Month: March 2016

I absolutely love chocolate chip cookies.  I love them small.  I love them large.  I love them with tiny chips.  I love them with chunks.  I love them made by Keebler’s elves.   I love them made by my wife.   I love them baked.  I love them raw.  I love them with a tad of vanilla.  I love them without the tad of vanilla.
 
I don’t love what chocolate chip cookies do to my waist.  I don’t love what they do to my self-control. I don’t love what they do to the number on our bathroom scale. Yesterday I was feeling particularly vulnerable while picking up milk at our grocery store.   As I picked up the milk I felt the cookie urge.  As I walked past the cookie aisle I’m sure I could smell them beckoning.  Visions of sitting in my easy chair with a bagful on my lap filled me with thoughts of paradise.  Surely in heaven there will be a chocolate chip cookie tree in my garden.  There will be no serpent.
 
I am so grateful I learned my weekly memory verses when I was a yet a boy.  On each shoulder sat a convincer.  In my left ear came a voice that said, “Just one.  You’re a man.  You can handle just one.”  In my right ear I heard the whisper, “Remember Psalm 1:1.  Repeat after me.  Blessed is the man who walketh not past the cookies nor standeth in the aisle staring nor sits with a bagful on his lap.”
 
I wish I could tell you I won.  Well, I did – sort of.  Instead I bought a bag of chocolate chips.  Forget the dough, baked or raw.   Sometimes compromise isn’t a bad word.  It has ten letters, not four.

When I was seventeen years old our high school temperance society went, as part of larger trip, to a night court in Baltimore. The atmosphere was seedy, dark and an amazing snapshot of city government at work.  The judge was wearing a robe and did have a gavel.  For a few hours we watched a parade of very scruffy men and women brought in from the drunk tank, being represented (?) by a court appointed attorney.  Two men were brought in still bloodied from bashing on each other.  The highlight for a seventeen year old boy were the ladies of the night. They were not strangers to the court.  The judge called each by name, asked each how she was and then fined each one $10.  I had never seen anything like this.  I grew up in church hearing about Jesus spending time with such people.  But this was all new for a kid who grew up in the sheltered care of a loving father and mother.
 
If Jesus had been running a political campaign these were the last people He should have been seen with.  It was no wonder the religious leadership said this man can’t be our messiah.  Look who he parties with.  To be honest most of us would gasp if such a conglomeration showed up in church.  It is easy for us to sit in our comfortable middle class homes and say, “Oh, no.  We would welcome them.”  No.  No we wouldn’t.  We can say we would while not smelling them and not hearing the language.  The wonder of this is Jesus did welcome them.  He told us He came for them.  And He came for us.  Actually we are the hardest ones for Him to reach because most of us think we are okay. 

When we are very small we have very limited options.  We have to eat what others give us and go wherever the family car takes us.  As we mature the menu expands.  We can decide whether or not to continue to eat the family fare or experiment by tasting new foods and new experiences.  Eventually we can choose to set out on our own or continue to live in the world of our family traditions.  Environment and talents have much to do with what’s on the menu.  Few of us could be concert pianists even if we choose to be.
 
Sometimes life serves us some very unpleasant things.  But we still retain the power of choice.  While we might be forced to “eat” something once we don’t have to continue “eating” it for the rest of our lives.   It’s called forgiveness and moving on.  After a very bad incident I have heard people say they will never forgive the person or organization that hurt them.  That’s a bad choice.  What they are saying is I am going to continue “eating” this day after day for the rest of my life.  When we stop to think about this it is a very stupid decision. 
 
If one hates Brussels sprouts, why continue eating them?  Forgiveness is choosing to not only stop eating Brussels sprouts but to not even think about eating them.  For most people the quality of life is a combination of many decisions.  If life stinks most often it’s because we have made stinky decisions.  Jesus told us to forgive. Paul wrote, “Whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report think on these things.”  Life hands us a menu.  The meal we eat is our choice.

One of the many pregnant scenes from Schindler’s List occurs when the camp commandant is drinking with Oskar Schindler and Schindler says to the commandant, “Power is when we have every justification to kill and we don’t.”
 
Paul wrote to the Romans, “For the wages of sin is death.” (6:23)  “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (3:23)   There it is.  It could not be any plainer.  God has every justification to do away with us.  However, there is that aspect of divinity that is omnipotent.  He is all powerful and power according to Oscar Schindler is having the justification but not doing away with us.  Paul goes on and says, “All are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” (3:24)
 
Christianity is spectacular. There is not another religion in the world that offers what Jesus offers.  Other religions are moral.  Other religions have ethical standards.  But nothing else offers what Jesus offers. What is distressing is there are groups hiding under the cover of Christianity, claiming to be Christian, but try to add a bunch of dos and don’ts.  If one is wanting a definition of heresy all one has to do is identify one of these groups.  In Galatians Paul goes after such who were claiming one had to be circumcised to be saved.  He begins Galatians by asking them how could they, the Galatians, be so foolish as to even listen to these people.
 
Our God is omnipotent.  Our God is all powerful.  Our God, though justified, has chosen to forgive us.  I was going to say He chose to love us.  But love isn’t a choice.  It is an attribute.  He can’t help Himself any more than any good parent who loves their children.

God is creative. He longs to talk to us. The writer of Hebrews begins, “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways.”  He still does.  It doesn’t have to be a long time ago to other people.  It can be now to us.  Today I heard a song by Joe Cocker, someone not likely to be thought of as a prophet.  He sang,
 
“I Want To Be The One You Run To
I Want To Be The One You Come To
I Just Want To Be There With Someone
When The Night Comes
Let’s Put All Our Cares Behind Us”
 
As I listened I could hear the still small voice of our Heavenly Father saying, “When the night comes, when life goes dark, I want to be the one you run to. I want to be the one you come to.”  God loves us so much he wants to help us put our cares behind us.   So many of us try to do life by ourselves and we end up in trouble. 
 
The truth is it doesn’t matter how we get in the dump.   He’s ready to help.  There isn’t any place we can go where He is not.  “If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.”  Psalm 139.  David, another person with a troubled past, also wrote, “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.  I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”  Psalm 91
  
So thank you Joe and thank you Dave.

We had a Luke 15 kind of day.  In Luke 15 Jesus tells three lost and found stories and thus it was we had three lost and founds in just a few hours.  When we took our dog for a walk in the forest we came across police cars and fire rescue vehicles.  There was a lost woman in the forest. Just as we were returning from our walk she was found by some of the local children.  When we got home my wife discovered she lost a button off her jacket.  She found a perfect replacement button in her button box.  I then sat down to watch the evening news and promptly fell asleep.  (I have to stay out of that chair.  I lose too many hours in it.)  The woman was found. The button was found but alas my hour in that chair is not recoverable.  I guess it was not a Luke 15 day.  In Luke 15 all three things were recovered.
 
Unfortunately we live in a world of loss and what we lose are more valuable than any button.  Anyone who loves will suffer loss.  It comes with the joy of having someone precious in our lives.  We cannot keep our children. They grow up.  Then they lose us to old age and finally death.   We lose relationships and end up alone.  This is what makes Jesus so necessary.  When I was a child, Jesus was a great idea.  Now He is so much more than that.  When I call Him my Savior it isn’t just a descriptor or a name.   He is now the most important thing I have.  He and He alone will make this a Luke 15 life where everything precious will be found, restored and returned with the surety of never losing a loved one again forever.

We have a fox who has decided he or she likes our yard. Just ten feet from our patio he has dug a den. Almost every night we get pictures of him moving about. We have a trail camera that is activated by motion. It is very novel and quite fun to have him here but we are concerned about our dog. She is fascinated by the den and every morning sticks her head in the hole. It seems fine for now but we are not sure what will happen if he is a she and we have kits this spring. How defensive a mother can be! Tomorrow our vet is coming to update all our dog’s shots just in case there is a problem.

It never hurts to prepare for mishaps. God gave us brains so we can take care of ourselves. That is why the Psalmist wrote in 119, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” Horrific, unexpected temptations can suddenly appear and we need all the help we can get. Storing God’s Word is a great asset to have on hand. See Paul’s list of preparations for warfare in Ephesians 6.

We had a teacher in high school who refused to purchase any kind of insurance because he thought it would be denial of trust in God’s care. While we admired his faith we also were aware that bad things happen to good people and one should do all possible to be ready for mishaps. Sometimes we can allow presumption to replace common sense. Jesus did not jump off the temple just because there is a text about angels caring for us in all our ways. Jesus knew the word “all” meant being reasonable and sane.

I think I should create a Hall of Fame and fill it with interesting souls I’ve met on the road to paradise.  The first person I nominate is an old guy I met at the beginning of my ministry.  He was in his eighties when I first met him.  He needed a fresh new Band-Aid every day to hold up his left (or was it his right?) eyelid. He is memorable because of the number of times I went to his home to pray with him for deliverance from snuff.  His family, very conservative folk, told him he couldn’t go to heaven as long as he dipped into his little round tin.  He started using when he was six or seven years old and had used for eighty years. The days I went to pray with him he was victorious but if I missed a day he dipped. He wanted so much not to disappoint his family and Jesus.
 
At risk of offending some of the saints, during his funeral I was tempted to slip a small round tin into his coffin.  Perhaps at the risk of offending some of my readers I want to say I am sure I will see him again.  I do so with great assurance because of something Jesus said in Matthew 15.  “It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.”  Paul added his perspective in Romans 14, “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
 
My old friend loved the Lord dearly.  He is safe in Jesus’ hands.  I wonder what he will look like without the Band-aid.

John 17:24 contains a fascinating concept.  Jesus prayed, “‘Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.”  Before the creation of the world it was decided in heaven’s councils that Jesus would go to the cross to redeem mankind.  The fall was not a secret to the Godhead but would be an enormous disappointment to them.  When Jesus breathed into Adam the breath of life Jesus knew what He would have to do to enable Adam’s immortality.  The cross would be horrendous. The cross would be torture beyond physical pain.  It would necessitate Jesus’ separating from the Father so He could pay the price for sin.  Jesus’ cross was His glory.
 
How often it is that we complain when given a difficult assignment.  When given a great task that will require sacrifice and suffering the glory that follows is enormous.  When a soldier is greatly honored with a Congressional Medal of Honor it is because he or she has gone way beyond what a normal man or woman would do.  For the rest of his/her life the glory of their pain and sacrifice will be remembered. 
 
Let us never complain about trials and sacrifices.  Our successful accomplishment of them and overcoming will forever be our glory.  It is no wonder Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.  Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven.”

I sat down this afternoon with my high school senior year annual.  It has been decades since I cracked it open.  I wasn’t surprised that I could not remember the names and faces of those in the classes below seniors.  We were so important as seniors the other peons didn’t exist.  But what amazed me was I could not remember those in my class, some of which I think were in my class all four years.  By each picture there is a written message.  The messages basically all say the same thing. “Don’t forget the good times we had.”   I did.
 
There was one message that really puzzles me.  It starts off with “Dearest Roger, It has been swell knowing you this year. Really. Lovingly Yours, Gayle” It is beside a picture of some girl named, Linda.  Wow.  Who’s Gayle?  Who’s Linda?  Are they the same person?  If anything happened surely I would remember!!  I’m not that senile.
 
If this memory loss could happen after fifty years what will it be like to live forever?  So I am going to cover myself now by asking you to forgive me if we meet once every millennium or so and I have no recollection of you.  I’m sorry.  It must be in my DNA.
 
I get the idea that forgetting is a big thing in heaven.  “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”  Hebrews 8:12.   God sets the standard and if we are to be like Him we also will forget each other’s sins.  There will be no grudges in heaven.  Heaven is a Grudge Free Zone.   And most importantly we will forgive ourselves.  Often that is much more difficult than forgiving someone else.