War--or the aftermath, thereof--Lasts a Long Time

Kathy and I just watched the movie, The Darkest Hour. It is about Winston Churchill. My dad would have been fifteen years old when the Prime Minister of England made some of the speeches depicted in the film. Dad later fought in that war. It was a long time ago. Just this last week, though, a crew of young people was cutting brush and cleaning up some property, here on Guam. In that same war, one of our ships fired a shell in the battle to retake this island. It lay unexploded until this week. The clean-up crew found it, they called the Explosive Ordinance Disposal unit, and more than seventy years after the shell was fired, more than forty years after the lone holdout of the Empire of Japan surrendered, that shell finally exploded. No one was hurt. War lasts a long time. That observation is not only true about wars between nations but about those personal battles we fight with evil without and within. I'm not foolish enough to think that the men and women of that WW2 era were perfect. They clearly weren't. Yet, there was a resolve about them we can learn from. They spoke of "monstrous evil," and days "that will live in infamy." The horrors of war were fresh in their memory, yet they had the wisdom to see the horror of surrender to evil, as well. They left behind more than unexploded ordinance, fields scarred by bombs, cemeteries marked with gleaming white crosses, and ships at the bottom of the sea. They left me a world filled with freedom and opportunity. Lord, as I face the battles before me, may I do so, realizing that I will bless, or curse, those who come after me. Give me the wisdom to choose what is right. Amen. It's STTA.

Afraid of whom?

I was listening this morning to a story about North Korea's arrest and trial of Kenneth Bae, a missionary.  Bae is accused of attempting to overthrow the North Korean government.  Why not accuse me of threatening to carry away the Brooklyn Bridge in the trunk of my Honda, or trying to fill in the Grand Canyon with my shovel and wheelbarrow?  The officials of North Korea show their own weakness by fearing such an insignificant "threat."  

It is a common syndrome among petty tyrants and restrictive regimes.  Every time they arrest a preacher, squash a protest, or censor an author they show how weak they are.  The lion can afford to ignore the mouse.  My observation is not limited to happenings "across the pond."  When so called academics choose to shout down those who espouse ideas contrary to the approved line, they might as well rent a billboard that proclaims, "My ideas are weak.  I can only win a debate by keeping the opposition out."

As is often the case, though, I find that as I thinkon this, I condemn myself.  I am a child of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, I have His word which is a fire, a hammer, and a sword.  I am indwelt by God's Spirit.  Yet, YET, too often I act as if Satan--a poor misguided, defeated spirit who, in spite of his great intellect, somehow thinks that he can win--is a force who can defeat me.  I know that "He who is in me is greater than he who is in the world," yet I too often act like it ain't so.  (1 John 4:4)  The fact is My knees sometimes buckle and my resolve fails in the face of entities far less than threatening than the Spirit formerly known as Lucifer.

Lord, may I not insult you, by fearing those who can do me no harm.

Amen.

 

 It's STTA

What Did He Die From?

What he die from?

It's a common question, often asked at funeral homes or when news of someone's passing comes.  We have gotten more specific in recent years, but still a common answer is the generality, "He died of natural causes."  What we mean by that is, it wasn't an accident or foul play that took the person's life.  He died of some disease, or the deterioration brought on by age.  In a sense nothing is more natural than dying.  It is one of the few universals in life.  

Looking beyond the realm of our experience, however, death is shown to be "dreadfully unnatural."  So says Michael Horton.*  He points out that, "No one really dies of natural causes, but of the most horrific and unnatural cause."  Contrary to what some people who haven't really read the Bible think, God's word gives a very realistic view of death.  It is an enemy.  It entered the world because of sin.  (Romans 5:12)  It is through fear of death that Satan holds the world in bondage.  (Hebrews 2:14-15)  Death was not a part of the world when it was fresh from God's creation and it won't be again when God renews all things.  In the mean time, death is a large part of the reason that we, and indeed all creation with us,groans and travails in this world of mortality.  

Micheal Horton goes on to say about death:  "We die because we have rebelled against our creator, collectively and individually.  So in order for God to raise us bodily from the dead, the judicial sentence has to be removed."*

While the Bible speaks realistically about death it also speaks hopefully.  There is life beyond the grave, and purposeful life in the here and now.  

 It's STTA. 

Find out about a hope that death can't kill, here.

You will find some ideas for having more meaningful devotions in the New Year here.

*Michael Horton, These Last Days, p 64-65