Yep- in the Well of Souls [where The Ark of the Covenant was kept, according to the Indiana Jones movies ;-)], it is well with my soul because my soul is well into the Mercy Seat through Christ's death and Resurrection. :-)
Here's another [slightly updated] archival entry for the blog; from July 22, 2007.
........................................................................
"Then we'll both die."
"My soul's prepared, Dr. Jones. How's yours?"
(A scene from "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" that just came to mind.)
Of course, I'm not totally sure that the dude from the Brotherhood of the Crucified Sword or something like that was really prepared-but anyway.....
Good question though. How's your soul doing? As we sing in church, "It is well with my soul".
I visited at Clearview Baptist Church this morning. It was a pretty nice service and I enjoyed singing some of the hymns and all that we sang there. We also sang "Oh God, Our Help in Ages Past", which is almost directly lifted from Psalms 90. And that was the main Scripture for the sermon today too. Every day is a gift from God- make the most of all of them. But apart from belief in God, the world is a cemetery! It is well with my soul because I know Whom I have believed in. Jesus died on the cross to pay for all the bad, wrong stupid things we've done (which many times feels like 99.99% of them have been done by me!) and He rose again from the dead!!! He's alive forevermore! And He's coming back one day! And I know that through asking Him to be my Savior and Lord, I know that I have eternal life with Him in Heaven! And that makes every day worth living and death is nothing to be scared of. "Death's not so scary. I don't think it's the end of anything- more like, just another step along the way."- MacGyver in "Passages" And MacGyver's right- for a Christian, death is just the step along the narrow way to Heaven! :-)
"My sin- O the bliss of this glorious thought- my sin, not in part, but the whole is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more- Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord- O my soul!" Amen!!! :-)
And I just finished reading a devotional type book by David Wilkerson called "I'm Not Mad at God". (He's the guy who wrote "The Cross and the Switchblade", about his experiences as a country preacher that God sent to reach the gangs of 1960s New York- and one gang leader in particular became a Christian through his preaching- his name is Nicky Cruz and he currently pastors a church himself! Wow- God rocks! :-)) This is a 1967 book I picked up for free from the tons of donations the library gets that they wind up throwing out and thereby leaving up for grabs. It's actually really good and still very current for 2007! God's Word never changes! But I must say, I don't know what's up with the cover. I guess they're trying to reach the hippie generation of that day, but why is that so many of these books from the late 60s and early 70s (and I'm talking about Christian books, that is)- have these covers with fonts and colors and drawings that look like the artist was high on LSD or something?!!!? - I mean, I feel like the cover should read "I'm Not Mad at God (But I am high!)" - I mean, really! LOL ;-) (j/k- I'm sure that was just meant to get people's attention...but there are definitely some rather psychedelic book covers out there from this time period....)
Anyway- here's one entry that I thought was pretty dead on target (reference to The Hardy Boys Casefiles 1 totally unintended, but quite cool nonetheless!) ;-)
.....
"Our Golden Calf?"
Can you imagine a archaeologist of 2000 years hence digging up the ruins of this barren materialistic age? What would they point to as representing the God we worshipped? The formless art? The meaningless steeple crosses? The gigantic rockets stored in deep silos underground? Would they be far wrong?
This is a generation with few real values. An age of phonies, cheap politics and insincere Christians. An age that seeks movement without grace and calls it music, money without purpose and calls it security, sex without sympathy and calls it love.
Let us not act bewildered by the apparent ignorance of those who danced around Aaron's golden calf. History will expose us for our ignorance and for falling at the feet of idols and golden calves far more ridiculous.
Lesson: Spend all your time developing true values. Compromise and conformity form the base upon which golden calves are built.
.........
WOW!- like I said, this is still very much current to our society (though I gather the reference to "movement without grace" is probably referring to rock and roll music- which is NOT evil, by the way- though there are plenty of evil lyrics. But that's a whole 'nother debate right there.) See Exodus 32 for more on the golden calf, if you're wondering. But this is something to ponder. I might post a few other entries from this book later on that especially hit me hard.
"Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring Word of God. For, 'All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the Word of the Lord stands forever.' And this is the Word that was preached to you." (1 Peter 1:22-25)
Have a great week walking with Jesus! And remember the words of the psalmist- (in this case, Moses- being inspired by God!)
"Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." (Psalms 90:12)
Sunday, January 25, 2015
Saturday, January 17, 2015
Confessions
They say confession is good for the soul. So why is it such a struggle to make confessions? Why is it so hard to just be honest and admit that we are all broken, sinful, totally messed-up human beings in such desperate need of The Savior? Why must we continue to try to pretend that we are better than anyone else? Why can't we just let our guard and pride down, along with all pretenses of being good?
The fact of the matter is that no one is good- no, not one. All have sinned and fallen short of God's glory. All we like sheep have turned astray, each of us has turned to his own way- and The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. (Psalms 14:3, Romans 3:23, Isaiah 53:6) And we all equally deserve the punishment of the eternal fires of Hell because of our constant rebellion against God and His standard. We're all on equal footing since we've all equally stumbled and fallen so short of God's standard. And God's standard is absolute perfection. "Be holy as I am holy." (Leviticus 11:45) Or, as other translations of The Holy Scriptures put it, "Be perfect as I am perfect." (See also Matthew 5:48).
But if this is the standard for entrance into Heaven, then like the disciples asked Jesus, "Who then can be saved?" (See Matthew 19:25-26.) As Jesus answered them, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." Amen! Praise God! He has made the impossible possible because as the Only One capable of completing this impossible mission, He has intervened on our behalf to accomplish this for us. We could never be good enough to save ourselves. In our haughtiness, we offer our proud list of righteous accomplishments and good deeds to Christ only to discover that they are nothing more than filthy rags. (Isaiah 64:6). We must repent of all our sins- and yes, even our supposed righteousness- for we have none. We are all morally and spiritually bankrupt. And knowing we could never repay a loan, the good King gave us the gift of eternal life through Jesus for free! (Romans 6:23) Jesus' death by crucifixion on the cross paid for all the wrongs ever committed in this world. And He rose again on the third day to prove He's God and so we know that we can rest assured that He will also resurrect those of us who have trusted in Him by faith through His grace. (Ephesians 2:8-9).
The problem is that we all struggle with sin because we are born as sinners. We have been tainted by Adam and Eve's sin and we inherited the curse from them. This sin curse has infected the whole world and even from the first moment it happened (and before it even happened)- God had a plan in place and has been working out the details to redeem His creation. (see Genesis 3:15 and Revelation 13:8) And somehow, though we know deep down inside that we struggle and sin each day, we don't want to admit it to God or even ourselves at times- and much less, to others. Perhaps we might be foolish enough to think we can fool God- but be warned- God is not mocked. He knows what's up- He knows the thoughts and intentions of every person and judges the heart. (Galatians 6:7, Hebrews 4:12-13) We can sometimes even fool ourselves and maybe others, but never God. And maybe we might acknowledge that we can never fool God, but we still don't want to have to admit wrongdoings to others. We want to somehow hold on to a veneer of false piety and so present ourselves in a better light than others. But whatever glimmer of light we may look to leaves us no better as long as we continue to stumble in the dark with everyone else. It's only when we step into the light that we can see clearly and we can walk right. And of course, this is just what Jesus tells us in John 3:16-21. The light exposes us for who we really are- and so we choose to hide in the darkness instead. But when we can come to that point of fully exposing ourselves in the light, that's when God can take our broken spirit and contrite heart and work to bathe us in light so that we shine like Him.
"But as Dietrich Bonhoeffer noted: 'He who is alone with his sins is utterly alone. It may be that Christians, notwithstanding corporate worship, common prayer, and all their fellowship in service, may still be left to their loneliness. The final breakthrough to fellowship does not occur because, though they have fellowship with one another as believers and as devout people, they do not have fellowship as the undevout, as sinners. The pious fellowship permits no one to be a sinner. So everyone must conceal his sin from himself and from their fellowship. We dare not be sinners. Many Christians are unthinkably horrified when a real sinner is suddenly discovered among the righteous. So we remain alone with our sin, living in lies and hypocrisy. The fact is that we are sinners.'
At Sunday worship, as in every dimension of our existence, many of us pretend to believe we are sinners. Consequently, all we can do is pretend to believe we have been forgiven. As a result, our whole spiritual life is pseudo-repentance and pseudo-bliss." (Page 136, "The Ragamuffin Gospel" by Brennan Manning)
So what if we were just honest like Simon Peter, who was impressed by Jesus' mastery over the fish of the sea and recognized His Lordship- and his sinfulness? Falling at Jesus' feet, he cries, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." (Luke 5:8) This of course, is just the point of confession that we must reach in order for Jesus to reach down and save us from the outset. As the Pharisees noted in Luke 15:2, this Man receives sinners and eats with them. Yes, praise God- Christ receiveth sinful men! He invites us to join Him in His banquet- an all-expenses paid meal to be served in Heaven at the Lamb's marriage supper- which we shall enjoy throughout eternity with Him. We get our first taste through partaking in the Blessed Sacraments of the bread and wine, broken and spilled for us. Indeed, taste and see that The Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him. (Psalms 34:8)
What if we confessed our sins as freely on social media and with friends and family as we share so many other positive aspects of our lives? We are quick to share our preferences and complain of injustices and brag of our good accomplishments, but we are quite reluctant indeed to share of our fallings and failings. Yet James 5:16 commands us to confess our sins to one another and pray for one another so that we may be healed. If we were to be honest- if I were to be honest and admit the ugliness of my own heart (Jeremiah 17:9), I would have to admit to the constant battle against pride and the desire to bask in my own accomplishments, selfishly and vainly claiming the gifts of God as my own talents. I would have to confess to being a liar, thief and murderer by my harsh words. I would have to admit to the foulest stream of sexual images parading through my mind, swaying me with the siren call of the harpies to indulge in the lust of sexual desire and fantasy. I would have to admit to being disobedient, to being lazy and gluttonous, to being a complaining arguer who is certainly not always putting others first. I would have to admit to being an idolatrous man who does not always love The Lord wholeheartedly as He calls for and does not love his neighbor nearly as much as I might like to think I do. I would have to admit to jealousy and unrighteous anger and not always treating others kindly as I would want to be treated. I would have to admit to struggles with fears, worries, anxieties, doubts- even so far as to doubt like Thomas, deny like Peter and betray like Judas. In short, I would have to admit to being a horribly broken, sinful, mess of a man. And even after listing this hall of shame records, I shudder to think that I may not have even scratched the surface of just how deep the ugliness goes to and the layers of filth that are encased within.
And though I often feel I have wrested the title of "chief of sinners" from Paul's grasp, I call to mind this one thing and so take hope. Though my sins are many, Christ's righteousness and grace is greater than all of them. As it has been said, I know this to be true- I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior. Jesus doesn't even need to be told what's in a man's heart- He's seen it all and knows it already. (John 2:25) And knowing all this, He still loves us all relentlessly with reckless abandon regardless. For some mystifying reason, though He abhors sinfulness and cannot have it in His holy presence, He still loves all humanity with an eternal love that went through a terribly high price to save us all. (Jeremiah 31:3, Isaiah 53).
"The spiritual future of ragamuffins consists not in disavowing that we are sinners but in accepting that truth with growing clarity, rejoicing in God's incredible longing to rescue us in spite of everything. C.S. Lewis wrote:
'It may be that salvation consists not in the canceling of these eternal moments but in the perfected humility that bears the shame forever, rejoicing in the occasion which is furnished to God's compassion and glad that it should be common knowledge to the universe. Perhaps in that eternal moment St. Peter- he will forgive me if I am wrong- forever denies his Master. If so, it would indeed be true that the joys of Heaven are for most of us, in our present condition, an acquired taste- and certain ways of life may render the taste impossible of acquisition. Perhaps the lost are those who dare not go to such a public place.' " (Page 137, "The Ragamuffin Gospel" by Brennan Manning)
Repentance only comes when we are willing to agree with God that we are sinners and have sinned against Him. When we are willing to confess this to Him and acknowledge that Jesus' death and Resurrection is the only payment sufficient for us, then we can accept His finished work for us and rest secured in the salvation He alone offers us. (Colossians 2:6-15) And we walk in faith with Him, doing the good works He purposed for us to do all along, in gratitude to Him. (Ephesians 2:8-10) And in turning over all of myself to Christ- all the filth and dung, He washed me clean and made me white as snow, according to His promise in Isaiah 1:18. I know what I've been and I know what I am- and I know what Christ has made me into instead and is making me to be- a new creation in Him (2 Corinthians 5:17) and a sanctified trophy of His grace that delivered me from the judgment I so richly deserved. I am nothing but a ragamuffin desperately clinging in faith to His grace and trusting in His love and His Word no matter what. And though I still struggle with all the things I don't want to do (as Paul laments in Romans 7), I also know that Jesus is still working and His work will be complete at last! (Philippians 1:6, Jude 1:24-25). The One who promises is faithful and He will do this. He will carry me through my struggles and will never leave me or forsake me (Hebrews 13:5) and He will get me safely Home. (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24) Hallelujah! Praise The Lord- Jesus saves!
This much I know to be true- there's no other place to go than Christ- He has the words of eternal life. (John 6:68, Acts 4:12, John 14:6).
Christ loves (Romans 5:8), Christ judges (Hebrews 9:27-28), Christ forgives (1 Corinthians 6:9-11), Christ changes (2 Corinthians 5:17), Christ keeps (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24) and Christ finishes. (Philippians 1:6, Jude 1:24-25).
As I admitted earlier and I have said a number of times before, I struggle at times with knowing whether I've truly heard from God or not. I do believe The Holy Spirit impresses in me the Truth He wants me to know from His Word, as He guides me into all Truth. I do believe He reveals Himself and His will in that manner. And He can use anything He wishes to work in other ways if He so chooses. I don't know for sure if I've ever physically heard God's voice or that I ever will (at least in this life), but sometimes in meditating on Scriptures and God's truth, I'll imagine that I have heard a truth from God- though I'm never totally sure if it's just voices from my own head or elsewhere. And so I'm not one to hold up such experiences and highlight them as the litmus test for true faith- but I thought I might share this recent incident in closing. I had some great times of prayer and communion with God recently in my spiritual life, where I really felt I had grown closer to The Lord and come clean before Him once more so that He could again make me clean. And in confessing to Him and seeking to follow Him again as I did before yet another failure, I had this phrase come to mind that was encouraging to me- "I know the man you can be and that's who I'm making you to be."
I don't know if I can say this was The Lord's voice or my imagining of what He might say to me and so I won't claim any supernatural experience in that sense- but I do think it's Biblical and it is exactly the point of all this process of life change that Jesus takes us through. He knows exactly who we are and He knows who we can be- who He wants us to be- and He's making us to be that person in His time. It's a process that takes a lifetime and we must continue to trust and endure and seek after Him all the more as He continues to shape us. Keep running the race of faith and keep your eyes fixed on the prize- Jesus Christ Himself. (Hebrews 12:1-5). And keep trusting and obeying.
"Lord Jesus, we are silly sheep who have dared to stand before You and try to bribe You with our preposterous portfolios. Suddenly we have come to our senses. We are sorry and ask You to forgive us. Give us the grace to admit we are ragamuffins, to embrace our brokenness, to celebrate Your mercy when we are at our weakest, to rely on Your mercy no matter what we may do.
Dear Jesus, gift us to stop grandstanding and trying to get attention, to do the truth quietly without display, to let the dishonesties in our lives fade away, to accept our limitations, to cling to the Gospel of Grace, and to delight in Your Love. Amen."
(Page 144, "The Ragamuffin Gospel" by Brennan Manning)
The fact of the matter is that no one is good- no, not one. All have sinned and fallen short of God's glory. All we like sheep have turned astray, each of us has turned to his own way- and The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. (Psalms 14:3, Romans 3:23, Isaiah 53:6) And we all equally deserve the punishment of the eternal fires of Hell because of our constant rebellion against God and His standard. We're all on equal footing since we've all equally stumbled and fallen so short of God's standard. And God's standard is absolute perfection. "Be holy as I am holy." (Leviticus 11:45) Or, as other translations of The Holy Scriptures put it, "Be perfect as I am perfect." (See also Matthew 5:48).
But if this is the standard for entrance into Heaven, then like the disciples asked Jesus, "Who then can be saved?" (See Matthew 19:25-26.) As Jesus answered them, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." Amen! Praise God! He has made the impossible possible because as the Only One capable of completing this impossible mission, He has intervened on our behalf to accomplish this for us. We could never be good enough to save ourselves. In our haughtiness, we offer our proud list of righteous accomplishments and good deeds to Christ only to discover that they are nothing more than filthy rags. (Isaiah 64:6). We must repent of all our sins- and yes, even our supposed righteousness- for we have none. We are all morally and spiritually bankrupt. And knowing we could never repay a loan, the good King gave us the gift of eternal life through Jesus for free! (Romans 6:23) Jesus' death by crucifixion on the cross paid for all the wrongs ever committed in this world. And He rose again on the third day to prove He's God and so we know that we can rest assured that He will also resurrect those of us who have trusted in Him by faith through His grace. (Ephesians 2:8-9).
The problem is that we all struggle with sin because we are born as sinners. We have been tainted by Adam and Eve's sin and we inherited the curse from them. This sin curse has infected the whole world and even from the first moment it happened (and before it even happened)- God had a plan in place and has been working out the details to redeem His creation. (see Genesis 3:15 and Revelation 13:8) And somehow, though we know deep down inside that we struggle and sin each day, we don't want to admit it to God or even ourselves at times- and much less, to others. Perhaps we might be foolish enough to think we can fool God- but be warned- God is not mocked. He knows what's up- He knows the thoughts and intentions of every person and judges the heart. (Galatians 6:7, Hebrews 4:12-13) We can sometimes even fool ourselves and maybe others, but never God. And maybe we might acknowledge that we can never fool God, but we still don't want to have to admit wrongdoings to others. We want to somehow hold on to a veneer of false piety and so present ourselves in a better light than others. But whatever glimmer of light we may look to leaves us no better as long as we continue to stumble in the dark with everyone else. It's only when we step into the light that we can see clearly and we can walk right. And of course, this is just what Jesus tells us in John 3:16-21. The light exposes us for who we really are- and so we choose to hide in the darkness instead. But when we can come to that point of fully exposing ourselves in the light, that's when God can take our broken spirit and contrite heart and work to bathe us in light so that we shine like Him.
"But as Dietrich Bonhoeffer noted: 'He who is alone with his sins is utterly alone. It may be that Christians, notwithstanding corporate worship, common prayer, and all their fellowship in service, may still be left to their loneliness. The final breakthrough to fellowship does not occur because, though they have fellowship with one another as believers and as devout people, they do not have fellowship as the undevout, as sinners. The pious fellowship permits no one to be a sinner. So everyone must conceal his sin from himself and from their fellowship. We dare not be sinners. Many Christians are unthinkably horrified when a real sinner is suddenly discovered among the righteous. So we remain alone with our sin, living in lies and hypocrisy. The fact is that we are sinners.'
At Sunday worship, as in every dimension of our existence, many of us pretend to believe we are sinners. Consequently, all we can do is pretend to believe we have been forgiven. As a result, our whole spiritual life is pseudo-repentance and pseudo-bliss." (Page 136, "The Ragamuffin Gospel" by Brennan Manning)
So what if we were just honest like Simon Peter, who was impressed by Jesus' mastery over the fish of the sea and recognized His Lordship- and his sinfulness? Falling at Jesus' feet, he cries, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." (Luke 5:8) This of course, is just the point of confession that we must reach in order for Jesus to reach down and save us from the outset. As the Pharisees noted in Luke 15:2, this Man receives sinners and eats with them. Yes, praise God- Christ receiveth sinful men! He invites us to join Him in His banquet- an all-expenses paid meal to be served in Heaven at the Lamb's marriage supper- which we shall enjoy throughout eternity with Him. We get our first taste through partaking in the Blessed Sacraments of the bread and wine, broken and spilled for us. Indeed, taste and see that The Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him. (Psalms 34:8)
What if we confessed our sins as freely on social media and with friends and family as we share so many other positive aspects of our lives? We are quick to share our preferences and complain of injustices and brag of our good accomplishments, but we are quite reluctant indeed to share of our fallings and failings. Yet James 5:16 commands us to confess our sins to one another and pray for one another so that we may be healed. If we were to be honest- if I were to be honest and admit the ugliness of my own heart (Jeremiah 17:9), I would have to admit to the constant battle against pride and the desire to bask in my own accomplishments, selfishly and vainly claiming the gifts of God as my own talents. I would have to confess to being a liar, thief and murderer by my harsh words. I would have to admit to the foulest stream of sexual images parading through my mind, swaying me with the siren call of the harpies to indulge in the lust of sexual desire and fantasy. I would have to admit to being disobedient, to being lazy and gluttonous, to being a complaining arguer who is certainly not always putting others first. I would have to admit to being an idolatrous man who does not always love The Lord wholeheartedly as He calls for and does not love his neighbor nearly as much as I might like to think I do. I would have to admit to jealousy and unrighteous anger and not always treating others kindly as I would want to be treated. I would have to admit to struggles with fears, worries, anxieties, doubts- even so far as to doubt like Thomas, deny like Peter and betray like Judas. In short, I would have to admit to being a horribly broken, sinful, mess of a man. And even after listing this hall of shame records, I shudder to think that I may not have even scratched the surface of just how deep the ugliness goes to and the layers of filth that are encased within.
And though I often feel I have wrested the title of "chief of sinners" from Paul's grasp, I call to mind this one thing and so take hope. Though my sins are many, Christ's righteousness and grace is greater than all of them. As it has been said, I know this to be true- I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior. Jesus doesn't even need to be told what's in a man's heart- He's seen it all and knows it already. (John 2:25) And knowing all this, He still loves us all relentlessly with reckless abandon regardless. For some mystifying reason, though He abhors sinfulness and cannot have it in His holy presence, He still loves all humanity with an eternal love that went through a terribly high price to save us all. (Jeremiah 31:3, Isaiah 53).
"The spiritual future of ragamuffins consists not in disavowing that we are sinners but in accepting that truth with growing clarity, rejoicing in God's incredible longing to rescue us in spite of everything. C.S. Lewis wrote:
'It may be that salvation consists not in the canceling of these eternal moments but in the perfected humility that bears the shame forever, rejoicing in the occasion which is furnished to God's compassion and glad that it should be common knowledge to the universe. Perhaps in that eternal moment St. Peter- he will forgive me if I am wrong- forever denies his Master. If so, it would indeed be true that the joys of Heaven are for most of us, in our present condition, an acquired taste- and certain ways of life may render the taste impossible of acquisition. Perhaps the lost are those who dare not go to such a public place.' " (Page 137, "The Ragamuffin Gospel" by Brennan Manning)
Repentance only comes when we are willing to agree with God that we are sinners and have sinned against Him. When we are willing to confess this to Him and acknowledge that Jesus' death and Resurrection is the only payment sufficient for us, then we can accept His finished work for us and rest secured in the salvation He alone offers us. (Colossians 2:6-15) And we walk in faith with Him, doing the good works He purposed for us to do all along, in gratitude to Him. (Ephesians 2:8-10) And in turning over all of myself to Christ- all the filth and dung, He washed me clean and made me white as snow, according to His promise in Isaiah 1:18. I know what I've been and I know what I am- and I know what Christ has made me into instead and is making me to be- a new creation in Him (2 Corinthians 5:17) and a sanctified trophy of His grace that delivered me from the judgment I so richly deserved. I am nothing but a ragamuffin desperately clinging in faith to His grace and trusting in His love and His Word no matter what. And though I still struggle with all the things I don't want to do (as Paul laments in Romans 7), I also know that Jesus is still working and His work will be complete at last! (Philippians 1:6, Jude 1:24-25). The One who promises is faithful and He will do this. He will carry me through my struggles and will never leave me or forsake me (Hebrews 13:5) and He will get me safely Home. (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24) Hallelujah! Praise The Lord- Jesus saves!
This much I know to be true- there's no other place to go than Christ- He has the words of eternal life. (John 6:68, Acts 4:12, John 14:6).
Christ loves (Romans 5:8), Christ judges (Hebrews 9:27-28), Christ forgives (1 Corinthians 6:9-11), Christ changes (2 Corinthians 5:17), Christ keeps (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24) and Christ finishes. (Philippians 1:6, Jude 1:24-25).
As I admitted earlier and I have said a number of times before, I struggle at times with knowing whether I've truly heard from God or not. I do believe The Holy Spirit impresses in me the Truth He wants me to know from His Word, as He guides me into all Truth. I do believe He reveals Himself and His will in that manner. And He can use anything He wishes to work in other ways if He so chooses. I don't know for sure if I've ever physically heard God's voice or that I ever will (at least in this life), but sometimes in meditating on Scriptures and God's truth, I'll imagine that I have heard a truth from God- though I'm never totally sure if it's just voices from my own head or elsewhere. And so I'm not one to hold up such experiences and highlight them as the litmus test for true faith- but I thought I might share this recent incident in closing. I had some great times of prayer and communion with God recently in my spiritual life, where I really felt I had grown closer to The Lord and come clean before Him once more so that He could again make me clean. And in confessing to Him and seeking to follow Him again as I did before yet another failure, I had this phrase come to mind that was encouraging to me- "I know the man you can be and that's who I'm making you to be."
I don't know if I can say this was The Lord's voice or my imagining of what He might say to me and so I won't claim any supernatural experience in that sense- but I do think it's Biblical and it is exactly the point of all this process of life change that Jesus takes us through. He knows exactly who we are and He knows who we can be- who He wants us to be- and He's making us to be that person in His time. It's a process that takes a lifetime and we must continue to trust and endure and seek after Him all the more as He continues to shape us. Keep running the race of faith and keep your eyes fixed on the prize- Jesus Christ Himself. (Hebrews 12:1-5). And keep trusting and obeying.
"Lord Jesus, we are silly sheep who have dared to stand before You and try to bribe You with our preposterous portfolios. Suddenly we have come to our senses. We are sorry and ask You to forgive us. Give us the grace to admit we are ragamuffins, to embrace our brokenness, to celebrate Your mercy when we are at our weakest, to rely on Your mercy no matter what we may do.
Dear Jesus, gift us to stop grandstanding and trying to get attention, to do the truth quietly without display, to let the dishonesties in our lives fade away, to accept our limitations, to cling to the Gospel of Grace, and to delight in Your Love. Amen."
(Page 144, "The Ragamuffin Gospel" by Brennan Manning)
Sunday, January 11, 2015
Poems, Prayers and Promises- and Praises
As the title of the post says, this is a collection of a few writings I've done in the last few days. And since it fits the title, I thought I'd borrow and slightly amend the classic John Denver song title. :-) (I love this song and so many others by him.) And these are some of things that I believe in- how sweet it is to love someone- and even sweeter still, to be loved by Someone. How right it is to care! And it's so good to know that I am invited by The Lord of all- Jesus Christ Himself- to cast all my cares on Him because He cares for me. (1 Peter 5:7) So this is a poem and a prayer inspired by His many promises- and they all help to compose a love song for my Savior from my heart. I hope it touches and inspires yours to be drawn closer to His.
...........................................
The Wait of Glory
(poem by Nathan Ludwick; copyright 1/6/2015)
(Romans 8, Ecclesiastes 1 and 3:1-11, Jude 1:24-25, Galatians 6:9, Hebrews 11-12, Hebrews 2 and 3:1-6, Psalms 23, Psalms 73, Romans 5:1-11, Psalms 8, 1 Peter 5:1-4, 2 Corinthians 12:1-10, 1 Thessalonians 4-5, 1 Corinthians 13:12, 2 Thessalonians 3:13, Revelation 21:1-5 and 22:20-21)
(*Much thanks to C.S. Lewis for being awesome and writing "The Weight of Glory")
If everyone I encounter is no mere mortal-
Like the angels, but a little lower
Then the weight of glory weighs heavy upon each crown.
And no matter how rough the edges, a diamond still lies within us each.
And like the glowing orb of the night must go through its phases,
The moon's Maker must put us through our paces to get to new places.
The pressure cooker of life shapes our malleable coal all throughout
As we travail in this mortal coil that constantly unwinds
Even as we frantically try to rewind each frame.
We either rise to each occasion or lie our heads down in defeat.
And even when we do stand and fight, do we pose and posture
only for our own posterity and prosperity
Or is there a deeper passion pressing us on towards the paternal Power we truly desire,
whether we know it or not?
The planet pants with pangs like childbirth beneath a flustered façade of pleasure in pursuits.
It's the suffering that our all wise Teacher uses to bring the truth to light.
All is vanity- everything is meaningless- nothing is sound.
Our hollow pursuits distract us in a race against time to chase the wind-
And that's exactly what we inherit as well.
Oh, hollow men- beat your empty chests in despair
But only One Rock shapes a heart of stone into a heart of flesh.
Of the making of books there is no end- and no end of study can even get us close.
Come with weary bodies and souls to rest in the eternal arms of a Friend.
Let The Holy Wind whistle in your ear and whisper in your heart.
The chase is on but gentle North Wind has pursued us before we even began to run-
and with the taste of blood in our mouth, He's won.
The groans of glory are carried before our tired lips can utter them right to the throne.
And while our crown weighs heavy in life and heads hang low,
we bear the thorns in our side like the thorns another crown composed.
And The One who bore it knew the glory coming when all His brothers were gathered to Him.
The Paragon of Love bequeathed to us our share in His kingdom purchased by His suffering.
And we take our share in the suffering too,
knowing the Godliness and goodness it produces in due time.
And while our weeping may endure for a night, our Joy cometh in the morning.
And though we doubt, question and cry in agony at the pain,
we pray for the day it ends once for all-
and continue in the cross-marked path with the cheers of our ragamuffin pilgrim peers in our ears.
We hope in The One Who loves us beyond all measure with no end.
And we know the suffering we bear together with all our foibles, worries and cares
will have its end at the end.
And He Whose heart is eternally, wonderfully kind doles to each day its part of toil and trouble,
knowing the crop they bring that He desires.
And as our mortal coal gets refined into a diamond,
we glow ever more like the Precious Jewel- the Pricely Pearl Whose reflection we are.
And though we may never understand it all, we trust Him through it all to the glory we shall share-
to which the suffering can't compare.
And through the wait of glory to the Blessed Day, Jesus leads me all the way.
...........................................
The only One Whose power, awesomeness and importance can never be overstated is Jesus. Heaven and earth can't contain Him (2 Chronicles 6:14-18). Indeed, of all the many praises sung of Him in the Psalms and throughout The Bible and the ages- even through all the worship and praise that we will ascribe to Him for eternity (Philippians 2:10-11 -Everyone will bow to Him and praise Him as Lord of all- and Hell will forever praise His justice and righteous judgment and Heaven will forever praise His loving mercy and amazing grace.)- Even as the four living beings continually cry, 'Holy, Holy, Holy' without ceasing (Revelation 4)- even with all this plethora of words of worship and prostrate bows of praise and songs of thanksgiving and adoration evidenced by righteous living- amidst all this through all history and beyond, ad infinitum- 'Who can utter the mighty deeds of The Lord, or declare all His praise?' (Psalms 106:2) God The Father Himself glorifies His Name in all His works (John 12:28, 10:54)- Our words are not enough and they fall woefully short, but with all that is in us we will offer them for infinity and praise His holy Name. Bless The Lord, all my soul and all that is within me- bless His holy Name. He has done great things and has become my salvation. (Psalms 103) 'Praise The Lord! Oh give thanks to The Lord for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever.' (Psalms 106:1) Thank You, Lord Jesus for being awesome and loving us so much that You died and rose to give us salvation when we put faith in You and follow You. Thank You, Holy Spirit for Your wise counsel and for expressing the groans of my heart that my words cannot. (Romans 8:26-27). Thank You, Heavenly Father for life and abundant life and a beautiful planet with wonderful plants, animals and people to share it with. All praise to Thee, Blessed Trinity. It's never enough, Father, so I'll just keep saying, 'Thank You' and 'Praise You' for all eternity with all my love that You gave to me first. (1John 4:10-19) Thank You for Your everlasting love. (Jeremiah 31:3)- And Your praise goes on...
..............................................
...........................................
The Wait of Glory
(poem by Nathan Ludwick; copyright 1/6/2015)
(Romans 8, Ecclesiastes 1 and 3:1-11, Jude 1:24-25, Galatians 6:9, Hebrews 11-12, Hebrews 2 and 3:1-6, Psalms 23, Psalms 73, Romans 5:1-11, Psalms 8, 1 Peter 5:1-4, 2 Corinthians 12:1-10, 1 Thessalonians 4-5, 1 Corinthians 13:12, 2 Thessalonians 3:13, Revelation 21:1-5 and 22:20-21)
(*Much thanks to C.S. Lewis for being awesome and writing "The Weight of Glory")
If everyone I encounter is no mere mortal-
Like the angels, but a little lower
Then the weight of glory weighs heavy upon each crown.
And no matter how rough the edges, a diamond still lies within us each.
And like the glowing orb of the night must go through its phases,
The moon's Maker must put us through our paces to get to new places.
The pressure cooker of life shapes our malleable coal all throughout
As we travail in this mortal coil that constantly unwinds
Even as we frantically try to rewind each frame.
We either rise to each occasion or lie our heads down in defeat.
And even when we do stand and fight, do we pose and posture
only for our own posterity and prosperity
Or is there a deeper passion pressing us on towards the paternal Power we truly desire,
whether we know it or not?
The planet pants with pangs like childbirth beneath a flustered façade of pleasure in pursuits.
It's the suffering that our all wise Teacher uses to bring the truth to light.
All is vanity- everything is meaningless- nothing is sound.
Our hollow pursuits distract us in a race against time to chase the wind-
And that's exactly what we inherit as well.
Oh, hollow men- beat your empty chests in despair
But only One Rock shapes a heart of stone into a heart of flesh.
Of the making of books there is no end- and no end of study can even get us close.
Come with weary bodies and souls to rest in the eternal arms of a Friend.
Let The Holy Wind whistle in your ear and whisper in your heart.
The chase is on but gentle North Wind has pursued us before we even began to run-
and with the taste of blood in our mouth, He's won.
The groans of glory are carried before our tired lips can utter them right to the throne.
And while our crown weighs heavy in life and heads hang low,
we bear the thorns in our side like the thorns another crown composed.
And The One who bore it knew the glory coming when all His brothers were gathered to Him.
The Paragon of Love bequeathed to us our share in His kingdom purchased by His suffering.
And we take our share in the suffering too,
knowing the Godliness and goodness it produces in due time.
And while our weeping may endure for a night, our Joy cometh in the morning.
And though we doubt, question and cry in agony at the pain,
we pray for the day it ends once for all-
and continue in the cross-marked path with the cheers of our ragamuffin pilgrim peers in our ears.
We hope in The One Who loves us beyond all measure with no end.
And we know the suffering we bear together with all our foibles, worries and cares
will have its end at the end.
And He Whose heart is eternally, wonderfully kind doles to each day its part of toil and trouble,
knowing the crop they bring that He desires.
And as our mortal coal gets refined into a diamond,
we glow ever more like the Precious Jewel- the Pricely Pearl Whose reflection we are.
And though we may never understand it all, we trust Him through it all to the glory we shall share-
to which the suffering can't compare.
And through the wait of glory to the Blessed Day, Jesus leads me all the way.
...........................................
The only One Whose power, awesomeness and importance can never be overstated is Jesus. Heaven and earth can't contain Him (2 Chronicles 6:14-18). Indeed, of all the many praises sung of Him in the Psalms and throughout The Bible and the ages- even through all the worship and praise that we will ascribe to Him for eternity (Philippians 2:10-11 -Everyone will bow to Him and praise Him as Lord of all- and Hell will forever praise His justice and righteous judgment and Heaven will forever praise His loving mercy and amazing grace.)- Even as the four living beings continually cry, 'Holy, Holy, Holy' without ceasing (Revelation 4)- even with all this plethora of words of worship and prostrate bows of praise and songs of thanksgiving and adoration evidenced by righteous living- amidst all this through all history and beyond, ad infinitum- 'Who can utter the mighty deeds of The Lord, or declare all His praise?' (Psalms 106:2) God The Father Himself glorifies His Name in all His works (John 12:28, 10:54)- Our words are not enough and they fall woefully short, but with all that is in us we will offer them for infinity and praise His holy Name. Bless The Lord, all my soul and all that is within me- bless His holy Name. He has done great things and has become my salvation. (Psalms 103) 'Praise The Lord! Oh give thanks to The Lord for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever.' (Psalms 106:1) Thank You, Lord Jesus for being awesome and loving us so much that You died and rose to give us salvation when we put faith in You and follow You. Thank You, Holy Spirit for Your wise counsel and for expressing the groans of my heart that my words cannot. (Romans 8:26-27). Thank You, Heavenly Father for life and abundant life and a beautiful planet with wonderful plants, animals and people to share it with. All praise to Thee, Blessed Trinity. It's never enough, Father, so I'll just keep saying, 'Thank You' and 'Praise You' for all eternity with all my love that You gave to me first. (1John 4:10-19) Thank You for Your everlasting love. (Jeremiah 31:3)- And Your praise goes on...
..............................................
"And even though I've never seen Your face- I'm missin' You. 'Cause somewhere behind those stars is Someone who belongs to me and I know in my deepest heart- there's a place for You. Until I find the place You've made for me, I'm missin' You."- "Missin' You" by Chris Rice
...........
"I'll be running to Your throne with every nation, tribe and tongue- To Your arms I'll fly, I'll gaze into Your eyes- then I'll know as I am known- and Your praise goes on." - "And Your Praise Goes On" by Chris Rice
I love You, Jesus. Thank You for loving and knowing me. Help me as I seek to know You better, Lord. (1 John 4:10-11 and 4:19, 1 Corinthians 13:12) Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. (Matthew 6:9-13) Help me to be more like You each day and to represent better to the world what Your kingdom of peace looks like even as we anticipate and pray for You to come and bring Your kingdom of peace to earth one day. (Revelation 21:1-5, Revelation 22:20-21). Help us to continue in the struggle and through the suffering, knowing You went through far, far worse for our sakes- and knowing that the suffering is not worth comparing to the glory coming. (Romans 8:18-30, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and 5:1-11) Help us to wait with patience and to endure with joy and peace, the joy and peace that only You give. (Nehemiah 8:10, John 14:27) And help us to never tire of doing what's right. (2 Thessalonians 3:13). It's all for You and for Your glory (1 Corinthians 10:31 and Colossians 3:23)- and by Your strength alone. (2 Corinthians 12:1-10) Use me to bring Your Name glory and to help show others Your love so that they may come to know and follow You too. (2 Peter 3:9, Acts 4:20) Thank You and praise You for all Your many blessings and the comfort of knowing You are in control always and even in the midst of Your righteous justice, You also remember Your lovingkindness that is better than life and Your steadfast everlasting love that never fails. (Jeremiah 31:3, Psalms 136) And thank You for family and friends that help encourage me along the narrow path. (Psalms 133, Proverbs 17:17, Proverbs 18:24) Thank You for never abandoning us and for always providing for us and for leading us all the way. (Hebrews 13:5, Philippians 4:19, Psalms 23)
Love,
Thy faithful servant I fain would be- Lord, I believe- help Thou my unbelief- Thank You that You never let go (John 10:28)
Yours- Nathan.
.............................................
BONUS! :-)
Some links to some totally awesome songs that inspired some of these writings:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkGCmrjzJJ0
("Missin' You" by Chris Rice)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPwYyj6uR1U
("And Your Praise Goes On" by Chris Rice)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMPUpBkpp9o
("Land of my Sojourn" by Rich Mullins)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3l_LlfsZmI
("All the Way My Savior Leads Me" as covered by Rich Mullins)
...........
"I'll be running to Your throne with every nation, tribe and tongue- To Your arms I'll fly, I'll gaze into Your eyes- then I'll know as I am known- and Your praise goes on." - "And Your Praise Goes On" by Chris Rice
I love You, Jesus. Thank You for loving and knowing me. Help me as I seek to know You better, Lord. (1 John 4:10-11 and 4:19, 1 Corinthians 13:12) Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. (Matthew 6:9-13) Help me to be more like You each day and to represent better to the world what Your kingdom of peace looks like even as we anticipate and pray for You to come and bring Your kingdom of peace to earth one day. (Revelation 21:1-5, Revelation 22:20-21). Help us to continue in the struggle and through the suffering, knowing You went through far, far worse for our sakes- and knowing that the suffering is not worth comparing to the glory coming. (Romans 8:18-30, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and 5:1-11) Help us to wait with patience and to endure with joy and peace, the joy and peace that only You give. (Nehemiah 8:10, John 14:27) And help us to never tire of doing what's right. (2 Thessalonians 3:13). It's all for You and for Your glory (1 Corinthians 10:31 and Colossians 3:23)- and by Your strength alone. (2 Corinthians 12:1-10) Use me to bring Your Name glory and to help show others Your love so that they may come to know and follow You too. (2 Peter 3:9, Acts 4:20) Thank You and praise You for all Your many blessings and the comfort of knowing You are in control always and even in the midst of Your righteous justice, You also remember Your lovingkindness that is better than life and Your steadfast everlasting love that never fails. (Jeremiah 31:3, Psalms 136) And thank You for family and friends that help encourage me along the narrow path. (Psalms 133, Proverbs 17:17, Proverbs 18:24) Thank You for never abandoning us and for always providing for us and for leading us all the way. (Hebrews 13:5, Philippians 4:19, Psalms 23)
Love,
Thy faithful servant I fain would be- Lord, I believe- help Thou my unbelief- Thank You that You never let go (John 10:28)
Yours- Nathan.
.............................................
BONUS! :-)
Some links to some totally awesome songs that inspired some of these writings:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkGCmrjzJJ0
("Missin' You" by Chris Rice)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPwYyj6uR1U
("And Your Praise Goes On" by Chris Rice)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMPUpBkpp9o
("Land of my Sojourn" by Rich Mullins)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3l_LlfsZmI
("All the Way My Savior Leads Me" as covered by Rich Mullins)
Thursday, January 1, 2015
The Gospel Blimp and Other Modern Parables by Joseph Bayly (Book Review)
Here is something different for the new year. If you are looking for a book to read this year, here is an excellent one worth reading. Of course, if you want the best Book ever to read- read The Holy Bible before anything. :-) It's God's Book and it's the best Book ever because it gets better and better with every read- no matter how many times you read it! It's living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword (like Hebrews 4:12-13 talks about)- so it always cuts to the quick and cuts to the heart and cuts to the point- but it's a good kind of cut, like getting a thorn out, that leads to healing. :-)
And if you read another book after that, then check out this one, which also can cut to the quick at times and get to the heart because it draws on Biblical points and points us back to Jesus and His standards. :-) It's an older book, but its message is still powerful and very relevant for today. It's actually a collection of short stories- modern parables, as the title declares. It's much in keeping with Jesus' style of teaching. (see Matthew 13:34-35) And it's really good. So then, here is my review of "The Gospel Blimp and Other Modern Parables" by Joseph Bayly.
(Note: I believe there are different variations out there that may or may not contain all the stories I have reviewed here. I am reviewing a 1983 compilation publication from LifeJourney Books from David C. Cook Publishing in Elgin, IL. ISBN: 0-7814-0935-7)
..........................................................................................................
Okay then- on to the stories. I don't know if you have the same version I do or not, but the book I have is a collection of modern parables by Joseph Bayly.
The first in the collection was "The Gospel Blimp", which I greatly enjoyed for its message- as I did all the stories in the book. I particularly loved the core message of the story that it was more important to show the love of Christ to people rather than just preach at them. Now I want to carefully note- it is vitally important to share The Truth of The Bible with people. But we must remember Ephesians 4:15 and "speak The Truth in Love". In recent years, I have slowly been learning that and trying to remember that even if I know all the right things and am trying to be obedient and share Christ and His Word with people, if I don't do it in love- I am but a sounding gong or cymbal. (as 1 Corinthians 13 speaks about.) And Jesus Himself said that all people will know we are His disciples by the love we have for one another. (John 13:35) So that story resonated with me.
Next up in the book was a section called "Gooley and Friends", which contained two stories about Herb Gooley and then three others that seemed to be unrelated to Gooley, but also had some great points. As to the Gooley stories themselves, I will offer my interpretations, though I am not sure that I totally got everything right, of course. From what I can tell, the "I Saw Gooley Fly" story seems to be making an analogy between a living faith in Jesus and the ability to fly. Herb Gooley is evidently a Christian in a world of non-Christians and he is willing to admit to being a Christ-follower (and non-believers are interested in knowing how to have the peace in life he has with Jesus)- yet he doesn't seem to be willing to share this information with others. It's a sad commentary on the church today where, according to statistics, some 90% of Christians never or will never share their faith with others. (Which, of course, is in direct disobedience to Jesus' command in The Great Commission, in Matthew 28:18-20). That one definitely hits close to home. I struggled with this a lot when I was younger. Though I tried to be faithful in sharing Jesus to some degree, I always felt like I wasn't doing enough and God worked in me to make me bolder in sharing His Word and my faith in Jesus. I am thankful to Him for His answer to prayer.
However, I also feel now that perhaps for a while I went too far in one direction where I was boldly preaching God's Word at people- but not remembering to do it as lovingly as I should. So that is something that I feel God has been working on me in recent years as well. And of course, I'm still not perfect at either area, but I'm always seeking God's help in getting better each day. (as Philippians 1:6 promises.)
For the "Ceiling Zero" story, this seems to be Gooley retreating to the "Christian world". (i.e. Secluded in church and surrounded with Christian friends- both very good things in themselves- but perhaps to the extent of shutting out the world- which is not good, as we must be reaching out to the world in order to be the salt and light that Christ called us to be.) But I feel that by the end of the story, Gooley realizes this point and is seeking to be out in the world and practically showing Jesus' love to people, whereas his classmates all still seem to be stuck in this safe little "Christian world" where they just go through the routines of going to church, reading The Bible and praying (out of duty and tradition), but not really experiencing the full joy of The Lord and sharing Jesus with others as they should.
"Mayday" seemed to be reemphasizing this idea of Christians not wanting to venture from that safe "Christian world" again and moving on to reach out to the rest of the world. "Rehoboam's Gold Shields" seemed to be showing the way that fervor for The Lord tends to wane off as the cares of this world crowd out God from our lives, as well as talking about Rehoboam's shame of bearing the cross of Christ. I really liked some of the stories that talked about having the braveness to speak out for what's right that God clearly tells us in The Bible- even if the rest of the world doesn't agree. "Protest Until Pizza" seemed to directly address this, as did "The Saving Message".
The last part of the book I have has a section called "Meek Souls and Phonies" and includes "The Saving Message" story, along with others. "How Silently, How Silently" was a great Christmas story that really got to the real meaning of Christmas- reconciliation with God through Jesus. (This story reminded me some of Jesus' own parable regarding the great banquet that people missed out on and thus, the messengers went to the highways and byways to compel people to come in instead- in Luke 14:12-24).
As a technology fan (particularly older technology as well as newer technology), I really enjoyed the story called "Does Man Exist? (By ENIAC II)"- a great analogy emphasizing how it's only logical that the created beings must have a Creator- a great response to the evolution/Creation debates that go on.
"A Small Happening at Andover" seemed to be another story talking about the need to move beyond religious (Pharisaical) dogmatism [like Jesus talked about in Matthew 23] and really showing true love to others- and when Christ is lifted up, He draws all men to Himself. "Black Gold" was an interesting story about how Christians can get sucked in to con artists, even those claiming to do God's work, and serves as a good warning to be careful who we trust and to look to The Lord for guidance in how we use the money He allots us. "Still Small Roar" is an absolutely beautiful allegory based on John 1:1-14, speaking of how Jesus has forever changed our world by bringing us salvation through His death and Resurrection. "How Shall We Remember John?" offered an interesting look at mourning and perhaps it's meant as a reminder that for Christians, we mourn with hope because we know we will be reunited forever with Jesus in Heaven.
Well, there you go- there's my rundown of the book. I also liked the author's afterword as he gave a great word about the power of parables and how they expose us and force us to really consider the point of the message with a good story. He also mentions a powerful experience in a village in Gruyon, Switzerland- looking out one summer morning at the eternal Alps. :-) The Swiss Alps inspired another famous Christian writer, Hannah Hurnard. (Whose "Hinds Feet on High Places" book is another great allegory too.) God must have just really blessed Switzerland with breathtaking beauty. (Both in its land and its people.) :-)
...................................................................................................
And if you read another book after that, then check out this one, which also can cut to the quick at times and get to the heart because it draws on Biblical points and points us back to Jesus and His standards. :-) It's an older book, but its message is still powerful and very relevant for today. It's actually a collection of short stories- modern parables, as the title declares. It's much in keeping with Jesus' style of teaching. (see Matthew 13:34-35) And it's really good. So then, here is my review of "The Gospel Blimp and Other Modern Parables" by Joseph Bayly.
(Note: I believe there are different variations out there that may or may not contain all the stories I have reviewed here. I am reviewing a 1983 compilation publication from LifeJourney Books from David C. Cook Publishing in Elgin, IL. ISBN: 0-7814-0935-7)
..........................................................................................................
Okay then- on to the stories. I don't know if you have the same version I do or not, but the book I have is a collection of modern parables by Joseph Bayly.
The first in the collection was "The Gospel Blimp", which I greatly enjoyed for its message- as I did all the stories in the book. I particularly loved the core message of the story that it was more important to show the love of Christ to people rather than just preach at them. Now I want to carefully note- it is vitally important to share The Truth of The Bible with people. But we must remember Ephesians 4:15 and "speak The Truth in Love". In recent years, I have slowly been learning that and trying to remember that even if I know all the right things and am trying to be obedient and share Christ and His Word with people, if I don't do it in love- I am but a sounding gong or cymbal. (as 1 Corinthians 13 speaks about.) And Jesus Himself said that all people will know we are His disciples by the love we have for one another. (John 13:35) So that story resonated with me.
Next up in the book was a section called "Gooley and Friends", which contained two stories about Herb Gooley and then three others that seemed to be unrelated to Gooley, but also had some great points. As to the Gooley stories themselves, I will offer my interpretations, though I am not sure that I totally got everything right, of course. From what I can tell, the "I Saw Gooley Fly" story seems to be making an analogy between a living faith in Jesus and the ability to fly. Herb Gooley is evidently a Christian in a world of non-Christians and he is willing to admit to being a Christ-follower (and non-believers are interested in knowing how to have the peace in life he has with Jesus)- yet he doesn't seem to be willing to share this information with others. It's a sad commentary on the church today where, according to statistics, some 90% of Christians never or will never share their faith with others. (Which, of course, is in direct disobedience to Jesus' command in The Great Commission, in Matthew 28:18-20). That one definitely hits close to home. I struggled with this a lot when I was younger. Though I tried to be faithful in sharing Jesus to some degree, I always felt like I wasn't doing enough and God worked in me to make me bolder in sharing His Word and my faith in Jesus. I am thankful to Him for His answer to prayer.
However, I also feel now that perhaps for a while I went too far in one direction where I was boldly preaching God's Word at people- but not remembering to do it as lovingly as I should. So that is something that I feel God has been working on me in recent years as well. And of course, I'm still not perfect at either area, but I'm always seeking God's help in getting better each day. (as Philippians 1:6 promises.)
For the "Ceiling Zero" story, this seems to be Gooley retreating to the "Christian world". (i.e. Secluded in church and surrounded with Christian friends- both very good things in themselves- but perhaps to the extent of shutting out the world- which is not good, as we must be reaching out to the world in order to be the salt and light that Christ called us to be.) But I feel that by the end of the story, Gooley realizes this point and is seeking to be out in the world and practically showing Jesus' love to people, whereas his classmates all still seem to be stuck in this safe little "Christian world" where they just go through the routines of going to church, reading The Bible and praying (out of duty and tradition), but not really experiencing the full joy of The Lord and sharing Jesus with others as they should.
"Mayday" seemed to be reemphasizing this idea of Christians not wanting to venture from that safe "Christian world" again and moving on to reach out to the rest of the world. "Rehoboam's Gold Shields" seemed to be showing the way that fervor for The Lord tends to wane off as the cares of this world crowd out God from our lives, as well as talking about Rehoboam's shame of bearing the cross of Christ. I really liked some of the stories that talked about having the braveness to speak out for what's right that God clearly tells us in The Bible- even if the rest of the world doesn't agree. "Protest Until Pizza" seemed to directly address this, as did "The Saving Message".
The last part of the book I have has a section called "Meek Souls and Phonies" and includes "The Saving Message" story, along with others. "How Silently, How Silently" was a great Christmas story that really got to the real meaning of Christmas- reconciliation with God through Jesus. (This story reminded me some of Jesus' own parable regarding the great banquet that people missed out on and thus, the messengers went to the highways and byways to compel people to come in instead- in Luke 14:12-24).
As a technology fan (particularly older technology as well as newer technology), I really enjoyed the story called "Does Man Exist? (By ENIAC II)"- a great analogy emphasizing how it's only logical that the created beings must have a Creator- a great response to the evolution/Creation debates that go on.
"A Small Happening at Andover" seemed to be another story talking about the need to move beyond religious (Pharisaical) dogmatism [like Jesus talked about in Matthew 23] and really showing true love to others- and when Christ is lifted up, He draws all men to Himself. "Black Gold" was an interesting story about how Christians can get sucked in to con artists, even those claiming to do God's work, and serves as a good warning to be careful who we trust and to look to The Lord for guidance in how we use the money He allots us. "Still Small Roar" is an absolutely beautiful allegory based on John 1:1-14, speaking of how Jesus has forever changed our world by bringing us salvation through His death and Resurrection. "How Shall We Remember John?" offered an interesting look at mourning and perhaps it's meant as a reminder that for Christians, we mourn with hope because we know we will be reunited forever with Jesus in Heaven.
Well, there you go- there's my rundown of the book. I also liked the author's afterword as he gave a great word about the power of parables and how they expose us and force us to really consider the point of the message with a good story. He also mentions a powerful experience in a village in Gruyon, Switzerland- looking out one summer morning at the eternal Alps. :-) The Swiss Alps inspired another famous Christian writer, Hannah Hurnard. (Whose "Hinds Feet on High Places" book is another great allegory too.) God must have just really blessed Switzerland with breathtaking beauty. (Both in its land and its people.) :-)
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