Roger Bothwell

I was raised with the idea that one can only love things that are alive.  I really can’t love my car.  But I come really close to love when I think of my GPS.  I am directionally challenged and until I got a GPS I was a master at getting lost.  Statistically one should only turn the wrong way at an intersection 50% of the time but I am sure I destroyed that stat.  It got so bad that I would choose which way to go and then go the other way.  And sure enough I was right the first time.
 
Fortunately when it comes to major decisions in life I had help.  I always counted on Proverbs 3:6.  “In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”  That’s not to say I haven’t made some poor choices through the years.  But the really important choices worked out and I thank Him for being my divine GPS.
 
The secret to making this work is not magic. It is a matter of prayerfully asking for guidance when studying His word. “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” Psalm 119:105   Paul had a template for his letters.  He started with a greeting and almost immediately got into some heavy theology.  Before he finished he almost always spent considerable time talking about practical Christian living.  The close of Romans and Ephesians are especially rich with directions for living a Christ-like life.   Treat yourself to a careful quiet reading of Ephesians 5 & 6.  The man was amazingly smart.
 
So I love my GPS and really, really love my spiritual GPS.   Use it and never worry about getting or being lost.

It is easy to confuse one’s culture with one’s faith.  Our culture is about customs and socially acceptable practices and behaviors.  Our faith is about our relationship with God and growing and becoming more like one’s God.   Culture is about the way we dress and what music and foods we enjoy or don’t enjoy.  Faith is about morality and how we treat each other.  How often through the years have I not only seen immorality thrust upon others in attempts not to make people like Jesus but to make them like us.
 
I have been guilty.  In my mistaken zeal I championed that all our students at our school in Africa wear neckties when coming to church.  I sent young men back to their dorms to “finish dressing” before they could be counted present at church.  How often have I judged people by the items in their grocery carts and chastised a fellow faculty member for his politics.
 
Now years later I realized how misguided and unChrist-like I was. Jesus’ brother James wrote, “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.”  Please note the admonition is to keep oneself unspotted and not our neighbor.  Paul wrote, “For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: Love your neighbor as yourself.” Galatians 5:14.
 
We all have personal tastes, likes and dislikes.  That is okay.  We just need to be careful not to censure someone because they like vanilla and we like chocolate.  Since we cannot go back and undo we can rejoice that God understands and is quick to forgive.

I startled myself today.  As I started to type my eyes went from the screen down to the keyboard and my father’s hands were sticking out from my shirtsleeves.Those were the hands that toiled to care for our family.  Those were the hands that played marbles with me by digging holes in the ground.  Those were the hands that wiped away the blood from my knees while I was learning to ride a bicycle.  Someone might add those were the hands that spanked you.  But, no.  He never did.  My mom did that!
 
Some of my favorite texts are about hands.  Psalm 19:1 is great. “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”   And then there is Psalm 119:73, “Your hands made me and formed me; give me understanding to learn your commands.”
 
My favorite hand text is John 10:28.  It is about a hand much better than any ordinary hand. “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.”  This must gall Satan.  He had eternal life and threw it away.  The idea that you and I have it has to fill him with disgust because he knows what awaits us.  He knows what wonders we will receive.  And there is nothing he can do about it because Jesus’ hand is so powerful and so loving.  The only way to get out of Jesus’ hand is to ask and surely we are not that stupid. 
 
I loved my human father’s hands because they made me feel safe.  Jesus’ hands do that a hundred times over.  If it isn’t cloudy tonight, step outside, look up and see the work of our heavenly Father’s hands.

One of the things we discussed this morning in psychology class was pattern recognition.  We looked out the classroom window when a student, a good 85 yards away, was walking on the other side of the quad.  The person was walking away from us so we could not see his face.  I asked if anyone of my students recognized him and 75% of my students immediately told me who it was.  They explained it was the way the person walked, the way he carried his head and his basic body profile.
 
It set me to wondering if people ever see Jesus in us because of pattern recognition. Do we deport ourselves with a caring demeanor?  Do we walk with dignity?  Do we speak supportively toward others?  Are we more interested in promoting others instead of me me me?  It really can happen.  We are not slaves to our environment or heredity. There is no question that those two factors can make it more difficult for some than for others.  But the promises are real.  “I can do all things through him who gives me strength.”  Philippians 4.  And just how can we do this?  Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
 
A grandmaster chess player can easily memorize the placement of the pieces during a game.  It is very difficult for them if the pieces are randomly placed.  The patterns are wrong. They don’t fit expectations.  It is the pattern of our lives that enable people to trust us and want to be like us because the pattern of Jesus radiates in our speech and behavior.  

I heard something today that was so outrageous I backed up the television program to listen again to make sure I had not imagined what I heard.  I had not imaged it.  On a “Christian?” program the speaker inferred that we should be rejoicing that certain environmental programs are being reversed or not funded.  His logic was the sooner we destroy our planet the sooner Jesus will have to come to rescue us from our manmade mess. Whatever happened to the idea that God made Adam and Eve stewards of their garden?  How could this man ever again sing, “This is My Father’s World”?  How could he ever again pray for or raise money to help the victims of violent storms or rising oceans?  I was flabbergasted!  If I thought this was mainstream Christianity I would be so embarrassed I should have to call myself something other than a Christian.
 
Jesus told a very interesting parable about a man who left on a journey and gave funds to three of his servants to attend to while he was gone.  Two of them did fine.  But the third did nothing with his.  Upon return the master said to the steward who did nothing, “Evil and lazy slave! So you knew that I harvest where I didn’t sow and gather where I didn’t scatter?”  It gets worse.  Next the master said, “Throw that worthless slave into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 15
 
Somehow I have the feeling that the proper way to prepare the world for the second coming of Jesus is to fulfill the great gospel commission and spread the Good News.  Trashing our Father’s world is not only wrong, it is sick.

Twice a day from Monday to Friday from first grade to eighth grade I rode school buses and I heard a lot of nonsense. One remark that still stands out in my mind came from a nerdy little kid proclaiming that his father knew everything. Even as a child I knew how impossible that was so I said so. I said, “No he doesn’t. That’s impossible.” You can be sure what came next.  “Yes, he does.”  After a few minutes of “No, he doesn’t” and “Yes, he does” we came to his stop and he got off.  
 
Strange how things reverse when we get older because my Father knows everything. Yes He does. I quote from Romans 8, “For those who are led by the Spirit are the children of God. . . the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” . . . Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” 
 
There it is.  Paul says it again in Galatians. And where did Paul get this marvelous truth?  From Jesus Himself who taught His disciples to pray, “Our Father, which art in heaven.” 
 
Now it gets even better.  My Father can also beat up your father.  I also heard that on the school bus.  My Father is not only all-knowing He is all-powerful. I just love being a part of this family. If I were back on that school bus I would be a real braggart. 

When I was a little guy I often found sermons to be tedious and very long.  Occasionally I would fill the time by paging through the hymnal which contains almost 700 songs.  I wondered how long it would take to sing all of them and discovered if it took five minutes for each song with a one minute break between songs it would take 2.9 days if we did not sleep or eat.  I realize that is very meaningless data but when you are 8 years old it makes the time go a bit faster.
 
Time moved so slowly then.  When I sent off for a Dick Tracy decoder ring offered on a cereal box it took six weeks for the mailman to deliver it.  That was a lifetime.  When I was that little I understood what eternity was.  It was getting from 8 to 75.  Now I no longer understand eternity but I am most anxious to give it a try.  I would absolutely love having you try it with me.  It sounds so beyond comprehension you might think I am crazy.  But quoting the great philosopher Sheldon Cooper, “I’m not crazy. My mother had me tested.”
 
It is a matter of faith and trusting Jesus.  His promises are so vivid.  He said in John 5:24, “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.”  That is just a sample.  I once had a pastor really go after me for saying we can skip judgment.  How dare I make heaven so easy to obtain.  Well, sorry about that, I was only quoting Jesus.  And guess what.   He never lies.

On April first we had a substantial snowstorm.  (Not an April Fool’s joke.) It was very wet and heavy; great for making a snowman.  I have to get the snow off the roof of our SUV before I can drive it.  If I don’t remove that snow I will see some blue lights and have to make a contribution to our city budget. Actually it isn’t that difficult.  We live on the top of a hill and if I go 35 mph going down the hill and slam on the brakes the snow keeps moving forward and slides right down the windshield and over the front of the car.  It’s called inertia.  A moving object wants to keep moving and a resting object wants to stay resting.
 
I believe we have psychological inertia. Once I am in my chair and my eyelids start to droop, all I want to do is stay put. When I go for a walk the first 100 yards demand determination, after that I can walk and walk and walk.  It’s the same with our Christian walk.  We get busy and the daily demands of life crowd out our walk with Jesus.  To get it started again requires thought, planning and determination. Once we are back in the habit it becomes easy.
 
I do recommend planning.  Just picking up your Bible and reading randomly isn’t really the best plan. If you’re fortunate you will open to a meaningful passage, but you are just as likely to open to an obscure passage in Leviticus or a chapter of begets.  Treat yourself and read the Gospel of Mark completely in one sitting.  You will find it to be absolutely delightful and it doesn’t take long. It is only sixteen chapters.

My class this morning was moved to a classroom containing a real human skeleton.  While waiting for all my students to arrive I tried to remember the names of all the bones.  I haven’t done that since high school biology class.  I need to bone up a bit to get all of them.  While lecturing he was looking over my shoulder.  I wanted to turn around and say, “Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy; . .”  Hamlet Act 3.  And I wanted to add from Act 5, “To be or not to be: that is the question: Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them? To die: . . . ’tis a consummation devoutly to be wish’d. To die, to sleep; to sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub; for in that sleep of death what dreams may come when we have shuffled off this mortal coil, must give us pause.”
 
If only Hamlet really had known Jesus his fear would been stilled.  But then we would be missing one of the world’s greatest soliloquies, which should give all of us pause to reflect on the wonder of the promises we have received from Jesus, the Resurrection and the Life. Surely Satan cringed with contempt when he heard Jesus say in front of a tomb of a man who had been dead four days, “Lazarus, come forth.”  It was a hallmark moment in the history of mankind.  If you are a friend of Jesus, death is temporary.  A fleeting moment of nothingness and then the trump of God blares across the universe.  Please refresh yourself by rereading the close of I Corinthians 15.

Current research in the field of child development posits that the most important foundational thing a baby learns is trust. Can they trust their caregivers to be nurturing and to respond to their needs?  Can they trust older siblings?  Trust is the basis of every relationship that will follow in their entire lives.
 
Trust is also the building block for faith and for the development of a relationship with God.  When Jesus told us to call God “Our Father” He was hoping we had ideal fathers and we could use that relationship as an avenue to love His Father.  So often we are not ideal parents and we sometimes betray our children’s trust unknowingly making it more difficult for our children to grow up trusting God.
 
Therefore Proverbs 3:5-6 is one of the more important texts in Scripture. “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”
 
One of my greatest blessings was to never doubt my human father’s love.  Therefore, it was easy for me to go to the cradle roll division at church and accept that my heavenly Father also cared for me the very same way. The greatest form of evangelism is always keeping your word when you make a promise to your children.  If you promise to read three stories if Michael or Alicia goes to bed right away, be ever so faithful to read those three stories without skipping pages so you can hurry and go watch TV.  Being faithful to one’s children is completing the great Gospel Commission found at the close of Matthew.