesus said:

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away....  The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.  I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me... and I lay down my life for the sheep.  (John 10:11-15)

Jesus doesn't just watch over us like the hired hand or even like a regular shepherd would.  He cares deeply for us.  So deeply that, in order that we would not suffer for our sin, He gave Himself to be slaughtered for us, His sheep.  I cannot imagine what it was like for God the Father to have watched that happen to His beloved Son.

That is why the writer of the passage finishes his thought with praise to "Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen."

Amen, indeed!

By the way, the meeting went better than I could have imagined!



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God Provides

Our car died yesterday.  Not the battery.  The transmission.  Its last words, were “Bump, bump, bump, clunck.”   RIP, old friend.

We were two hours into our drive to deliver Emma to Hanover College for her freshman year. As Sandy, Emma, Emma’s friend and I sat along the side of the busy interstate, trucks blowing by, we prayed and considered what to do.  It was a Sunday, so no car rental agencies were open.  We were too far from home to impose on friends or family to pick us up.  Uber and Lyft would be too expensive. We knew no one at our destination.

Out of ideas, I called 911, explained our situation and asked for advice.  The sympathetic dispatcher said a police officer would be there shortly.  Five minutes later a young state trooper pulled up behind us – and offered us a ride, not merely to the next exit or to a gas station, but to the college, forty minutes away!

We were stunned by his offer.  I still can hardly believe it.  On our drive to the college I learned that he is a committed follower of Jesus, a former Marine and a father of three.  He works in youth ministry in his church.  (Fortunate kids!)  When he isn’t patrolling, he works crime scenes as a scuba diver.  (I read later that the officer, Chris Lockman, saved a man from drowning last April.)  I felt honored to even be with this young man, let alone benefit from his (and his approving supervisor’s) kindness. 

So, now we were at the college (Hanover, in southern Indiana).  But Emma’s stuff – everything she was taking with her to college – was still in our car.  The first person we met within moments of arriving at Hanover was the woman in charge of move-in day. After noting the oddity of our having been delivered by the police and hearing our story, she joyfully offered to let us use her mini-van to retrieve Emma’s belongings.  Once again, we were stunned by God’s provision. Sandy and I drove back to the car, moved everything to her van and, after filling her empty tank with gas, returned to Hanover.  Mission accomplished.  But we still had no way to get home.  

On the drive from the car back to Hanover, Sandy and I had prayed about what to do next.  We might get a hotel room for the night and rent a car the next morning.  We stopped and asked a man whose truck was “For Sale” along the road if he would let us pay him to use it.  (“No,” he said politely.) We knew that the parents of Emma’s roommate are from Indianapolis, so we might ask them; but they probably won't have a large enough car.  Besides, we were going to arrive back at Hanover well after the “Parents Should Now Leave” time the college had suggested, so they would probably already be gone when we got back to the college.

As we pulled into the parking lot of the dorm, however, I noticed that the roommate’s parents were just pulling out.  And they were driving a three-seat Suburban!  I flagged them down and sheepishly asked if we could bum a ride to Indy, where (we hoped) we could get a further ride home from Sandy’s sister, who lives half an hour from Indy.  They were happy to oblige.  It turns out that they are committed followers of Jesus, too.  (He wore a T-shirt referencing a verse in Ephesians.)

We were to be dropped off at a gas station along the interstate in Indy. From the car, Sandy texted her sister.  She was available to pick us up and take us home!  Whew.  She arrived at the station about the time we arrived.  An hour later -  and around the time we would have been home had the car had not broken down - we were finally home.

Do you want to know the most amazing part of the story?  Sandy and I felt not the least bit of anxiousness the entire time!  Somehow, God had assured us that He would take care of us.  We trusted God’s promise, “I will never leave you or forsake you.”  

Thank you, Jesus, and thank you for all the people You put into place to get us home.

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Fear

Have you known fear?  Not just any fear.  I'm talking industrial strength, "valley of the shadow of death" fear?

I have had a taste of such fear.  Terror, it was.  Twenty-four years ago, I had an emergency appendectomy. As I began to return to consciousness from an anesthesia-induced sleep, I realized that I could not move my body.   Something in me was straining to move; but I could not move.  It was as if I were strapped in place and was utterly unable to move.  I believe what I was experiencing was claustrophobia.  I do not know how much time elapsed, before I was able move, but it felt like an eternity.  And every moment was hell.  

I'd forgotten the episode until I began to anticipate surgery for the osteoarthritis that is a significant source of pain for me.  The memory of the experience is visceral.  While I look forward to having my painful joints replaced, the thought of coming out of anesthesia to relive those terrifying moments is daunting.  I find myself waking from sleep in a cold sweat, just for the anticipation of the experience.  I have been reassured by several doctor friends that anesthesia has changed in the last two decades and that the likelihood of this happening again is slim.  But none of them can assure me it can't happen again....

Some of you experience on a regular basis the pain of this sort of fear.  You have my deepest sympathy.  I won't tell you what others have probably told you, "If you just have faith, you will not have fear.  Just trust God!"  Instead, I'll remind you that you have the best of company in your experience of fear: Jesus himself, who sweat drops of blood at the prospect of the terror of the cross.  Whatever part of Jesus's fear was an anticipation of pain, far more fear inducing for Him was the prospect of being separated from the love of His Father.  The prospect was terrifying for Him.

So, at least Jesus understands your fear.  And He promises to never leave you or forsake you.  He has already endured that separation for you.  



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Yellow lights

While running an errand today, I came upon a traffic light as it turned yellow.  

In Indiana, as in most states, you have not run a red light if at least the nose of your vehicle is in the intersection when the light turns red.  "I can make it...," I said to myself as I sped up a little.

I didn't.

I looked around.  No cops....

Then, at that moment, I heard these lyrics of a song on K-Love:  
        "You just got away with something..."  (I'll say! Whew!)
                      "...Ever since, ever since grace got you."  

Now, finally, I was feeling guilty....
                                                       ... because I was guilty.  

Thank you for forgiving me, Lord.  Please help me to yield to yellow caution lights, of all sorts, in the future.


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Breath of Life

Another thought about my sleep study...  (See post entitled "Sleep")

When I got home this morning from the overnight calibration of a CPAP machine to my specific needs, I Googled "apnea".  It means "a temporary cessation of breathing", from the ancient Greek word "apnous", meaning "without breath".  To say the least, being without breath is a bad thing, even for relatively short periods, as is the case with sleep apnea.  

Well, we all have "spiritual apnea."  Apart from God, we all are "without breath".  So, God breaths for us!  The English word "spirit" comes from the Latin "spiritus", meaning "breath".  When we have God's Holy Spirit living within us, He gives us breath.   As Job said, "The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life."  (Job 33:4)

I hope this doesn't sound irreverent; but you might say that God is our spiritual CPAP machine!

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Sleep

A few weeks ago, I told you of a sleep study that produced my diagnosis of sleep apnea.  Last night I went back to the polysomnography center to calibrate a CPAP machine to my specific needs.

The room is much like a hotel room.  The difference are the wires, the infrared camera and microphone, by which the technician monitors the patient while he sleeps,.  It is slightly creepy to think that someone will watch you all night and be ready to respond whenever you call out or wake up (as I did several times due to the discomfort of the mask.) 

But I thought of Psalms 3:5, "I lay down and slept, yet I woke up in safety, for the LORD was watching over me."  Like the technician who monitored me all night, "[Your] Guardian will not fall asleep. Indeed, the Guardian of Israel never rests or sleeps." (Psalms 121:3-4)  God watching over me and responding to my cries for help?  I'm good with that!

The Bible actually says a lot about sleep.  (OK, depending on the translation you use, it is often a euphemism for sex.)  It was while he slept that Delilah cut off the Samson's hair, rendering him powerless. David had the chance to kill Saul as he slept.  We, too, are vulnerable and exposed while we sleep.  But Samson and Saul had disobeyed God, so they had reason to be afraid.  For obedient followers of God, "When you lie down, you will not be afraid..."  (Proverbs 3:24)  All we need do is call out to Him in the night, as I did to the technician, and God will respond.

The Temple

Tonight I was at my computer and I suddenly just wanted to read something in the Bible.  But I didn't have any passage in mind, so I did the functional equivalent of placing a Bible on its spine, letting it fall open and then pointing at a verse: I brought up the Bible on my computer, closed my eyes and clicked on the web page. The first click selected a book, the second a chapter and the third a verse.  On my screen when I opened my eyes was II Chronicles 4, set in the middle of the description of the building of the Temple, were these verses describing some of the furnishings of the Temple.

6 He then made ten basins for washing and placed five on the south side and five on the north. In them the things to be used for the burnt offerings were rinsed, but the Sea was to be used by the priests for washing.  7 He made ten gold lampstands according to the specifications for them and placed them in the temple, five on the south side and five on the north. 8 He made ten tables and placed them in the temple, five on the south side and five on the north. He also made a hundred gold sprinkling bowls.  9 He made the courtyard of the priests, and the large court and the doors for the court, and overlaid the doors with bronze. 

As I read, I was struck by two thoughts:  First, by how much cost and work went into the building and furnishing of the Temple. The gold and silver alone were worth over $200 million in today's dollars!  The Temple and its furnishings were built of the finest materials and according to specific designs given by God.

Then I was reminded that, in the New Testament, the Church is compared to the Temple; but I couldn't remember exactly where, so I but "temple" into the word-search field and hit enter. The list of 627 verses containing the word "temple"in the Bible were listed from the earliest reference in the Old Testament to its last in the New Testament.  As I scrolled down to the New Testament, my eyes fell upon a passage in I Kings 6, which is the second telling of the building of the Temple.  We are told that it took seven years to build.  

I then continued on to the New Testament, where I found the passage (there are others) that I had had in mind:

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

God is preparing His Temple, you and me, with every bit of care and expense as Solomon built his Temple for God.  It is a long and costly process!  It takes skill and patience to craft the perfect temple.

The difference is that God hasn't waited for its completion to move in, as He did with Solomon's Temple!  He took up residence in you, His new Temple, before it was finished, to take charge of the building project!  That would be like the contractor moving into a house you were building as soon as the foundation was poured!  That's how excited God is to live in His new temple: YOU and ME!

As with Solomon's Temple, God has a design for His new temple. There is much expense and care in its building.  It takes time to complete.  And just as workman sawed lumber, hammered nails and heated and pounded gold in Solomon's Temple, the process of building God's temple in you is sometimes hard and messy work.  But the effort and the discomfort, even the pain of hitting your thumb with a hammer, will be worth it all.  You will become a complete and beautiful temple of God!


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Another Star Wars Sequel

Sorry.  I meant the sequel to my earlier post about Star Wars.  (See "The Story" below.) 

There is a principle for the effective communication of the Good News of Jesus called “redemptive analogy”, the “application to local custom of spiritual truth”, first articulated by Don Richardson in the books Peace Child and Eternity in Their Hearts.  He says that every culture has beliefs that can be used as a bridge to an understanding of the Gospel.  

Well, Star Wars, which is so ingrained in our culture, provides a useful point of tangency in our differing beliefs; a bridge, that can be used to describe our faith.  You’ll find it, appropriately, smack-dab in the middle of the middle movie of the first Star War trilogy, The Empire Strikes Back, where Lucas explains "The Force".  It is the scene were Luke is marooned on the planet Dagobah with C3PO.  They meet Yoda, who reveals himself as a Jedi Knight.  Yoda tells Luke that, by the power of the Force, Luke can raise his ship from the murky swamp into which it had sunk.

“OK.  I’ll give it a try.” Luke says, unenthusiastically 

“No!” Yoda demands.  “Try not!  DO!  Or do not.  There is not “try”.”

Luke, exhausted from his subsequent and failed attempt to raise the ship, says, “I can’t.  It’s too big.”  

To which Yoda sternly replies, “Size matters not!  Look at me.  Judge me by my size, do you?  And well you should not, for my ally is the Force!”

Now, had Yoda said, “my ally is the Lord” and then said “He” and "His" instead of “it” and "its", in what followed, he would have spoken truth!  “And a powerful ally [He]is. [His]energy surrounds us.  And binds us.  Luminous beings are we.  Not this crude matter.”  (He also says, inexplicably, “Life creates it. Makes it grow,” which implies that the Force comes from life itself, not the other way around, as the Bible teaches.”  And he says, “You must feel the Force around you." That's true, too, but he continues, "...here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere, yes. Even between the land and the ship.”  That is more like pantheism or eastern mysticism - of the sort espoused by the Dali Lama, whose voice is intentionally the model for Yoda's voice - than it is Christianity.)

Of Yoda’s instruction to raise the ship from the swamp, Luke says, “You want the impossible.”  And then, when Yoda went on to raise Luke’s ship from the swamp, Luke exclaims, “I don’t believe it!”  To which Yoda replies sadly, “That is why you fail.”  Again, so true - if he had been speaking of God, and not some impersonal force of nature.  When we fail to be empowered to do what we are called to do, it is for lack of faith in God.  (I wonder if Lucas consciously thought of the parallel between the raising of the "buried" ship from the swamp by the power of the Force and the raising of Jesus from the grave by the power of God....)

But, Lucas’s Force is not the personal God we know.  It is an all-powerful, but morally neutral, force to be harnessed for either good or evil, depending on the choice of the believer.  It is not the loving (and powerful) God who displayed His love (and power) for us through His Word and in the sacrifice of His Beloved Son.   

So, the difference between the impersonal Force and the God of the Bible is the love and righteousness (the good and just character) of God.  Our faith is in a personal God who empowers us to do His will - because He cares for us and wants the best for us; not in an impersonal Force that empowers us to do our own will, be it good or evil.

"I look up to the mountains...  Does my strength come from the mountains?  No, my help comes from the Lord, who made heaven, and earth, and the mountains!" (Ps. 121:1-3)

Later, Luke encounters who he thinks is Darth Vader. After a light saber duel in which he cuts off the head of Darth, Luke discovers that he had actually killed himself (in a vision).  Luke had slain his own propensity to go to the Dark Side of the Force. As Lucas explains in the movie’s commentary, Luke has harnessed the Light Side of the Force through the “power of positive thinking.” The Christian, on the other hand, overcomes the "dark side" through faith in a good and loving God whose Holy Spirit empowers us.    

So, you see, The Star Wars saga has analogies to our own faith that offer a wonderful opportunity to communicate God’s love and power to those around us!  For a Star Wars nerd, that is really cool!

Btw:  This post was inspired by Dr. Erwin Lutzer's recently published book, The Church in Babylon, which explores how we can live out our faith in a culture increasingly hostile to our faith.  I highly recommend it!

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More on Samaritans

I had another cool birthday present on Saturday.  

Earlier in the week I had been musing on the story in the Bible of the healing of the ten lepers.  (See “Who you will become”, which was a continuation of the post "Thank you" below. ) 

I had a question to which I could not find an answer, so I decided to write my old college friend and Jewish Studies professor at the Moody Bible Institute, Dr. Michael Rydelnik.  Well, he responded to my question on his nation-wide radio show, Open Line, on Saturday morning (on my birthday!)  Here is my question and Mike’s response.  (If you are on your phone, touch "download".)

(Everybody should have a friend as knowledgeable of the Bible as Mike!  Come to think of it, you do!  You can write or call "Open Line" on Saturdays from 10:00 to noon.)  (Tell Mike "hello" for me.)



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The Story

For my birthday, Sandy, Andrew and I last night watched "The Empire Strikes Back!"; but with a difference:  As we watched, we listened to George Lucas and Director Irvin Kershner talk about the making of the movie. It was fascinating to hear!  And I was reminded of something very important....

There is an admittedly long (but I think interesting) story behind this post. Please read on by clicking the “read more” button below.

Windows

I love the Windows logo that displays when I turn on my computer.

It makes me want to know what is behind those windows.  What is the source of the bright light?  Who and what is in the next room?  What would I see if I could turn the image slightly to the right...?  It's so... metaphysical.

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Who you will become

I just had a conversation with a man for whom our current political climate was heavy on his mind. When he spoke of racism in our country, I told him I'd been thinking about that very subject earlier this morning as I considered (again) the story of the ten lepers. That story is about more than gratitude, the subject of Monday’s post. It is also about religious bigotry and racism.

You see, one of the ten men of the story was a foreigner, a Samaritan.  While distant cousins to the Jews of the Bible, they were shunned as half-breeds and heretics for their different views of the Torah.  Jesus himself was slandered by the religious leaders when they claimed Jesus was the bastard son of a Samaritan.  (Jesus had grown up just north of the Samarian region in Galilee.)  Samaritans would not normally go to the Jewish priests to be pronounced "clean".  So it is another measure of this man's faith in Jesus that he willingly obeyed Jesus's instruction to "go show yourselves to the priests." 

That instruction was given to send an important message to the Jews and Samaritans alike.  Along with two other stories in the Gospels about Samaritans, the woman at the well and the Good Samaritan, that story tells us something essential about Jesus:  He cares about all people, not just certain people groups or religions.  It is one of the most prominent messages of Jesus's ministry.  He wanted people to understand that it is not who you are that matters. What matters is who you will become - if you follow Him. 

There probably aren't many racists reading this blog; but most of us have biases of one sort or another.  Often those biases are against fellow Christians with different understandings of non-essential doctrines or different practices of our faith.  (Hymns vs worship music, for example.)  Sometimes the bias is against those who are struggling with emotional weaknesses, excess weight, failed relationships or other painful and difficult circumstances.  We would do well to heed Paul's instruction in both I Corinthians 8 and Romans 14, summed up aptly in the aphorism:  "In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity."  

The goal is to become like Jesus, before whom we all someday stand.

(There is a fun update to this post above at "More on Samaritans.")
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"Could be today!"

My brother, Steve, mom and dad's first born, had Down's Syndrome.  

We loved Stevo.  I am sure my siblings would agree: we miss him more than we would miss each other if any of us had died.

Like most people with Down’s, Stevo was by nature joyful and friendly.  (It has occurred to me that, if God created us to be happy, then Down's people are the normal ones; it is we who are disabled.)  Steve was an absolute joy to be around - except during one dark period in his life....

Steve was the oldest of five children.  As we all grew up, he seemed to us a perpetual ten year old.  Steve was always…. Steve.  He didn’t change. Even today I can't think of Steve as a man; He will always be a kid in my mind. As we younger siblings progressed through school and then college and then, one by one, got married, Steve noticed that he wasn't moving on with "life".  He was, after all (as we used to put it back then), retarded; he wasn’t stupid.  He knew something was wrong.  

I became aware of this one day when Steve was with me, in my car, driving to West Lafayette to spend time with our family.  Steve said something (I don’t even remember what it was) to which I replied, “Oh, Steve.  You dummy.”  Of course, I didn’t mean any harm.  I said it in the same joking way I would have said it to either of my other brothers or my sister.  But, Steve heard it otherwise.  I looked over to see his head in his hands. He was sobbing.  For the first time, I became aware of just how much Steve understood about his condition.  He was smart enough to know he wasn’t smart.  He knew that being “special” didn't feel very special.  He understood that he was… different.  

As that realization grew in him earlier in his life, so did a root of bitterness that the enemy seized upon.  In his 30’s, Steve began to behave like a rebellious teen.  He became sulky and defiant against his parents, with whom he lived.  He stopped doing the chores he had for so long done willingly.  He refused to go to church.  He began to speak ill of Jesus.  He even burned his Bible.  Mom and Dad were gravely concerned.  They earnestly sought God’s intervention.  They prayed over Steve.  They prayed that the demons that tormented him would depart - never to return.  Steve’s reaction was often that of rage.  My parents felt unsafe.

Then it happened.  One morning Steve woke up transformed.  His countenance was full of joy.  All he could say was, “I saw Jesus!”  “I saw Jesus!”  “I saw Jesus!” The Lord had revealed Himself to my brother in a dream that night.  The bitterness and anger had been replaced with peace and hope.  That is when he started saying, “Could be today!” to practically everyone he met.  "It could be today" that he would again see Jesus.. He could not wait to see Jesus again! 

As for many of us, life was still hard for him, like it was at the moment I made the insensitive comment to him in the car.  Like us, he had to continually go to the Lord for strength and patience with his lot in life.

My brother finally saw Jesus again - for the first time in the flesh - about five years ago when he went to heaven at the age of 65.  I wish I could have been there when he finally did, to see the joy on his face.  That's why I am so looking forward to the Bema, that moment when Jesus tells us Steve's whole story - with all the parts about which we had only a hint.  I can't wait to hear from all the people Stevo encouraged during his life.  I can't wait to find out how many of them are in heaven because of Steve's faithful life.  

Thank you, Jesus, for my dear brother, Stevo.

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Thank you!

One day Jesus came upon ten men with leprosy.  (Luke 17)  They begged Him, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.”  Jesus’s response must have puzzled them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.”  "Why?" they may have wondered.  "To show them that we still have leprosy?"  But they believed they would be healed and started for Jerusalem, where a pronouncement from the priests that they were clean would allow them to rejoin their families and friends from whom they had been ostracized, and attend the Temple, from which they were banished because of their disease.  Miraculously, they were healed on the way.

At that point they had a choice to make:  Go back and thank Jesus or continue on to see the priest.  Since they were likely still together, they almost certainly discussed what to do among themselves. No doubt they were happy and grateful!  But nine of the ten were intent upon getting on with their lives. They may have even justified their actions, “Jesus told us to go to the priest!”  “We don’t even know that we can find Him!”  “He knows we are grateful!  We don’t have to tell Him.”  Only one was so grateful that he briefly put his restored life on hold and went back to thank Jesus.

God has healed you and me, too.  At the cost of the life of His Son, he healed us of our leprous sin.  Let us pause our busy lives and go back, over and over, to Him and thank Him.  “Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory!  For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.”  (Rev. 19:7)

By the way, there is a moving depiction of gratitude in the movie “Magdalena: Released From Shame.”  (Available for free on YouTube but the DVD is of better quality.)  The movie is the story of the gospel and the scene is that of the healing of Mary Magdalena from her demon possession.  It is a great movie to share with family and friends.

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