Month: June 2024

For over 50 years my wife and I have always shopped together for our weekly groceries.  However, for the past month or so she has had to go without me.  The unexpected plus side is each week she brings me a treat.  B. F. Skinner would say I am being positively reinforced never to go shopping again.  This afternoon she brought me a cherry Tasty Pie, a childhood favorite.  But, it wasn’t just the price that has changed since I was a boy.  It used to be flaky crust laden with cherries.  Now it is a hard sugar crusted piece of folded cardboard containing about 4 or 5 cherries.  Alas.  But it was the love that came with it that mattered.

There is such joy in giving to someone you love, which brings me to Heaven’s response to Jesus on the cross.  Most prominently there had to be horror at the extreme torture we heaped on Jesus.  There also had to be revulsion and a desire to rescue Him.  But, it was a gift. It was the grandest, most generous; most extreme statement of love ever expressed anywhere ever.  “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son.”  When God gave us Jesus He made Himself poor.  There was nothing greater.  The Father emptied Heaven’s treasure chest as He restrained Himself from interfering.

When you love, giving is as natural as breathing. Today, 2000 years later, the Father continues to bless us.  “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”  Matthew 7.   Never hesitate to ask.  But don’t beg.  He hears us the first time and His generous wisdom will prevail.

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 30, 2017

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In John 8 there is a wonderful story about Jesus being confronted by the authorities with a made-up scandal.  He dispatched the assembly by revealing the personal sins of each politician: priests or politicians were one in the same.  While reading the story I was struck with a modern equivalency of a hypothetical senate judiciary committee convened to destroy a career.  The intended prey calmly and with precision looks at the chair and reveals the hypocritical truth about him.  With precision he begins working his way around the circle unveiling each one’s deepest, darkest secret.  The news networks would love it.  What great theater! Jesus was a master and the people loved Him.  Those stuffed shirts (robes) had been abusing the people long enough.  Jesus was verity. Jesus was truth.

We all have secrets we want never to come to light. Paul said in Romans 3, “Righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.…”  Jesus knows all about us. Yet, He still loves us.  What He wants to say to us is exactly what He said to the woman at the center of the story in John 8.  “Neither do I condemn you.  Go and sin no more.”   That’s the Gospel right there in a simple statement; repeal and replace.

We sometimes wonder how it was that the religious leadership pursued the crucifixion with such vigor.  They had to. Jesus knew too much.  But, oh, how His heart yearned for them.  “Father,” He prayed, “forgive them.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 29, 2017

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While shaving this morning I wondered if Adam was created with a full beard and if not did he awaken the morning of day two with stubble and what facilities existed in the Garden of Eden that would have enabled him to shave.  I know.  That is a totally irrelevant question that has nothing to do with salvation.  But when stories from the Bible have been a part of one’s entire life isn’t it natural to wonder about inane details?

I also wonder about power: not the kind of power in a Corvette, but power over one’s self and over others.  Did not God create Eve from Adam’s side indicating a shared governance?  How is it then that some religious organizations think women should have a diminished role in the church?  It is true Paul wrote the following to the Ephesians, “Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord.”  But he also wrote “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.”  To me that would mean sacrificing everything for her safety, her well-being and having respect for her ideas and opinions. But, I sense a fear in men that by doing so they will somehow lose power, the opiate that addicts egos.

It was a thirst for unreasonable power that sparked the rebellion in heaven when the Morning Star said, “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God.  I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly.” But Jesus who had all power never hesitated to set it aside and become one of us.  He took our lowly position that we could inherit His lofty place.  See Philippians 2:5-8.  This is a topic truly worth our contemplation.

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 28, 2017

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I feel sorry for news anchors on the all news, all day, television channels.  A basic cardinal rule in broadcasting is there must not be dead airspace.  That, of course, means these anchors have to keep talking, even if there is nothing new to talk about.  I’m sure you have noticed that hour after hour they sit and speculate and postulate about something that might be days old.  They even call it “Breaking News”.  They should call it “Broken News” it is so beaten and worn.   They must be excited when something actually does happen and they can finally change the topic.

I was thinking about them when I realized I have been talking about the same thing, not for days, but for seventy years.  I was wondering if I should begin calling the Good News, “Breaking News”.  The Good News breaks hearts, breaks old habits, sometimes breaks relationships, and breaks biases and prejudices.  And it really is “Breaking News” if someone never before heard and understood it.  The Good News breaks the chains of sin, breaks us free from death and guarantees us eternal life.

Contrary to news anchors who have to weary of going over and over old news while pretending it is fresh, every day we can tell the story of Jesus and His love and never weary.  The Holy Spirit makes it fresh in our hearts and gives us new insights.  I love the hymn, “Tell me the old, old story of unseen things above, of Jesus and His glory, of Jesus and His love. Tell me the story simply, as to a little child, for I am weak and weary, and helpless and defiled.”

I have “Breaking News” for you.  You are loved, forgiven and going to live forever.

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 27, 2017

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Many years ago I spent the summer as a chaplain at a junior camp in the northwest corner of Iowa.  By chance I happened to look over the lake and to my horror a child was about to go down.  It seems that the teenage lifeguard was more interested in a pretty girl in a bathing suit than he was in watching the swimmers.  I never bothered to call to him I just raced for the lake.  In a few moments I was with a small boy only to discover he was a member of my church.  When I arrived he, like so many frightened drowning people, fought with me.  As calmly as I could I called into his ear, “Joel, it’s Pastor Bothwell.”  It was miraculous.  Instantly, he relaxed into my arms and soon we were safely on shore.

So often the pressures of career, family, health and life in general make us feel like we are going down.  We don’t seem to be able to metaphorically keep our heads above water.  It is then that, if we listen carefully, we can hear Jesus calling to us, “It’s Jesus and I have you.”  He did promise.  “Lo, I am with you always.” He is the good shepherd and has promised to lead us even through the valley of death.  See Psalm 23.  One of my favorite passages is found in Psalm 139, “If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.”

If we trust Him and relax in His arms, we will soon be safely ashore.

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 24, 2017

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Sometimes I enjoy searching my memory banks for a verse of Scripture that somehow matches my situation.  So when I recently found myself lying flat on a table that was gliding in and out of a large white donut shaped chamber it was easy to come up with Psalm 139. “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. . . My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body.” That was written 4000 years ago.  Today we can look inside our bodies and see everything that is going on.

Technology has changed everything except human nature.  Without Jesus in our lives we are just as selfish as ever.  Do you remember Job’s dialogue with God, when God decided to put Job in his place by asking him some very interesting questions?  In chapter 38 God asked who can measure the dimensions of the earth.  Now we can.  God asked who could enter the storehouses of snow or hail or a path for thunderstorms.  Channel 4 does it every night.  Now I am not bragging about how wonderful we have become.  No.  It is God, the guru of technology, the omnipotent One, who knows all and who in these last days shares many of His secrets with us.

Best of all, He shares His grace with us.  That’s the best gift, not that I don’t appreciate all the scientific advancements.  It is just important that we acknowledge the source and are thankful.  By the way, not only can He scan our organs He can and does scan our minds.  That’s important to remember.

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 23, 2017

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Our yard is one giant nursery.  There are babies everywhere.  Mothers and fathers are flitting from the rhododendrons to the azaleas finding food for their broods. It is quite amusing to see full grown blue jays begging with their mouths agape.  They remind me of college grads who have moved back home to mom and dad.  Midst the cacophony of crying baby robins, wrens and cardinals was something we had not seen before.  Baby red-bellied woodpeckers were trying out their new pecking skills on a beech tree.  It is a wonderful time of the year.

What a time Adam and Eve must have had in their new garden home trying to name all the dazzling, fearless, creatures.  With Adam and Eve’s perfect minds they soon would have qualified to be biologists, ornithologists, ichthyologists, lepidopterists, entomologists and on and on. Surely they would have become astronomers and physicists. But sin, the great interrupter to good things, spoiled it all.

That’s what sin does.  It spoils lives, homes, marriages and careers.  If you can think of something good there is a way for sin to spoil it and of course along with sin came the greatest spoiler of all, death.  But we must not be overwhelmed with grief.  God sent forth His only Son to defeat sin in every aspect of its heinous nature.  In I Corinthians 15 Paul wrote those marvelous words, “When this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.” Verse 54.  Our Jesus is the spoiler of the spoiler.  He is the resurrection and the life and He will make all things new.

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 22, 2017

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While pumping gas I noticed a very pretty car pull up at the pumps behind me.  I had to smile when the driver, an old guy, got out.  It was a Buick and we have always laughingly supported the stereotype that Buicks are old people’s cars.  Thinking to have a fun conversation with the driver and that he would pick up with me on General Motors current advertising campaign, I called out to him, “Is that a Buick?  It sure doesn’t look like a Buick.”  I did get a smile but it wasn’t one of amusement.  It was an instant swelling of pride of ownership. Immediately I had to hear about the deal he got.  (You know someone is a good salesman when he can empty your pocket and you think you did great.) With all seriousness he started in on a list of the car’s features.  I was waiting for him to repeat a descriptive line I heard on the Price is Right when describing a prize car.  “It comes with paint.”  Really!

One of the worst things I could ever hear would be a variation on the Buick ad. “Are you a Christian?  You sure don’t look like a Christian.”  In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said, “By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles?”  Matthew 7:16.  And in James 5:12 we read, “Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? So can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.”

I recognized the Buick at the pump by the emblem on the grill.  I hope we are not recognized as Christians by some cross on our lapel.  Instead the best recognition of all would be from what we are through and through.

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 21, 2017

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It was 1949.  I was in the second grade.  Obviously my teacher knew nothing about Freud’s theory of child development proposing that at the age of seven little boys find little girls to be detestable.  We had double desks and at each desk she seated a little boy and a little girl.  My seatmate had just discovered the supposed enhancement of feminine charm by wearing perfume. I hated it and expressed my displeasure by asking if she was wearing, “An Evening in the Sewers of Paris.”  Instantly I was stabbed in my left arm with a newly sharpened pencil.  The graphite tattoo is still visible seven decades later.  What a different world we live in.  Today she would have been charged with assault.  Then, the teacher blamed me for my smart mouth.

As I look at the mark I am overwhelmed with the permanent results of our behaviors.  Each action whether positive or negative has lasting impressions on who we are and who we are going to be.  Things done that have long ago faded from our memories manifest themselves in our decisions, small or large.  How often do we excuse ourselves with the comment, “It’s no big deal”? It is bigger than we know.

It is wonderfully true that God is merciful and will forgive anything.  He will look at us as if we had never sinned.  Our brains are not that gracious.  Each of us is the accumulated fruit basket of a lifetime of choices.  Character building is our challenge. If we today are generous, polite and kind, we will be a different person tomorrow.   Paul so wisely wrote, “Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.  Philippians 4:8

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 20, 2017

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Each of us is offended by something. When something is contrary to our values and personal standards we react with revulsion and sometimes anger. We love our country and are more than irked when we see someone degrading our flag.  We love our mothers and want to retaliate when someone casts dispersion on their virtue.  Foul language and blasphemy arouse us.  And so it was for the Jewish people when Paul preached Christ and God’s mercy being the foundation of salvation and not our flawed attempts to perfectly obey the law.  The law was the perfect standard of God’s character.  It was the benchmark for justice.  When one reads Psalm 119, a hymn of praise for the law, one catches a glimpse of Jewish love for the wisdom and holy content of the law.

In Galatians 5:11 Paul speaks of the cross being an offense. He was describing the normal reaction one would have to anything heralded as having more value than the law.  The law was God’s gift to mankind and now Paul comes along and proclaims the law has been superseded by a filthy instrument of death reserved for the garbage of humanity.  A cross was not some beautiful object to be replicated in gold and worn about one’s neck.  Crosses were symbols of humanity at its worst.

The law could not save but instead it condemned because of our failure to measure up.  So often we have heard, “We are saved by grace, but . . .” What follows Paul called “yeast”.  See verse 9.  The yeast is anything that pollutes the purity of God’s gift on the cross.  If we allow, it will slowly permeate the entire Gospel.  That is the real offense.

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 19, 2017

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