Friday, November 9, 2007

Veterans Day

  • November 11 in the U.S.A. is Veterans Day. People decorate the graves of former members of the armed forces, hold commemorative programs and march in (or watch) parades. But why? Aren't the media constantly degrading our military, featuring vehement protests against any and all martial activity?
  • Put in the most elementary terminology, the armed forces are composed of people; more accurately, of individual persons; men and women who are as alive as you and me; folks who want to live, who have dreams and hopes, who can feel joy and pain just like the rest of us. What makes these individuals special? At some time, for some reason, each and every one of them signed a paper and took an oath to stand in the gap between us (you and me) and disaster, even at the peril of his or her own life. Over years and centuries, many of them have paid for their choices at the cost of their lives.
  • Jesus said that there is no greater love than that one should lay down one's life for a friend. Those military personnel who have lost their lives on our behalf were acting as friends to you and me. And the ones who survived could have died, but for the grace of God toward them. Veterans Day is not about the politics behind wars and battles. It is about personal sacrifices by people who chose to be where they were to protect you and me. You are reading this in English because someone, a whole lot of someones, acted on your behalf so that wouldn't have to grow up speaking a foreign tongue, or not be allowed to grow up at all.
  • It's too late to thank the dead; we can only remember them. But if you know someone who served in the military, take a moment to call or write that person and say, "Thank you." It won't go unappreciated.

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Profoundly Simple...

Quite often I suppose myself capable of uttering some astoundingly profound insight that will stun and then mobilize people into a new and deep relationship with their Creator/Redeemer.
The root of my pipe dreams is, of course, my desire for acceptance and acclaim, both from my fellow-man and from God. In other words, such desires are (in me, at least) self-centered and self serving.
The Bible is wonderful in its ability to dispel my nonsensical desires by displaying some of its richest profundities in the simplicity of its examples. These come to mind:
  • The very first commandment that God gave to mankind (Genesis 2:17).
  • The commission of the first sin (Genesis 3:6)
  • The Name by which God tells Moses to identify Him to the people of Israel (Exodus 3:13-14).
  • The means Elisha the prophet prescribes for the healing of Naaman's leprosy (2 Kings 5:10-15)
  • The hunger of Mary, sister of Lazarus, to learn from Jesus (Luke 10:39, 42), and the faith (John 11:21-24) of their sister Martha and her confession (v.27).
  • The prayer of the repentant tax collector (Luke 18:13).
  • The request of the desperate father of a possessed child (Mark 9:24).
  • The faith and joy of the servant of Queen Candace of Ethiopia (Acts 8:35-39).
  • The question of the prison keeper at Philippi (Acts 16:30) and the answer Paul and Silas gave him (v.31).
  • The ever-present, ever valid, ever powerful invitation of Jesus Christ (Matthew 11:28-30).

Above all (for me), there is the simplicity that God doesn't need my counsel or assistance to get done what He means to do; but God's work is God's work (Ephesians 1:11b; Matthew 16:17; Romans 10:17; Luke 8:8b), in which I am unduly and immeasurably privileged to be allowed a part (Matthew 28:18-20; Ephesians 2:8-9; Philippians 2:12-13).

Life can seem incredibly complex, appearing to demand knotty, tortuous solutions. The need at such times is not migraine-inducing brain-strain, but simple prayer; an uncomplicated conversation with God. More on this later. Meanwhile, try it. God has said, "Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:12-13)

Welcome (continued from the Welcome column)

The proclamation of Jesus Christ mentioned in the adjacent Welcome column is to all people everywhere.

To the one who has never encountered the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ, it is intended as an introduction; an open door into a glorious kingdom, as it were.

But to those who name the Name above all other names, but who by one means or another fail to see the richness of their inheritance in Christ, being weighed down and discouraged by the cares of everyday life, encouragement is intended in these posts: hope in God's infallible promises; faith which God supplies according to His grace; and the Love of God which He has offered freely in giving His Son to die that we may live in abundant blessing.