Is the Truth a club in your hands?

He is a friend, a pastor, and yesterday, he wounded my heart. His words flowed out of deep, passionate conviction and I knew it. Still, as he talked about his belief that Christians have authority to heal and that those not healed are either sinful, lack faith, or the one praying for them lacks faith, I felt his words fall on me like a club; accusing, judgmental. I heard them only in the context of the loss of my Dad, my Mom, and my wife – all of whom died young, cancer slowly stealing their earthly lives in spite of fervent prayers of faith offered by many for them. Did he intend to hurt me? Not at all.  I left that little gathering with a jumble of emotions- anger, confusion, self-doubt, to name a few. 

My intent today is not to debate the issue of healing. Selected texts from Scripture can be used to support differing conclusions. I do most certainly believe that God acts to heal, but also know that He is God and I am not, that His no is as much an answer as His yes!

As I thought about that morning meeting, I realized anew the power of words and the care with which I must use them!  How do you use ‘truth’ in your life?

Truth exists! For example, I am convinced that Jesus Christ is the Way to know God, the Father, the only One who can restore us to a right relationship with Him and give us eternal life. That is a non-negotiable Truth for me. But, how I communicate it is critically important.  Many years ago, my little brother, then about 5 years of age, heard the gospel and in a childish way felt the need to challenge everyone he met with a question about their eternal destiny. He made grown men squirm when he publicly asked them point-blank if they knew Jesus and were going to Heaven. That’s fine for a child, but if I take the wonderful Gospel and, in a childish way, turn it into a challenge about Heaven and Hell, I am unlikely to bring many to the life offered in Jesus, am I?

Another example comes from a place of deep conviction about human life. I am avidly pro-life believing that abortion is a sin. But, I would never stand on the street and wave a sign proclaiming my conviction because I also know that women who are considering that choice are usually feeling pressures that I, as a man, cannot even imagine. So my convictions, though unwavering, must be shaped by compassion, communicated in ways that they can be heard by someone in crisis.

Truth is not to kill or condemn. It is to bring life, wholeness, and restoration. Paul urges us to "speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church." (Ephesians 4:15, NLT) When we talk about God’s Word, about our convictions about what He has said to us, we must do so with great grace, with the love of Jesus shaping every word. In all of noisy bombast that has become our divided world, this gentle kind of context for our message is even more important. 
Yes, of course, I know that the truth will offend some, regardless of our care and compassion.  Jesus acknowledged that He would become a source of division, that some would hate us because of Him.  We know that, but we do not have to go looking for a fight, do we?

Know the Word. Hold tightly to the eternal truth. Focus on the Good News of the Kingdom Come!  And let us take this word from Paul to young pastor Timothy as our guide. Here is a word from the Word. Lord, give us ears to hear and a heart that understands. "A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but must be kind to everyone, be able to teach, and be patient with difficult people. Gently instruct those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will change those people’s hearts, and they will learn the truth. Then they will come to their senses and escape from the devil’s trap." (2 Timothy 2:24-26, NLT)

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Wonderful Words Of Life

Sing them over again to me

Wonderful words of life

Let me more of their beauty see

Wonderful words of life

Words of life and beauty

Teach me faith and duty

Beautiful words wonderful words

Wonderful words of life

Beautiful words wonderful words

Wonderful words of life

Christ the blessed One gives to all

Wonderful words of life

Sinner list to the loving call

Wonderful words of life

All so freely given

Wooing us to Heaven

Philip Paul Bliss

© Words: Public Domain

Is your Bible a kind of lucky charm?

Christians buy Bibles! About 25 million Bibles are sold in the United States annually. It is hard to come up with an exact figure but Guinness Book of Records estimates that since the advent of printing, about 5 billion (yes, billion) Bibles have been circulated.  The average Christian household has about 5 different Bibles available.  Smartphones have brought us an explosion of Bible apps, the most often installed one being YouVersion™ which is free and offering access to more than 2 dozen translations of the Scripture to readers.

So, what does that mean?  Apparently not as much as we would think.  We buy them but, increasingly, we do not read them.  Most Christians desire spiritual nourishment from the Word, but not directly. They prefer to receive their Scripture in blogs like this one, from sermons, and in books. A majority of Christians remain largely ignorant of Scripture passages that are outside of the tried and true passages like Psalm 23, John 3:16, Jeremiah 29:13, etc. Before you look away thinking that Jerry is a cranky old man intent on ‘guilting’ you, please read on.

The Scripture is the primary way we come to know Who God Is, How God works, and What God purposes for us.  It is not just informing, it is transforming! Remember this passage? "How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you." (Psalm 119:9-11, NIV)  It is healing!  As I have shared before, for months after Bev’s death, sleep came as the Psalms played on my IPad™ feeling my head and heart with assurance of God’s love.

Do you read and know Scripture? I am forever grateful for the teaching of the Word that came to me first through the efforts of my parents. They took me to Sunday School and church and read the Bible in our home. My understanding of the world around me was formed through the stories of Joseph, Samuel, David, Jesus, and Paul.  As a result of the constant exposure to the Scripture, I learned to interpret the events of life and the world around me through the filter of the Word. Let me be clear. I am not one of those who has a verse for every moment, who will not think and process. Truth is not simple, answers are not always easy to find.  Finding the way to bring the eternal wisdom of God to bear on the challenges of life is often an act of faith and requires discipline of mind and spirit.  Then, too, I know that times come when my rebel heart wants to throw off His reins and run head-long after my own way!  Yet, be the day bright with joyful hope or dark with trials and sorrows, I hold tightly to what God has said in His Word.

Jesus says that the Word of God is like seed. "What do you make of this? A farmer planted seed. As he scattered the seed, some of it fell on the road, and birds ate it. Some fell in the gravel; it sprouted quickly but didn’t put down roots, so when the sun came up it withered just as quickly. Some fell in the weeds; as it came up, it was strangled by the weeds. Some fell on good earth, and produced a harvest beyond his wildest dreams."  (Matthew 13:3-9, The Message)   His friends came to Him later on and asked Him, "Why do you tell these stories?  What does a story about a farmer planting seeds have to do with us?"   And He explained,  "Study this story of the farmer planting seed. When anyone hears news of the kingdom and doesn’t take it in, it just remains on the surface, and so the Evil One comes along and plucks it right out of that person’s heart. This is the seed the farmer scatters on the road. "The seed cast in the gravel—this is the person who hears and instantly responds with enthusiasm. But there is no soil of character, and so when the emotions wear off and some difficulty arrives, there is nothing to show for it. "The seed cast in the weeds is the person who hears the kingdom news, but weeds of worry and illusions about getting more and wanting everything under the sun strangle what was heard, and nothing comes of it. "The seed cast on good earth is the person who hears and takes in the News, and then produces a harvest beyond his wildest dreams."  (Matthew 13:18-23, The Message)

Are you letting the seed of Truth be planted in you by regular reading of the Word?

Do you pick up your Bible (or open the app) and soak in a Psalm, process a chapter from the Gospels, or take challenge from a New Testament letter?

Be like Jeremiah who exclaimed:  "When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, O LORD God Almighty." (Jeremiah 15:16, NIV)

Let’s not buy Bibles to decorate our coffee tables or to keep around like a lucky rabbit’s foot.  A Bible is just a book, not a religious icon. The words in the Book are His Word and when we read, study, and understand with the Spirit’s guidance, we grow strong in faith, deep in conviction, and steady in assurance.

Here is a seed. Plant it and let it grow.  "But you must remain faithful to the things you have been taught. You know they are true, for you know you can trust those who taught you. You have been taught the holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work." (2 Timothy 3:14-17, NLT)

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Abba, help me to love You with my mind as well as my heart.

Keep me from slipping into a kind of sentimental faith.

Make my mind alive to Your Truth.

Give me a readily receptive attitude that desires to know and to do

what the Holy Scripture teaches me to do.

May the transforming power of the Bible cause my life to

Become ever brighter with Your wonderful, holy Presence.

In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

More than ‘being a nice person’

How do you treat those who are ‘other?’  Humans tend to gather in groups of people who are like themselves and, in the darker part of our beings, are often tempted to discriminate, to create ways to favor our own interests, and even to demonize those with who we have difference. We teach our little ones to be nice but even children on the playground sort themselves into groups, choosing who is ‘in’ and who is ‘out.’  Americans make much of being a society without a nobility, a nation of opportunity, and I am deeply grateful for that ideal, but must ask us to think if we really live it?  

Let me be personal – are you a person who accepts others? Do you go beyond just being politely nice to those who are different, to a real acceptance that sees the God-created value of each one? It’s not an easy question.  I confess, sadly, I too often find myself finding a reason to stand apart from the ‘other,’ hear myself saying words that judge, unintentionally perhaps; but none-the-less building a wall instead of a bridge! Any intentions I may have to be kind are overcome by the natural tendency to love Self. That is why I need the Savior and the Spirit of God. He finds me where I am and move towards His calling.  

Christians should be on the forefront of creating acceptance for we are called by God to build bridges between people who are separated by race, sex, status, and religion. This is a spiritual issue, not merely a social or political one. When we are made alive to God by new birth, when the Spirit restores us to our Father, we gain a new sense of identity. It is not shaped by our nation, our race, our sex, our education, or social status.  We are ‘children of God.’ 

John tells us that God lavishes His love on us, a transformational experience, and we become loving. In the 3^rd chapter of his first letter, he make a lengthy case for this new kind of relationship with others. His words offer us no shelter for our old ways. "We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him." (1 John 3:14-15, NIV)

Paul says that we go beyond religious regulation and we experience renewal, from the heart outward. Writing to the church in Galatia (and to us) he says that this renewal shows in a new community that not created of people who look and act the same ways, but by people who are God’s children. "For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you." (Galatians 3:26-29, NLT)  Abraham, by calling and faith, is considered the father of the faithful. One need not be his physical descendant to enjoy inclusion in God’s promise to him.  “In Christ” we are called into the family, all other distinctions eclipsed by this gift of grace!

Today America remembers Martin Luther King, Jr.,  the Baptist minister, who became the nation’s conscience, gifted by God with a voice that spoke to our persistent sin of racism and inequality. I pray that we will not see his message a one for government and public policy, though it was aimed to change those things.

May we, who are God’s children through faith in His Son, understand that we, by our spiritual calling, should be the voice of the powerless, the defender of the weak, those who hold out a hand to all without regard to those things that would naturally divide us. Let our prayer be not just to be ‘nice people,’ but to be transformed people, changed by love that is deep and strong, that pushes fear from our minds and hearts, and replaces it with the serenity that God alone can offer us in this turbulent world – for Jesus’ sake.

Here is a word from the Word. "Showing partiality is never good, yet some will do wrong for a mere piece of bread." (Proverbs 28:21, NLT) "For God does not show favoritism." (Romans 2:11, NLT)

Lord, make us like You, without favorites, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.