Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Do You Know “Repentance”?

Jesus began His preaching ministry by saying “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). He would pay for the kingdom on the Cross and establish it fifty days later on Pentecost, as recorded in Acts 2. Therefore, Paul could write to the Colossian Christians thirty years later that they were in the kingdom of Christ (Colossians 1:13). We can be members of Christ’s kingdom today.

If it was important for the people during Jesus’ personal ministry to repent because the kingdom was at hand, surely it is of pressing importance that we repent today with Christ’s kingdom a reality.

Repentance necessitates a turning away from sin. It is much more than just being sorry. John the Baptist told his audience to produce fruit (in their lives) worthy of repentance (Matthew 3:8).

Humanity continues to stand in great need of repentance.

When the God-made union of marriage is defiled by divorce – we stand in great need of repentance.

When the God-approved beauty of heterosexual sex in marriage is sullied by an unnatural act – our need for repentance cries out.

When greed, arrogance, and the desire for revenge cause us to forget Jesus the Peacemaker – repentance becomes a distant and faint vision of something that might have been.

When we sow into the wind of sexual promiscuity and insatiable materialism and are then engulfed in the resulting whirlwind – repentance could have stopped it all.

When we become so indoctrinated with political correctness that we fail to even recognize, much less acknowledge, sin in all its forms – repentance into the Christian Life will at long last bring us to our senses.

When we are so selfish and immature that we continually point out the mote in our brothers eye in order to make the beam protruding from our own appear smaller by comparison. – the concept of repentance has become foreign, unknown, and indistinguishable.

When the multiplication of personal wants causes us to become blind to the immediate and pressing needs of others – we appear as if we have never even heard of the concept of repentance.

When we allow the zeal for error to outshine our diminishing fervor for truth – our motivation to repent becomes lost in our humiliation.

When the tree of wounded pride blinds us to the forest of opportunity – heartfelt repentance would restore our sight.

When the great Day of Judgment comes and we bow trembling before our Maker – the option of repentance, which we push from us now, will have forsaken us then.

Remember the words of Jesus, how He said: Repent . . . or perish (Luke 13:3).

Saturday, May 20, 2006

Men, As Trees, Walking…


A passage of scripture that I have found somewhat perplexing over the years is Mark 8:22-26. This is the story of Jesus healing a blind man near Bethsaida, which was on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus chose to heal the man in stages. I have always wondered why He did that. Here’s what happened:

An unidentified blind man was brought to Jesus by some unidentified persons. Jesus was asked to heal the man. Jesus responded by taking the man by the hand and leading him out of town. The Lord then placed His hands on the blind man’s eyes and asked him if he saw anything. The man looked up and said, “I see men like trees, walking.” Jesus then places His hands on the man’s eyes a second time. This time when the man looks up, he sees everyone clearly.

On all other occasions when Jesus performed a miracle of healing, the person was healed all at once – instantly. Why did Jesus do it differently this time?

Well, I certainly don’t know. But our Lord certainly knew what He was doing. Here’s something to think about:

It is a safe assumption that the blind man wanted to see. He participated willingly in the healing process, knowing all along what was up. Maybe, just maybe, when he saw the unfocused scene, he wanted to see it with perfect clarity all the more. Perhaps he got a little glimpse of what was in store, and then he longed for and appreciated what was coming later.

Jesus shows us little glimpses of heaven all the time. They’re all around us, if we’ll just look for them. Some jump off the page at us. Some others have to be cultivated a little. When we see them, two things should happen. We should appreciate the greatness of what God has done for us here on earth. We should want to go and be with Him forever when we leave this earth. These two, gratitude and desire, should cause us to order our behavior to match the teaching of Jesus.

Here are three glimpses of heaven that we have right now. Maybe when you look around you, you might see some others.

God’s Creation

Sunsets have moved me for a long time. How many shades of red and blue have you counted when the sun drops below the horizon on a clear day. I’ve lost count – a long time ago. God didn’t have to make it pretty like that, but He did. It’s a glimpse of something prettier still, just beyond.

I used to be in the woods a good bit back in the day when a friend (who is now deceased) and I traded timberland on a (very) small scale. We both had real jobs and this was our hobby. It was fun to walk through the land God had made and look at the trees He had built. At that time, 1970’s, the more pine, the better. If God could make those tall, straight, and strong loblolly pines (not to mention the massive cypress I sometimes saw in the bottomland), He could certainly make a place called “Heaven” where we all might walk in peace and wonder some day. I even came to see the beauty of the Maker’s touch in an unlikely a spot as a beaver pond.

Nature is a glimpse of heaven if we’ll open our too often blind eyes and look.

The Christian Family

This one needs to be cultivated…constantly. I don’t remember who it was, but someone wrote a little book about fifty years ago about the Christian family. The author titled it, Vestibules of Heaven. If heaven is the auditorium, then the Christian family could be aptly spoken of as the lobby.

When the husband loves the wife and the wife loves the husband, and the children are raised in the nurture and admonition of the Lord; peace reigns, kindness reigns, forgiveness reigns, humility and deference reign. You’re getting pretty close to heaven.

A faithful Christian family is a glimpse of heaven if we choose to make it just that: Christian and faithful.

A Faithful Church

The church of Christ is the people of Christ. It is those who have believed and obeyed what God says in the gospel. It is symbolically pictured as both the body of Christ and the bride of Christ.

We all want to take good care of our physical bodies. We want to be physically healthy. Good health is positively associated with longevity. We must have the same interest in caring for each other that we have for our personal health. When I am as interested in your spiritual health as I am in mine, I’ll care for you and try to help you be closer to God. I’ll do it with my words and my actions. I’ll do it all the time. I won’t quit doing it. When others see us all in the church acting this way, they’ll be impressed. They’ll see a glimpse of heaven.

Most of us adults are married. I remember thirty-three years ago how delighted I was with my new bride. The relationship broadens and strengthens over the years if the marriage is a trinity. The husband and wife are committed to each other side to side and are both committed to God as they look upward. Husband + wife + God works every time. In the church, if we are committed to each other side to side and look upward with commitment to God, we create another Vestibule of Heaven.

A faithful church of Christ is a glimpse of heaven if we are a faithful part of her. The bride of Christ, the body of Christ; as close as you can get to Christ here: the church of Christ.

I am totally confident that the best we see here (wonderful as it is), in comparison to heaven, is only like “men as trees, walking.” I want to see more!

Thursday, May 18, 2006

"Show Me The Money"

It's not what you think it is. Listen to Jesus -

… for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses (Luke 12:15 NKJV).

Jesus’ statements of truth were often paradoxical – they flew in the face of prevailing worldly wisdom. Most people today live like they think their life does consist in what they have materially. Are you one of them?

Think about this: who had you rather be around?

Someone who is rich, but arrogant - or someone who is humble and doesn’t act like they are better than you all the time?

Someone who has more possessions than you and wants to be sure you know it - or someone who is always ready to share with you from whatever they have?

Someone who is well-off, but has a bad relationship with their spouse and children because they don’t spend enough time with them and when they are with them, treat them as things and not as people - or someone who tries to nurture you like he or she nurtures their family?

Those are easy choices, aren’t they? Now, of the two sets of people described, which describes you?

"The Money" isn't folding paper with some President's face on it, or numbers on a spreadsheet.

It's character - as defined by Jesus Christ.

Are you well- off financially? I hope you are (and you use your physical assets to promote truth and good). The question really is: "Are you rich in character?"

Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share (1 Timothy 6:17-18 NKJV).

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Just for fun, I decided to post this little story I wrote a few months ago. I hope you enjoy it. It’s pretty much all fiction, but it does have a basis in fact. My dad, mother, and I did attend gospel meetings a lot when I was a teenager in the sixties. The pattern for the church building (“meeting house”) is a rural church I preached part-time at from 1971 to 1977. It’s near Vernon, Alabama.

By the way, there really is a Debbie Knight, but I met her at school, not church. She’s a “Brown” now. We’ve been married for 33 years come June 14, 2006. Every minute has been great.

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O Why Not Tonight?
A Microcosm of Religion in the South


It is July, 1963; 8:00 in the evening. I am fourteen years old. It is just now getting good dark. My parents and I have gone to the Meeting House and are seeking revival.

The song of a hundred crickets drifts unimpeded through the open windows of the aging building and forms a primal harmony with the baritone strains of the preacher’s sixty-five year old voice as he exhorts the faithful to forsake the tug of the world and reach upward for the unseen glories of Beulah Land. The church building is situated in a grove of mixed pines and hardwoods on a small rise just off a county road. The wet forest smell created from the late afternoon July rain permeates the one roomed white frame building as it sits obligingly on its stone pillars. The sensory cocktail produced from the cricket’s song, the preacher’s voice, the aroma of the damp woods, and the occasional shuffle of a church member’s feet on the hardwood floor under one of the twelve even harder pine board pews creates a memory that has remained riveted in my mind for over forty years.

It was a pleasanter time. And a simpler one. And perhaps there’s a connection. You figure it out. Anyway, back to the lecture at hand, it was a crucial part of my coming of age in rural north Alabama. Want to go back there with me?

We arrive at the building in our Ford Galaxie 500 ten minutes before the service begins. We find a place in the unmarked graveled area in front and to one side of the Meeting House and Dad parks the car. I am the first to exit the vehicle. The thirty-foot walk to the front door is slightly upgrade and some of the older ladies are moving cautiously in the loose gravel, while escorted by their husbands. I speak politely to them. “Good afternoon, mam.” The older men and I engage in the obligatory handshakes. “I’m fine, sir, how are you?” The local minister, a young man about ten years my senior, greets us on the porch at the open door of the building. I enter. The visiting preacher is waiting near the first pew just inside. He gives the men a firm handshake and smiles pleasantly at the ladies as he bows slightly.

I have a dual mission as I begin to walk slowly down the center aisle. I’ve come to worship. But I’ve also come to look for the young daughter of one of the families in the community. I spot her at once, and she scares the daylights out of me. She’s sitting quietly in the second pew from the back, just in front of where I am now standing. She has the prettiest long brown hair that I have ever seen. I catch a hint of her perfume, and imagine I can hear her soft breathing. All at once, I begin to feel light-headed and short of breath. To avoid the unthinkable - having to actually speak to her - I move rapidly down the aisle toward the front of the building while pretending to look for someone or something, I neither knew nor cared which, on the other side of the plank-walled room. In a few seconds I was safe, having avoided eye contact with the lovely creature, and took my seat. “Debbie Knight,” even her name was magnificent. Why was I so afraid of girls, and especially that girl? I was convinced I was doomed to bachelorhood.

Presently, the young minister mounted the small pulpit and addressed the assembled group. Visitors were welcomed, members were expected, the sick were announced, and the guest preacher was praised. When the local minister finished and sat down, the song leader arose and took his position in front of the pulpit. He announced, “Number 224, Amazing Grace,” and began leading the congregation in acappella singing of the old hymn. Most did not need a song book, as the words had become a part of their memory since childhood. After a couple of songs, an old and venerable gentleman stood up and led a lengthy prayer. The sick were called by name and petitions for their recovery were submitted. Any sinners in the assembled crowd were fervently prayed for, that they might repent before it was everlastingly too late. When the aged brother was finished, he took his seat, and the guest speaker moved to his position behind the pulpit. His sermon lasted an hour. He spoke of God’s love and grace, of faith that could move a mountain of sin, of baptism to wash the sins away, and of the fires of an eternal hell that awaited all who would spurn the invitation. When the sermon was concluded, the congregation rose to their feet and sang the invitation song, O Why Not Tonight. One young man of fifteen years responded and was immersed in the baptistery slightly above and behind the pulpit.

With the service concluded, everyone filed out the front door through which they had entered the building an hour and a half before. The young man was congratulated on his conversion and the guest preacher commended for his magnificent lesson. Neighbors visited in the cool night air and discussed the weather and that year’s cotton crop. By and by, all returned to their cars and pickup trucks and made their way to their homes, resolved to come back tomorrow night and do it all again. I rode home with my parents and contemplated becoming a preacher when I grew up.

By the way, I finally found my nerve. Debbie and I have been married for over thirty years. God’s grace is truly amazing.

John Brown
December 9, 2005

Friday, May 12, 2006

When the going gets tough…


…the tough get going. You’ve heard that before. I think most Christians want to be spiritually tough. They see others who are apparent towers of strength during adversity…and they want to be like them.

But how? The situation reminds me somewhat of back in the day when my two sons played Dixie Youth baseball. A ball would be hit to some hapless youngster. He would miss it. And a non-professionally trained coach would yell, “Catch the ball, son!”

“Yeah, right coach. But how?”

A real coach would have explained to the child how to do the technique properly. If you will, God is a real coach. He demands performance at the highest level. And he instructs us, supports us, and encourages us on how to deliver.

Here are some Bible keys to that great big three-letter word: how.

Understand that trials are here to make us better.

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience (James 1:2-3 NKJV).

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:6-7 NKJV).

Now admittedly, this is a bitter pill to swallow. But it helps cure the disease. Trials are unpleasant, and often severely so, by definition. If they weren’t bad, they wouldn’t be trials, and they couldn’t accomplish the potential good that God intends.

Trials help us focus on eternity, where there are no trials. If I focus too closely on this world, it’s easier for me to allow it to control me – with devastating and eternal consequences. The often trying nature of this life nudges my gaze upward toward God my Savior. If I look to Him in faith and obedience, I’ll be eternally ok, no matter what happens here. Trials grab me by the ears, stare me straight in the eyes, and shout that essential information direct to my brain – where my behavior, and thus my destiny, is controlled.

Understand the background of trials.

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned (Romans 5:12 NKJV).

All pain and suffering comes from one of three sources (and none of the three is God): Adam’s sin, my sin, or the sin of someone else. My pain may not be my fault, but it’s not God’s fault either. I don’t inherit the guilt of Adam’s sin, but I sure inherit the consequences of it, that is, pain and suffering. Read Genesis 3.

Trails are never God’s fault. When something bad happens to me, I don’t care what it is, if I blame God – I’m just wrong – simple as that. The more mature I am, the stronger my faith is: the less likely I am to falsely accuse my Heavenly Father. Trials are one thing that helps me move from weakness to strength. See the first point above. Other helpers include Bible reading, prayer, worship, and fellowship with my brethren. If you are struggling with a trial(s), the worst thing you can possible do is quit attending worship services, stop reading your Bible, and neglect unceasing prayer.

Understand that I’m not the only one to ever experience a trial.

Let me lift my head from my breast and look in God’s word at all the trials endured by all the Bible’s great heroes. Dare I think for a moment that Joseph, for instance, was not severely tried when he was betrayed by his own flesh and blood? Then in Egypt, he was the victim of the wrath of a woman scorned, whose blatant lie landed him in prison. But he kept his faith, and things worked out. There are multitudes of examples in both the Old and New Testaments of faith under fire.

And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again. And others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented-- of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth (Hebrews 11:32-38 NKJV).

When I am tried, I must concentrate on the Bible view of trials, not that of some people. Each of the above points began with the word “understand.” That is a key. If I can understand what the Bible says about pain and suffering, I have the potential, with God’s help, to handle things. Understanding, not emotionalism, is the key that unlocks the door to faith - which gives me strength to endure - and (by God’s grace) to prevail.

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17 NKJV).

If you are in a trying time right now – receive encouragement from the teaching of God’s word. If your friend is in a trying time – help them; in love, gentleness, and patience; understand the hope that God gives us in His word.

Thursday, May 11, 2006

The Offer:
What’s In It For Me?

A number of years ago, I was in a career that required a certain amount of sales performance. When one is selling a good or service it generally is advantageous to point out to the potential customer the benefits of your product. If the benefits of the product are markedly superior to anything else available in the marketplace, we may sometimes say that the product “sells itself.”

I don’t really like to talk about “selling” the gospel, but if I may be indulged in using an example drawn from sales, then the gospel of Christ truly sells itself. The benefits of the gospel, the Christian Life, are vastly superior to anything else, period! When God places His offer on the table, it is overwhelmingly in my best interest to take it!

What’s in it for me? What are the benefits of the gospel of Jesus Christ?

The Christian Life gives me the physical necessities of this life.

Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you (Matthew 6:31-33 NKJV).

In the context of this passage, Jesus is talking about basic physical needs: something to eat, something to wear. We must be careful not to confuse wants and needs. Jesus is promising that we’ll get by – bread for today. If I ate today, God has delivered on His promise. If I had bread today, clothing on my back today, and a dry place to stay today – you tell me what more I needed, physically speaking. We won’t care in eternity if our wants were met. If we can just have our real needs, that is enough. That God promises.

The Christian Life gives me fellowship and encouragement from like-minded friends.

…that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me (Romans 1:12 NKJV).

Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ (Galatians 6:2 NKJV).

Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing (1 Thessalonians 5:11 NKJV).

Ever feel that you are all alone in the world? Do you sometimes feel that there is no one who would pick you up if you fell, no one who would offer a kind word if you failed, no one who would have your back if you were falsely accused or deserted – no one who cares? You need not feel like this if you are a faithful Christian. The Christian Life involves a community of obedient believers who care and therefore share. You have a safe place; you belong – if you’re a Christian.

The Christian Life gives me meaning, purpose, and hope in this life.

…in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began (Titus 1:2 NKJV).

Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:13-14 NKJV).

One who has lost hope, has truly lost everything. You may ask, “What is the point in living?” if you feel that your life has no meaning and therefore no hope. As a Christian, your life has meaning. You have a purpose for living: to show others Christ in you, to thus help save them from eternal doom, and to honor God who made you in the process. If you have Christian meaning and Christian purpose, then you have Christian hope. And that hope gets you out of bed every morning, carries you through every day, and confidently lays you down to sleep every night.

The Christian Life gives me spiritual life after physical death.

So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? (1 Corinthians 15:54-55 KJV).

The Christian Life is all about heaven. It is an eternal existence that defies complete comprehension. It is not physical reward. It is better than that. It is beyond that. There is no death, no dying, no pain, no suffering, no disappointment, no unfairness – but that doesn’t fully describe it. There is perfect love, perfect peace, perfect happiness, perfect understanding – but that doesn’t fully describe it. God uses terms that we will understand to give us a glimpse of it, like streets paved with gold. But it won’t be literal gold, because all the elements of this earth will have been burned up. It’ll be better than gold. Heaven will be indescribably and incomprehensively: good! I want to go there. The Christian Life is the way.

Let’s believe and obey the gospel of Christ and walk in the way of salvation that terminates triumphantly in heaven itself!

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:13 NKJV).

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

…Yet Without Sin

The Hebrew writer said this about Jesus. He was talking about Jesus’ high priesthood and how He was an understanding High Priest because He had been tempted just like us, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15).

Jesus lived in flesh just like mine. He had the same physical needs and desires that I have. He was exposed to temptation, just like I am. The physical part of His nature was no different from mine. But He never sinned. He lived a righteous life – and He lived it perfectly.

Let’s look at the “what” of this life. The “whys” and “hows” are separate questions. Let’s look at the “what.”

Define the perfect life, as lived by Jesus. What did he actually do? Then learn lessons from Jesus’ perfect life to help me improve my imperfect one.

Jesus did no wrong. Satan’s temptations in the wilderness challenged who Jesus was and what He was about (His mission). But our Lord’s faith in the Father never wavered nor did He accept an easy route to earthly power. Jesus had been without food for forty days straight. To say that He was hungry and physically weakened would be a great understatement. But He did not bow to the enticements of the devil.

Luke says that Satan left Jesus following the three recorded temptations “until an opportune time” (Luke 4:13 NIV). The Lord certainly experienced numerous temptations as He completed His work among a people that were often arrogant, hypocritical, materialistic, and rebellious. Think you have bad neighbors?

But He never sinned one time.

If Jesus could persevere, surrounded with the people He had to live with, surely I can cope with the temptations and trials that confront me. My challenges don’t even register on the scale – when compared to what Jesus dealt with on a daily basis. If He could put up with what He had to put up with – and avoid ever doing wrong – what is my problem when I fail?

I probably fail because I am focused too much on “me” and too little on my Christian mission. Jesus was so strongly focused on His mission, His work; that all the temptations became manageable.

Here’s focus: Jesus saith unto them, my meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work (John 4:34 KJV).

Jesus always did right. Remember, the devil is tempting Him at every “opportune time.” But, He’s still out there proactively, doing right. We might say, “Well, I’ve resisted temptation today, I’m tired now, I think I’ll just chill and rest.” When we resist temptation, that’s good, but we’re just half way there. Even when Jesus triumphed over temptation, even when He was tired – He still went on to do what was right. If His schedule was tight, if there were numerous demands on His time, if He was physically tired and emotionally exhausted – He still served!

If someone needed His help, He helped them. If someone needed His words, He taught them. If someone needed His care, He loved them. If there was right to be done, Jesus did it – always! He never quit.

Sure you’re tired when you get home from work, but your family needs loving. Sure you’re busy when your child asks you a question, but your child needs teaching. Sure you’re in a hurry, with a tight schedule of your own, when a suffering person needs someone to show that they care, but you can’t be a Christian just when it’s convenient.

Doing right is picking up the cross and getting it done. Do we bear our crosses daily? Do we even know what a cross is? Jesus knew! By bearing His cross, Jesus showed us how to live. We need to stop depending on psychologists and quite listening to so called self-help gurus – and start listening to Jesus.

Read the gospel and see His life; nothing bad, everything good. There’s my pattern.

The more I feed on His words and His example, the better I’ll get at living The Christian Life. With God’s help, let’s get it done in our own lives.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13 NKJV).

Friday, May 05, 2006

My Friend Has Died

On Tuesday, May 2, 2006 Louis Rukeyser passed from this life. I believe he was 73. He succumbed to cancer.

I never met him.

At least not in person. But he and I were guests in my dad’s den on Friday nights at 7:30 for a number of years in the 1980’s.

You may or may not know who Louis Rukeyser was. He had a show on PBS called Wall Street Week. For a few years, Dad and I spent thirty minutes most every Friday night watching it. Though the subject matter was different, Lou’s monologue to open the show was better than even the great Carson. Rukeyser gave investment counsel to the “average” investor, though I suppose no investor considers himself or herself to be “average.” It’s “their” money, after all. But as a Christian, we know that all money, along with everything else, really belongs to the Lord.

Dad and I would watch with great interest as Lou would talk of bulls and bears…and even elves. He was a voice of steadiness when the fickle market would rise sharply or plummet precipitously. Lou was always entertaining, enlightening, and reassuring. Times and fortunes change over the years. I hadn’t watched Louis Rukeyser’s show in a quite a while until a couple of years ago I caught his new show on CNBC a few times. He had aged obviously. But he was the same ol’ Lou that Dad and I had come to know, respect, and love.

Louis Rukeyser was a link of sorts to my dad. I guess he would make a twosome with Walter Cronkite who was a regular Monday through Friday night at 5:30 staple in that same den (though that would have been in the sixties when I was a teenager). Dad was my best friend. He died in 1999. When I learned that Lou had died, it was like another little piece of Dad went with him. Walter survives yet.

Lest I put you to sleep with my reminiscences, I’ll come to the Christian application of all this. I look back on a fond time earlier in my life. There is a story of a man in Luke 16 who looked back on a fond time in his life. Our stories diverge there, because the man in Luke 16 was dead. In his prior life he had had it good. I guess he would have been a Wall Street Week regular. He’s even called the “rich man” in the story. You may recall his acquaintance, Lazarus.

The rich man got it all right with his money, but got it all wrong with his life. There is no indication in the Bible text that he engaged in criminal or immoral behavior. But he was selfish, he wouldn’t share – and he went to hell for it.

He waited till it was too late to do something about his life. If you’re reading this (and I’m writing it, I guess) then it’s not too late for us. The rich man invested in himself. That investment went south. He lost everything.

God wants us to invest in others, by investing in His cause. Let’s put our time, our abilities, our opportunities, and our money – in the Christian Life. Then we won’t have to worry about Wall Street, we’ll be looking forward to a street of gold.

Thursday, May 04, 2006

Plowing in Hope

he who plows should plow in hope (1 Corinthians 9:10 NKJV).

Do you try to live right, and still bad things happen? Maybe you feel that your life is one of plowing (living) in despair rather than hope. Remember the old hymn that began: “This life is filled with sorrow and troubles here below”? A glance at any newspaper will prove that statement true. A reflection upon our own lives will also confirm the words of that song.

Is there anything better? Will things improve? Is there any hope?

I can state with absolute confidence and assurance: “Yes, there is hope!”

There is trouble here below because there is sin here below. Your personal trial may, or may not, result from your personal sin. But there’s trouble in the world today because there’s sin in the world today. There’s also trouble in the world today because of Adam and Eve’s sin in the Garden of Eden. We don’t inherit the guilt of their sin – but we surely inherit the physical consequences of it: pain, suffering, and ultimate physical death.

We cry out for hope that life will get better. Our cries are answered in God’s word.

The soul that sinneth, it shall die (Ezekiel 18:20 KJV).

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8 NKJV).

Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him (Romans 5:9 KJV).

For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ (Galatians 3:26-27 NKJV).

Christ in you, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27 NKJV).

This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast (Hebrews 6:19 NKJV).

And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure (1 John 3:3 NKJV).

When I believe and obey the gospel of Jesus Christ, I enter a place of hope. I’m still in the world, and there’s still trouble all around me; but I can now cope with it, I can now rise above it: because I belong to Christ and He gives me hope.

“They say that many trials will come to vex the soul,
That clouds will often gather to dim for us the goal;
In every sad condition to lead us safely thru,
O Lord we need a friend like you.” *

The faithful Christian, the practitioner of the Christian Life, has found that friend in Jesus.

* “A Friend Like You,” by Luther G. Presley, Sacred Selections Hymnal, # 205.

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

The Answer

The last time you watched Fox or CNN I bet you didn’t watch long before the subject was some individual or group that was in big trouble. War is widespread. Crime causes hurt to thousands of people. Poverty ruins the lives of millions. Surely there’s a solution for all of this.

Someone says, “Yeah, I’ve got the answer. Throw enough money at it and any problem will disappear.” But we spend and spend and the problems still abound.

Someone else says, “If we have the ‘right’ form of government, then everyone will get along and live happily ever after.” I sure am proud to live in a democracy – but there are still problems – and a lot of them.

Another says, “If we have a strong enough military, then we can force what’s right on others.” I don’t know how many wars we will have to endure before we realize that it’s not that simple.

Then someone says, “If we can just get people educated, then they’ll know better than to cause all this trouble.” If people became enlightened enough to understand the benefits of getting along and helping out – that would be great. But, how many people do you know who don’t act like they know they ought to act?

“Well,” another says, “what we really need is for people to be more religious.” Yeah, right. Look at all the pain and suffering that’s being perpetrated right now in the name of religion.

But, you know, there is an answer. It’s not money, government, armies, education, or even religion.

The answer is Christianity.

“That’s a religion,” you say. Ok. But it’s really not “a” religion, it’s “the” religion. There is a vast difference between being religious and being religiously correct. The Pharisees were very religious – but were a long way from being religiously correct. They were religious people who were constantly at odds with Jesus.

Christianity solves everything. It even gives us hope, and thus courage, to bear the trials of life. Christianity works because it makes relationships work. Christianity fixes war, poverty, enables us to bear trials, and secures our relationship with our Maker.

If everyone were a faithful Christian, there would be no greed and no arrogance. Without greed and arrogance, how many wars do you think we would have? I don’t think we would have any. Read James 4:2-3: You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.

If everyone were a faithful Christian, there would be no poverty. We would all heed the example of the apostle Paul: They desired only that we should remember the poor, the very thing which I also was eager to do (Galatians 2:10 NKJV).

If everyone were a faithful Christian, we could cope with trials, because we would view them as growth opportunities. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance (Romans 5:3 NKJV).

If everyone were a faithful Christian, our relationship with God would be in order, and we would all go to heaven when we die.

But as it is written: Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him (1 Corinthians 2:9 NKJV).

Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him (James 1:12 NKJV).

God has provided us with the answer. It is up to us to heed it.

Monday, May 01, 2006

The Searcher

The apostle Paul was the preacher. The audience heard his message. But, they didn’t stop there. They examined the written word of God to see if what Paul was teaching was true. The Bible says they “searched” the scriptures.

These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so (Acts 17:11 KJV).

In your Christian Life, how often do you search the scriptures? Do you believe what you believe about Jesus and The Christian Life because you have read it in the gospel, or are you doing what you’ve always done and believing what you’ve always been told without actually going to God’s word to see if that’s what it really says? How about it?

It’s important that our beliefs and practices mesh with God’s word. If it isn’t important, what sense do we make out of Acts 17:11 above? These people were called “noble” by God because of their reliance upon His word. Feelings, opinions, hearsay, learned pontifications, etc. are not the word of God.

Are you noble like these people from Berea? If you are, you will (like they did) examine your feelings, beliefs, and practices in light of the Bible.

Here are some thoughts to get you started:

Divorce and remarriage. And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery (Matthew 19:9 KJV).

Homosexuality. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9-10 NKJV).

Money. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows (1 Timothy 6:10 NKJV).

Faith. Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone (James 2:17 KJV).

Hate. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you (Ephesians 4:32 NKJV).