Friday, February 28, 2014

A Couple of Guys Named Earl

"And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch.  And it came about that for an entire year they met with the church, and taught considerable numbers; and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch" (Acts 11:26)

I had originally intended to write this post quite some time ago, beloved.  In fact, the idea has been simmering on one of the back burners of my mind for a while.  It was recently brought forward when my sister changed her Face Book photo and replaced it with one of my mother and father taken around the time of their wedding in the early 1940's.  Just seeing their beautiful faces reminded me that I needed to get back to this blog idea and "git 'er done."

You may have already figured out that the two guys named Earl are my dad and me.  My grandparents gave him the name Earl as a surname (don't even ask what the "T" stands for in his middle name!).  Then Mom and Dad gave me the name Earl as my middle name and it is one that I have worn gladly and proudly throughout my life.  Wearing the name Earl for me is a true badge of honor.  My father in his life was an honorable man, a man of dignity and integrity who loved his country and served it well.  The photo that I have already mentioned shows him in his military uniform during WWII.  On every bomber mission while on active duty he would crawl through that narrow tunnel in the belly of his B-17, strap himself into the tail gunner's turret and, with his fellow crew members, put his life on the line to defend liberty against horrible and perverted aggression.  I guess you can tell from that bit of nostalgic rambling that I am honored myself to be a guy named Earl.

Although many of you no doubt have similar stories you could tell, the point that I really started out to make is that we all as followers of Jesus Christ have a koinonia, a "sharing in common," that is far more than just a couple of guys named Earl.  You see, we each have the honor and the privilege of being known as a person named Christian.  And with that privilege comes the most awesome responsibility that it is possible for any one individual to bear.  We have the task of bearing that glorious name before the eyes of a watching world, most of whom do not have that privilege yet.  They are watching you and me to see if they can figure out why it is so important for them as well to become a guy named Christian.  And the decision that they will each ultimately make, though their own to make and their own consequences to bear, will still in great measure be affected by what they see in you and me.

So I am just a guy named Earl and you already know why it is such an honor for me to bear that name.  But more than that I am a guy named Christian and it is my joy and my responsibility to bear that name as Jesus did.  The reality for me personally is that I fall and I get back up.  I fall again and I get back up again...but I never lose sight of the name that I bear and of the cost that Jesus paid to give me the privilege to bear it.

Say, how is that name fairing in your daily care?

Ron

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Garbologist at Work!

"...in order that no advantage be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes" (2 Corinthians 2:11)

I am indebted for the idea behind this devotional thought to a waste collection agency, one of its trucks anyway, behind which we found ourselves this morning and upon whose rear portion we saw proudly displayed the sign: GARBOLOGIST AT WORK!  Garbologist!  Don't you just love that term?  What an intriguing title for the critical and beneficial work of garbage removal and disposal!

Even as I commented to my wife and chuckled about that sign as we passed the truck, the thought immediately occurred to me that there is a "garbologist" at work in the world today and that there is absolutely nothing "beneficial" about his activities.  I hereby officially bestow upon Satan, the enemy of all mankind, the title of "Garbologist"!  All that he plans and all that he carries out is nothing but sheer spiritual garbage in the lives of people.  His primary goal is now and always has been to keep people away from the grace and mercy and love of God.  Know this for a certainty, beloved, that Satan stands opposed to everything that God by His grace is doing in the world today.  If that fact does not earn for him the title of "Garbologist," then I do not know what does!

The Apostle Paul in his second recorded letter to the church in Corinth gives to us a wonderful word of encouragement and source of hope in our daily dealings with the enemy of our souls.  He first promises that there is no need for any "advantage (to) be taken of us by Satan."  In other words, we do not have to find ourselves covered by the spiritual garbage that he seeks to heap up in our lives.  We do not have to fall prey to his schemes or become victims of his lies.  And the reason is simply, as Paul put it so well, that "we are not ignorant of his schemes."  That is one of the most glorious promises in all of the New Testament concerning the potential victory of the child of God!  The apostle told the Corinthian believers that we as followers of Jesus Christ are "not ignorant" of how the enemy works today.  We not only know from personal life experience, but we know because the Word of God instructs us in how to deal with him and how to have victory over him.  This same Paul exhorted the saints in Ephesus to "put on the full armor of God" in facing each new day.

"Put on the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil" (Ephesians 6:11)

So there is no reason, beloved, especially as we face the onset of a brand new year, for any of us to fall prey to the "garbage" that Satan loves to sling: thoughts that are misaligned with the truth of God, actions that are not in keeping with what He requires of us, attitudes that are not glorifying to Him or edifying to one another, a lifestyle that is not redemptive because it does not point the way to the cross of Calvary.

May this New Year be for you one of complete and total victory over Satan and one of glorifying Jesus Christ in all that you say and do.  And remember, always keep your eyes and ears open!  There is ever nearby a garbologist at work!

Ron 

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

The Secret to Staying Awake in Church

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied" (Matthew 5:6)

It's been a while since I have posted anything, beloved, primarily because I remain determined to do so only when I feel like I really have something worthwhile to share with you.  Tonight I have been working on the current passage in the book of Acts upon which we are focused at present in Sunday worship.  The passage is a unique one involving a young man who "fell asleep in church" while the Apostle Paul was preaching and fell to his death from a third story window.  Often today believers assume that it was a sign that Paul's sermon was too long for Eutychus and he could not stay awake.

What I find in this unusual experience, however, is a question that immediately confronts us when we jump to such a conclusion.  That question quite simply is: "Too long with reference to what standard?"  The truth is that what is "too long" for some worshipers is in fact "too short" for others!  I have enjoyed the privilege of preaching on the island of St. Lucia in the West Indies where worshipers are accustomed to services that go on for two to three hours.  I have personally been asked by the resident pastor there to preach for 90 minutes.  I don't know about other denominations, beloved, but try that in the average Baptist church and see what happens!

In the famous Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) Jesus pronounced that "blessed" or happy and fulfilled are those who have a true "hunger and thirst for righteousness."  How could a worshiper possibly lose his focus in any way, much less actually fall asleep, when the truth of God is being taught in a service of worship?  Instead of asking, then, if Paul's sermon was too long for Eutychus' attention span, perhaps we should consider that Eutychus' hunger was too short for Paul's message!

How is your personal "hunger and thirst" for righteousness, beloved?  Does the enemy consider you to be a threat to his perverted purposes or does he rather find you to be "yawning" your way through each day as a professing Christian?  Are the Biblical messages we hear on a regular basis truly "too long" for our ability to pay attention, or is the problem with the degree of our spiritual hunger?

Do you want to know, then, the secret to staying awake in church?  Develop a hunger for the Word of God, an insatiable craving to live out the truths of God each and every day, and you will never become a Eutychus.  Other than this, the only advice that I can give you is to stay away from churches where the sanctuary is above the ground floor!

Ron 

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Religious Like Me?

"Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma" (Ephesians 5:1-2)

Recently a good friend invited me on an outing with a couple of friends of his, telling me that I would like them a lot because they are "religious like you."  I'm pretty sure I know what he meant by that.  At least, I sure hope he meant what I think that he did!  But either way, his choice of words really set me to thinking.  Is that the image I present to those who know me, that I am "religious"?  Is an outward adherence to a set of dogma what I am putting on display before others?  Is that what a Christian is at heart?

Paul told the believers in Ephesus to "be imitators of God."  And in elaboration of that command he urged them to "walk in love."  He further presented to them the Lord Jesus Christ Himself as the perfect example of such love.  He reminded them that Jesus "gave Himself up for us" as a once for all time offering for our sins.  His, then, was a truly sacrificial love.  Very simply, He put all of mankind ahead of Himself when He went to the cross and paid the price for our sins!

But let's get back to this "religious" thing for a moment.  Is that really what any one of us as Christians wants to convey to those who know us...that we act religiously?  How will that lead anyone to faith in Jesus Christ?  Being an imitator of the Lord Jesus Christ, beloved, is of necessity an attitude of heart made visible through a manner of life.  Because I have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, He lives within me.  And because He lives within me, I live Him outside of me for everyone to see!

In all honesty I must confess to you that I have definitely not mastered that last line just yet.  I find that it was a whole lot easier for me to write in this blog than it is for me to do day after day after day.  I'm still working on that part of it.  But that fact does not change for a single moment the need for me, for each one of us, to be more than just somebody's idea of "religious"!

What my good friend said to me today, and I am sure that he meant it in a very positive way, is something that I for one definitely want to change.  I don't want to be somebody's idea of "religious."  I do want to be somebody's idea of a person who clearly knows Jesus Christ personally.  Want to join me?

Ron  

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Smarter Than Your GPS?

"There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death" (Proverbs 14:12)

How many of you have ever felt at times that your computer is smarter than you are?  Yep, me too.  How about your GPS?  Not so much for me.  Today I learned that I am definitely smarter than our GPS.  Here is what happened.  We traveled up to Wake Forest to a local high school to see our oldest grandson play in a showcase baseball game against another travel-team.  We loaded the address of the school into the GPS and it took us there perfectly.  No problems.  The trip home, however, was an entirely different story.  Bev hit the "Home" button on the GPS which is supposed to simply reverse the directions and take us home the same way it brought us there.  Not this time!  Since I had just driven that GPS-directed route a short time before, I remembered the way home.  We decided to allow the GPS to lead us home anyway.  As we approached the very same highway that we had traveled en route to the game, however, the GPS tried to take us past that point and to another highway that was out of the way and a longer route home.  Even as I drove past the road I had taken up there, I said to my wife, "This is not right."  Her advice was as profound as it was simple:  "Then turn around."  I did so and was soon on the same road back home that we had taken to get there.  And all the way home, would you believe it, that GPS did everything it could to re-route us on to the road I had refused to take to get home?  It never did acknowledge that I had taken the right way and it had taken the wrong one.  This was one time when ignoring the GPS and doing what I knew was right to do was the right thing to do!

So often in life today, beloved, people make decisions that seem to them to be the right thing to do.  Just like our GPS that stuck doggedly to its errant way home and did its best to lead us to follow that way, men just decide that they know what is best for their lives and so forge ahead into disaster and ruin.  Solomon in his godly wisdom declared that this is a failing in our nature that plagues all of mankind.  We think we know the way and push ahead regardless of where it may lead us.  And as Solomon went on to say, that end is "the way of death."  In this regard we are our own worst enemy!

Only God's way is the right way, beloved.  Only God's path is the one we should travel.  Only God's way will lead us to life instead of to that inevitable death.  If you are on the wrong way right now, what can you do?  Listen to my wife's wonderful advice once again: just turn around.  You do not have to take one more step down the road that you are on if that road is not the one that God has chosen for you.  You don't have to listen to your own inner "GPS" if it is trying to lead you the wrong way.  The glorious thing about God's way is that you are free to choose it any time and it is always accessible to you.

Which way are you on?  Are you smarter than your GPS?  If you are choosing God's way, then you most certainly are!  And the road you are traveling will lead you to eternal life and to a wonderful peace that passes all understanding.

Ron