Month: May 2024

Last night was one of those really dark nights.  My dog and I were out for a latenight walk when she stopped, raised her hackles and uttered her fiercest low growl.  I carry a small flash light to turn on in case a car comes by.  I want to make sure the driver sees us.  But something else was seeing us.  As I swept the area with the light I suddenly saw the reflection of six eyes pointed in our direction.  The owners were about eighteen inches tall and silent.  I’m pretty sure if I had hackles they would have matched my dog’s.  Ever so vigilantly we retreated back home.

It is not the first time we have encountered coyotes but this was the first time more than one; at least that I noticed. How often are we unaware of being watched?  In the workplace, in our neighborhoods, people are observing.  We think our behavior and attitudes don’t matter, but they do matter, especially if people know we are Christians.

A really good kind of watching is “He who watches over you will not slumber;” Psalm 121:3.  That kind of watching doesn’t cause us to vigilantly retreat.  That is unless our path is somewhere we should not be.  Psalm 1:1 describes that in three ways.  “Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers.”  If that was our path then we should flee as quickly as possible.

What joy we have in Jesus’ words, “Lo, I am with you always. Even unto the end of the world.”  I like that kind of watching.

Written by Roger Bothwell on February 28, 2017

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I have to confess that sometimes David fills me with frustration.  I read Psalm 17 and wonder if this man lived in denial.  Please note.  “Hear me, LORD, my plea is just; listen to my cry.  Hear my prayer— it does not rise from deceitful lips. Let my vindication come from you; may your eyes see what is right.  Though you probe my heart, though you examine me at night and test me, you will find that I have planned no evil; my mouth has not transgressed. Though people tried to bribe me, I have kept myself from the ways of the violent through what your lips have commanded.  My steps have held to your paths; my feet have not stumbled.”

He must have had a selective memory.  What about the lies he told to Achish when he was robbing surrounding cities and killing everyone so they couldn’t tell on him?  See I Samuel 27.  In Psalm 51 he is repenting for the sin of having Uriah the Hittite, killed to cover up his affair with Uriah’s wife.  In his confession he says, “I know my wrong-doing, and my sin is always in front of me. I have sinned against You, and You only. I have done what is sinful in Your eyes.”  Really?  “You only.”  What about Uriah?  Didn’t he sin against him?

What was he thinking?  We cannot lie to God.  He knows everything about us.  Psalm 17 doesn’t say as much about David as it does about God.  God is gracious.  God is merciful.  God is wonderful to tolerate us.  If you are ever discouraged about your sinful past, just remember God’s care for David and I promise you, you are going to be taken care of.  God doesn’t play favorites.  You have it made.

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 6, 2017

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It is fascinating that we consider the Psalms to be Scripture.  The Psalms were authored by quite an assembly of people.  Normally we think of David, but there was a nameless afflicted man (102), Moses (90), Ethan (89), the Sons of Korah (several), someone named Asaph (83) and others.  Most of Psalms were written for use by musical groups.  They were a Hebrew hymnbook.

I was thinking about this while browsing through a modern hymnbook.  Once again there is quite a variety of writers from the Wesley brothers to Martin Luther and Fanny Crosby.  How many centuries have to pass before they will be looked upon as inspired enough to be Scripture?   Some of them have incredibly inspiring theology.  My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less by Edward Mote is excellent.  “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness; I dare not trust the sweetest frame, But wholly lean on Jesus name. On Christ the solid Rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand.”

Some of the more familiar hymns become such a part of our thinking we often sing them without thinking about the words.  Our brain goes into automatic drive and the words mindlessly pop out of our mouths.  I have discovered it is a real blessing to sometimes not sing the hymn but just read the words.  Our brains are forced to use a different area other than the music area.  Edward Mote’s hymn could remind us that salvation is only possible via the blood and righteousness of Jesus.  We would be reminded not to think so highly of ourselves and instead be “Clad in His righteousness alone, Faultless to stand before the throne.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 2, 2017

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Years ago Martin Luther, a professor at Wittenberg, began to explain to his students Paul’s letter to the Romans.  It was Romans 1:17 that ignited Luther’s quest to reform Christianity, “For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed–a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’”  Luther’s commentary on Romans was the fruit of those lectures.

He begins his introduction with the following challenge.  “This Epistle is really the chief part of the New Testament and the very purest Gospel, and is worthy not only that every Christian should know it word for word, by heart, but occupy himself with it every day, as the daily bread of the soul. It can never be read or pondered too much, and the more it is dealt with the more precious it becomes, and the better it tastes.”

At times I fear we are all a bit like Peter, who declared that Paul could be quite difficult to understand. See II Peter 3:16.  For those of us who are not as brilliant as Paul, we might want to begin by concentrating on some of the more familiar passages in Romans and then expand out from them.  The end of chapter 8 is a great passage. “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

I know that is a very familiar text so that makes it a great place to start.  That’s good pedagogy.

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 7, 2017

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Robert Frost’s famous poem The Road Not Taken ends with the classic lines, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled by and that has made all the difference.”  I cannot tell how many times through the years I have heard people reference this passage to themselves.  I have never heard anyone say they took the road most traveled.  We love ourselves and think we are very unique from all others. And while that is true in a limited sense but the larger truth is we are all alike.  If this were not true there could not be medical science.  We need to be like each other so doctors can diagnose our problems because we have symptoms that digress from the norm.  Without norms it would be impossible to help the ill.

The same is true psychologically.  Without norms we couldn’t know when and how someone was maladjusted and what to do to help them.  It is an extremely rare person who does not automatically use Freud’s ego-defense mechanisms.  But it seems that our love for ourselves deceives us into thinking we are outliers several standard deviations above the norm.  We are the protagonist of our life story and therefore we think we took the road less traveled.  It blinds us to the reality of the millions of others crowding the same road as we. Yes – it is true each of us is a unique one of a kind being and the irony is that very uniqueness is what makes us the same as others.

When God made us He said, “Let us make man in our image.”  Man was a distinctly new creature different from angels and other heavenly beings described in the book of Revelation.  We must accept the gift of eternal life so we can meet those others.  It will be an eternity of discovery.

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 9, 2017

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When my older son was very small he loved collecting stamps.  He, literally, spent hours sorting and resorting by changing categories. My wife’s father also had a significant collection, especially concentrating on the stamps of the Caribbean and Central America. One year for Christmas he gave them to my son.  It was a huge box with thousands of stamps. My son never played with his stamps again.  The box from his grandfather is in our attic.  It was no longer the fruit of his efforts it was the fruit of his grandfather’s.

When we are small we often say to our parents, “Let me.”  We want to do it.  There is little joy in someone doing it for us.  We love to master something and then say, “Daddy, watch me.”  Perhaps this is part of the reason most religions of the world are focused on works.  And Christianity, the only religion not relying on works, is often polluted by manmade rules of don’t eat this or drink that.  We are instructed to make some manner of atonement to show our sorrow for our sins.

Paul addressed this to the church of Colossi. It was obvious someone was perverting the pure Gospel Paul had taught and so Paul wrote, “Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.”

Contrary to our desire to do it ourselves, salvation is not a do it yourself project.  It is the one thing, the most valuable thing, we cannot do ourselves.  We must acknowledge our inability and let Jesus do it for us.

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 10, 2017

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When I was very small my parents gave me thirty-five cents a week.  Twenty five cents was for the mission offering at church and ten cents was for me.  We had a treasure land for a neighborhood store run by a man with no legs.  He slid around the well worn wooden floor on a large piece of leather that was somehow strapped to his waist.  When you walked in immediately to the right was a glass case filled with penny candy.  There were Mary Janes, gummy bears, marshmallow peanuts, wax lips and other wonders.  Best of all there was a comic book rack and they were only ten cents each.  If I wanted a comic book I had to forgo the candy.  It was my choice.  Most of the time I opted for a Donald Duck comic, but sometimes I got a Superman.

I remember one week in church they showed us a picture of a small child in Africa that needed food.  That week I did not get a comic book or candy.  It was not a difficult decision.  Often for supper we had dark cornpone and milk.  I thought we were rich.  And we were when compared to the child in Africa.  So much of life is relative.  Little could I have imagined that decades later I would spend six years in Africa and would have many occasions to be reminded of that little boy in the picture.

Life is the sum of our choices; here and forever.  The most important of all is our commitment to Jesus and the acceptance of His gift and grace.  Then comes eternal life with an infinite amount of choices.  What we become, where we will go, what we will learn will be our choice.

Written by Roger Bothwell on May 5, 2017

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I am sitting here staring at my computer keyboard.  It is a marvelous thing.  It talks.  It says anything I want it to say.  With it I can spread hope or despair.  With it I can build good or with it I can destroy.  It is an outlet for my mind.  It is amazing.  When we think about it we can transfer thoughts from one mind to another and if we print what we key in, those thoughts can be transferred to other minds years and decades after our minds are thoughtlessly dead.

Thousands of years before my keyboard was the Psalmist wrote, “May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.”  Psalm 19:14.  How did he write that?  Did he have a stenographer?

The 21st century equivalent of that verse would be, “Let the words of my keyboard and these thoughts of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, and may they spread the good news of Jesus love to all the world via the wonder of the Internet.”

I realize that rendition isn’t nearly as poetic and beautiful but it certainly is my prayer as I assure you that Jesus loves you, forgives you from ALL your transgressions and has reserved a place just for you.  Your name is already engraved on the door of your heavenly home.

I also pray that the words of your keyboard posted on Facebook or wherever will always be positive and filled with the joy of salvation.

Written by Roger Bothwell on May 4, 2017

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There are some things so very important and so weighty they should not be witnessed by others.  Matthew 27:45 records such a moment in time. “From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land.”  Jesus has been on the cross for three hours and with the end coming, the agony of separation from His Father, the mental anguish had superseded the horror of the unthinkable physical abuse.  It was time for Jesus to pay the price for our sins.  He who knew no sin had vicariously assumed our guilt.  It was time for Him to die our deserved death that we can live His deserved life.

The ignorant evil crowd being unprepared for total darkness at noon stumbled about in an effort to retreat from site of their evil deed.  They did not deserve to see the cross and the naked broken body of the creator of the universe.  Angels sobbed in shock.  While they knew what was coming the reality was so much worse than  their anticipation of the moment. No one was to watch.  Alone He suffered.  Alone He fended off the taunts of Lucifer, His old friend.  Lucifer was so sure he could make this moment so bad Jesus would give up.  But Jesus would pay the price at any cost for you and me.

I had a friend once tell me when in heaven he wants to watch the video.  I have sincere doubts.  Once he catches a glimpse of the torn flesh and gaping wounds from the nails he will bury his head in his hands.  No one can or should ever watch.     A thousand years from now our love for Him will have so grown, more than ever we will not be able to watch.

Written by Roger Bothwell on May 3, 2017

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The current world record for the fastest time running and winning a marathon was 2 hours and 2 minutes and 57 seconds.  The four men who last broke the marathon record were wearing Adidas shoes. However, Nike has unveiled a new shoe designed to aid runners in breaking the two hour barrier. The question has arisen, “Will these new shoes give a runner an unfair advantage?”

I certainly wouldn’t know, but I know I love having an advantage when facing any challenge.  Diligently studying before a major exam is definitely an advantage over a casual student.  Having a GPS in one’s pocket when in a forest is surely an advantage over someone wandering in circles.  Here is my favorite. “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.”  Galatians 2:20.

When we are determined to be more Christ-like, when we are struggling with a major temptation, when we long for victory over self, when we want to show God how grateful we are for the gift of salvation, when we want to be a better person and aren’t doing so well, – then it’s time to take advantage of the advantage offered us.  Real victory happens when Jesus lives in us.  The victory that follows isn’t because we are so determined, disciplined and stoic; it’s because we have an advantage.  Is it an unfair advantage?  Not in the least.  Jesus earned the right to live within us by His sacrifice on the cross. He waits for an invitation.  He said, “I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in.”  Revelation 3:20.  Now that’s what I call having a wonderful advantage.

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 13, 2017

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