Weeds

Something To Think About Weeds & God's glory, 5/29

I took a wake-up break from studying, the other day.  While strolling around outside for a few minutes I noticed some of the wild flowers growing out beyond the point where the guys mow. Beautiful! Which reminded me of my wife, so picked some and took them to her. If the ground where I picked the flowers were being maintained as a lawn or a garden these plants would be considered weeds.  They sure are pretty weeds, though, and when I took them to my wife she thought them attractive enough to keep on the table on our deck, where we could enjoy them as we ate. Just weeds.  Yet our creator invested them with such beauty. While the flowering-weeds were on my mind, I was also thinking about Psalm 8--in particular verses 4-5.    “What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him? Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty!” (Psalm 8:4–5, NASB95)   I guess the case could be made that I'm more weed than prize rose, yet God in His infinite lovingkindness invests in me. It's STTA.

Something To Think About Power & Temptation, 5/28

While reading Millard Erickson's Theology.  I was reminded that just as God's power holds all creation together, Hispower likewise is the resource that enables the Christian--as in "me"--to endure temptation.     “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13, NASB95) I sit in my chair confident that the atoms will not suddenly quit holding hands depositing me unceremoniously on the floor, which except for God's providential conservation, also, wouldn't be there to catch me.  I need to muster the same confidence when I face temptation that God will, indeed, already has, made a way for me to resist. It's STTA.

Righteousness?

Together with a group of people who attend CBC Sunday Nite, I've been thinking through an incredible concept from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount.  It is pretty obvious that as Jesus preached this message, and as Matthew, directed by the Holy Spirit, gave his report of it, they had the Scribes and Pharisees in mind.  The Scribes were experts on the Old Testament law.  The Pharisees were totally devoted to living out that law, as they saw it.  Every aspect of the Pharisee's life was marked by attempts to gain or maintain righteousness.  The Apostle Paul, who, in his pre-conversion days, was a leading Pharisee, gives a glimpse into this way of life in Philippians 3.  The Apostles word "Blameless" was the goal of every good Pharisee, but Jesus said that's not good enough.  "Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven"  (Matthew 5:20).  They needed, and we need, a new kind of righteousness.   The second half of Matthew 5 describes this new kind of righteousness.  One aspect of it is that it is focused on the welfare of people--other people.  The righteousness of the S & Ps was often based on using others, and/or making others look bad so that the righteousness-seeker could look better.  The kind of righteousness that Jesus puts forth in the Sermon on the Mount is a way of life that respects and elevates others. If my "righteousness" somehow depends making others look bad, I'm not righteous at all.  If you find that to be a problem, or find yourself lacking, I'd encourage you to consult with the One Who preached this message.  (See the link at the end of this email.) It's STTA. God's Story in His Own Words. our Easter message that presents the flow of Divine Revelation from "In the beginning," to the final "Amen." You can find out more our lack of righteousness and how to obtain the kind of righteousness of which Jesus spoke here.

Making the Crooked Straight--or Trying To:

Something To Think About Straigtening, 5/23

Solomon observed that what is crooked cannot be straightened. Well, maybe, but it's hard, and it's still crooked a little bit, so  Solomon was right. There is a little privacy fence at the rear of my house.  We put it up years ago, when my mom lived in a little apartment that is part of my home.  It blocked some unsightly "stuff," and, especially after some vines covered part of it, adds a nice pleasant feel to the space.  The trouble is it had started leaning to the left.  Since I'm mostly conservative a left-leaning fence just wouldn't do.  It needed to be fixed. I had been thinking about it, and figured that if I attached a come-along to the top of the post on the left and then tied the other end off to the bottom of the post on the far right, that I'd be able to pull the skewed structure back into plumb.  My plan made sense from a geometric viewpoint, but I had failed to reckon on the fact that the fence had settled into its slouch.  Its old bones were stiff and didn't want to be stand erect.  So "crack, crash!" the barrier bowed in the middle, came loose from the post, and part of the fence no longer leaned; it was mostly lying down.  And the post I was trying to pull into uprightness just broke off at the ground. The job that I thought would take less than an hour ended up taking all day.  Lessons abound: The power of habit, The difficulty of reformation--especially when it is attempted toward the unwilling. The need to not only work on what is seen, but, especially, the underground foundations. But I'll let you mull on those, after all this isn't something thought about, it's  Something To ThinkAbout. It's STTA.

Security?

Something To Think About, Security, 5/21

I live a really secure life. At least I think so. I went to bed last night without a worry that I'd be killed during the night.  I'll drive my car today, and, while I will take precautions like wearing my seat-belt, I'll do so without a great deal of angst.  Each month when I get paid I leave my money with a group of people, some of whom are utter strangers. I hope to get back to riding my bike.  Every time a vehicle passes me I trust the driver to not be a sadistic killer--a twitch on the steering wheel could take me out. Either my life is secure, or I am a real fool! Many--perhaps most--people in the world have no such security, either real or imagined.  I remember visiting my son when he lived in Asia.  One of the things that impressed me was the massive doors on the apartments.  Many were steel, and most had more than one massive, impressive locks.  Clearly they were not there to be decorative.  I've been to Latin America several times.  Bars on windows, and walls, topped with razor wire, around people's property is common.  Often big dogs with big teeth growl threateningly on the other side.  What I take for granted is a daily DIY project many places. The fact is I'm not secure.  Neither are my friends who live behind bank-vault doors, and prison-like walls. Neither my complacency nor their vigilance will get the job done.  Check the news. Security can only be provided by someone who is all powerful, all knowing, and who is never absent. Know anyone like that? It's STTA.

Voting for a Winner:

I'm listening to the news.  A large portion of it has to do with this fall's election.  Words like campaign, overcome, win, take-control, attack, and strategy are used a lot in these news stories.  In a system where 50% + 1 carries the day it is easy to see why these warlike descriptors dominate.   It has been shown that a well-planned and executed campaign can achieve victory.  What we need to remember is that a majority does not make right.  Americans love a winner.  We don't want to back a loser.  Here is a question, though: What if the candidate that is losing appears to be closer to being right?  I say "closer" because political candidates are like the rest of us--they aren't perfect.  If we look at our vote like any other asset that we have, a logical question is: Where did it come from?  OK, cue the patriotic music, and flash up pictures of the flag at Iwo Jima and the cliffs at Pointe du Hoc.  Yes, that's right.  Others who came before us paid a high price--sometimes the ultimate price--for the privilege we have of touching the screen, and selecting the candidate of our choice.  Even that, as powerful as it is, though, doesn't ultimately answer my question.  James, in the Bible, tells us that all good gifts come from God (here).  Those of us who live in democratic nations have the privilege of participating in our government.  To quote a great US president, it is a nation "of the people."   Treat that vote like a ten year old treats a new quarter in his pocket (Work with me here; I'm showing my age.).  One doesn't want to waste such a treasure.  It may not be much, but it is something, and I can use it to do something good. Let's begin here:  I'm not going to be nearly so concerned about who's ahead.  Instead I'm going to work to find out who is right.  It's STTA.

Running for the Lord:

Something To Think About, Eric Liddell, 5/13

Yesterday, as I have for the past several Mondays, it was my privilege to share breakfast with some great men. Some from the past and some in the present.   Yesterday, Eric Liddell the Scots Olympian from 1924 and missionary martyr, was our special guest.  His was a life that exemplified Psalm 15.   From his refusal to run in his premier event at the Olympics, because it was scheduled on the Lord's Day, to, shortly before his death, his giving away of his running shoes to a fellow prisoner, Liddell's life is a study in doing what is right, rather than what is expedient or convenient.  You can get an idea of his remarkable life here.   As we listened to a bit of Liddell's story at breakfast yesterday, those of us at the table were well aware that most of us will never be called on to sacrifice Olympic gold or give our lives as martyrs for the Lord's cause.  Our service is likely to be more like a character who played a brief but significant role in Liddell's life.  Shortly before Liddell ran the 400 meter race that propelled him to fame an American masseur pressed a piece of paper into Liddell's hand.  It contained a quotation from 1 Samuel 2:30, "Those who honour me I will honour." Liddell ran with that piece of paper in his hand.  Later he said that receiving that piece of paper was the finest thing that happened to him in Paris. Greatness often lies in the seemingly insignificant. Lord, may I do what is right today--whether it is small or great is up to You.  I simply ask for the ability to see what is right, and the strength and resolve it to do it. AMEN. It's STTA.

Looking forwad to joining my Mom:

Something To Think About, Thanks Mom, 5/12

I am greatly indebted to the woman I was privileged to call, "Mom," Irene Hargrove Merrell. Yesterday was the first Mother's Day I spent without my mom.  In a practical sense Mom had been gone for several years.  At first mom exhibited confusion, then frustration with not knowing others and not understanding that what was going on.  After a time she experienced periodic bouts of fear, because she didn't know who she was.  On a couple of occasions she plaintively told my sister, with whom she lived, "I don't know who I am."  Finally the tightening grip of dementia squeezed out even the ability to recognize that she didn't know.  Mom was mostly gone for quite a while before she died.  Having said that, it was still a comfort to know that mom was there.  I knew when I called her, or went to visit her that my words on the phone or even my presence by her side had little impact.  At the end, her life was lived like a person looking out of a moving vehicle through a very narrow, vertical slit.  For a fleeting second she saw something that wouldbring her a moment of joy, or sometimes even pain, but any memory of what had happened--even a second before--was gone and there was no anticipation of what was next.  That slit narrowed and narrowed until little if anything from the outside made it in.  The last time or two I went to see my mom I answered the question, "Why are you going?" with, "I know mom won't know or remember that I was there, but I will know."  Now that is gone for me as well.  I'll see mom again in heaven, not before. I don't write from sadness--at least not primarily so.  I figure my life is not unlike the way I imagine mom's experience toward the end.  Believing that my life is eternal, I figure my present situation is like my mom's dementia-choked experience.  I see such a tiny bit of reality--an infinitesimal portion of the ultimate reality.  Using a slightly different picture, the Apostle Paul said, "We see in a mirror dimly."  There is so much in the past, and in the infinite future that doesn't register on my time-bound mind.    My mom has not only gone back to the person she was before she began her long slow decline.  She has become all that God intended her to be.  I enjoyed Mother's Day.  I enjoyed it because I am Thankful for all that my mom gave to me and my siblings.  I enjoyed it because of the awareness that my Mother has emerged not only from that limited view that marked the end of her life, but from the limitation that marks all life in this time-bound world before those of us who, by God's grace, have been given eternal life will emerge into that realm in which we "will know fully just as [we] also have been fully known."  (1 Corinthians 13:12) I look forward to not only seeing my Mother, but truly seeing myself for the first time. It's STTA.