Healing Rays of Righteousness

God’s Gift of Time

“Daylight Savings Time” went into effect in 1967, and this weekend we will perform the annual Autumn ritual of turning our clocks back one hour. Whether or not you agree with the 1967 decision, it is important to link “time” with our understanding of and relationship with God.

God Created Time

The first chapter of Genesis tells us that God created a framework of days and seasons into which he placed his created works. Then he created man and placed him in time as a subject of time to live in time, caring for and enjoying all of God’s creations.

Soon thereafter, Satan entered time, tempted humankind to disobey God and sin entered time. God immediately began working within time to call forth and shape for himself a people who would experience his presence and purposes for created time.

The Old Testament closes with time narrowly focused on the family of David and the promise of a Redeemer coming in that lineage who would perfectly accomplish God’s work of reconciling and restoring mankind’s relationship with Himself.

God Prepared Time For His Son

Between the testaments God was silent but not inactive. The Greek people came to prominence and took over that part of the world known today as the Holy Land. They developed a language that by the time Jesus Christ was born was as close to a universal language as humankind had known since the early times of Genesis.

Then the Romans came into power, and they developed a road system that enabled the Apostle Paul to travel over the world sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ and planting churches wherever he went. God was actively working in time and shaping time for his Son’s redeeming work.

“But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.” (Galatians 4:4-5).

And this Son, Jesus, “went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. ‘The time has come,’ he said. ‘The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!’” (Mark 1:15).

During His time on earth, Jesus ministered to many people; healing without medicine, teaching by the wayside, saying repeatedly to his followers, “My time has not yet come.”  The authorities would attack him severely, and he would say to his disciples, “Do not worry, my time has not yet come. They cannot take me until my time comes.”

When His time did come, He prays, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.” (John 17:1).In that set time, his enemies had Him nailed to a cross, and there, stretched out in time above the darkened earth, He looked down and declared “It is finished” and gave up his spirit.

And in that set moment of time, God’s redeeming purpose of providing redemption for all humanity would be fully accomplished three days later with Jesus’ glorious resurrection and victory over evil and death.

We, who claim to be disciples of Jesus, should frequently focus backwards to a very narrow frame of time on a small hill called Golgotha where a man named Jesus, the Son of God, fulfills His time and accomplishes His work in making salvation time available for all persons. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16).

Someday the same God who created time and worked in time, sending his Son in the fullness of time to rescue, redeem, and adopt us, is going to say with a trumpet shout, “The end of time has come.” “There will be no more delay!”  (Rev. 10:6b).  That is why the apostle Paul writes, “I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Cor. 6:2b).

What Are We Doing With Time?

I will pursue that question in next week’s blog. For now, I invite you to join me in singing “The Love of God,” a joyous hymn written by F. M. Lehman in 1917.

The love of God   is greater far   than tongue or pen can ever tell;

it goes beyond   the highest star   and reaches to the lowest hell.

The wand’ring child   is reconciled   by God’s beloved Son.

The aching soul   again made whole,  and priceless pardon won.

Refrain:     O love of God, how rich and pure!   How measureless and strong!

                                                    It shall forevermore endure–  the saints’ and angels’ song.

When ancient time   shall pass away,   and human thrones and kingdoms fall;

when those who here   refuse to pray   on rocks and hills and mountains call;

God’s love so sure, shall still endure,   all measureless and strong;

grace will resound   the whole earth round–   the saints’ and angel’s song.

Could we with ink   the ocean fill,   and were the skies of parchment made;

were every stalk   on earth a quill,   and ev’ryone a scribe by trade;

to write the love   of God above    would drain the ocean dry;

nor could the scroll   contain the whole,   though stretched from sky to sky.

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“Healing Rays of Righteousness” – October 26, 2022

www.geigler13.wordpress.com

Ray M. Geigley

Jesus LOVE Outshines All Other Loves

Where do the night-time stars go during the daytime? They go nowhere. They remain in the sky. But we cannot see them because the sun is also in the sky, and the sun is so bright that the twinkling glimmer of the stars pale into insignificance.

During the early days of the Christian church, the Corinthian Christians began arguing and debating among themselves regarding which spiritual gifts have the greater honor. The apostle Paul became concerned about their divisive arguments and tells them in his first letter that all the spiritual gifts are important, and that each one has a significant role in the church, the body of Christ. (1 Corinthians 12).

Then Paul puts the SUN in the sky of spiritual gifts with his introductory “And now I will show you the most excellent way” at the conclusion of chapter 12.And in chapter 13, unveils the supremacy of LOVEover the other gifts, like the way the light of the sun is supreme over the light of the stars.

With detailed real-life experiences, Paul illustrates what relational behaviors are of most importance in a body of Christian believers, if they are to be God’s SUN-LIGHT in the world. He then concludes with, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

The core concern in Paul’s writing to the Corinthian church, is the question, “With all your debates and arguments about spiritual gifts, where is the Jesus-like love that Jesus commanded in your relationships?” That question remains critically relevant even for today’s followers of Jesus.

Jesus said, “A new command I give you; Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. All men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35). In last week’s blog, I said that this command to think and behave with Jesus-like “love” is what sets us apart in our communities and authenticates our claim of being a Christian.

But how do I know what this Jesus-like love looks like in real life? In what definitive ways does it set us apart in our relationships with others?

In chapter 13, Paul answers this question by describing how this Jesus-likelove behaves in various life situations. First, this love is “patient …kind. It does not envy, it does not boast.”   It is said that jealousy is the most subtle of all demons. It is the first feeling we learn to disguise quite well.

Second, this love “is not proud … does not dishonor others.”  An Englishman once said, “You can tell a true gentleman, not by how he behaves in the presence of his king, but by how he behaves in the presence of his maid servant.”  It is how we behave in the presence of those we think are inferior to us that shows what we really are in character.

Third, this love “is not self-seeking … not easily angered …keeps no record of wrongs.”  Unfortunately, we humans are quick to keep score. We save up our negative feelings and at an opportune time we let go with an outburst of retaliation and getting even. Paul is saying that Christians do not store up negative feelings. They forgive and forget the past act, the hurt feelings.

Finally, this love “does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.” We all know the secret delight we get from someone else’s sin. Other’s wrongdoings make us seem a little less wicked by comparison.

But love also knows that we sometimes fail each other. And when that happens, there is only one healing, reconciling remedy, and that is to forgive. To offer and receive forgiveness is a special form of love. And so, this love “always protects, always trust, always hopes, always perseveres.”

Paul tells the Christians in Corinth, who were so enamored with spiritual gifts, that Jesus-like LOVE is the supreme gift, the most important, the greatest thing in all the world, for it is the only gift, the only thing that will last forever, even into eternity. All other gifts come to an end, but “Love never fails … cease … be stilled … nor pass away.”

Scotsman Henry Drummond traveled all over the world giving his meditation on the theme of love. His book, The Greatest Thing in the World, published in 1890, has been in print since then and maintains its status as an inspirational classic.

In his book, based on 1 Corinthians 13, Drummond contends that “agape” love (self-giving, divine love flowing through human action) is the greatest transforming power in the world. He challenges people to read 1 Corinthians 13 once a week for three consecutive weeks.

Then he challenges readers to live it out every day. He writes, and I quote, “To love abundantly is to live abundantly,”and at the end of life “the moments that will stand out, the moments when you have really lived, are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love.”

As we pray “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” let it be “Lord, help me to love others, all others, always, like you love me.” Amen!

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“Healing Rays of Righteousness” – October 19, 2022

www.geigler13.wordpress.com

Ray M. Geigley

The Foundation of Rock and Stone

It was after Jesus had eaten his last meal with his disciples, and after he had washed their feet and told them he would soon be leaving them, that he instructed them regarding their continuing relationships with one another; “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35).

Several days earlier, one of the Pharisees, an expert in the law, tested Jesus with this question, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”  Jesus said that there are two commandments that top the list. The first and greatest commandment is, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. … And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.”  He then added, “All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:36-40).

I understand Jesus to be saying that these two commandments are the foundation for all relationships within His Kingdom. God prioritized these two commandments in his earlier Old Testament instructions to His chosen people. He then sent Jesus to teach and model “in person” how these commandments are to be acted-out in everyday living.

This is the backstory to my understanding of God’s message to prophet Isaiah, “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic.” (Isaiah 28:16).

Throughout his three-year teaching and healing ministry, Jesus consistently spoke of the need to love God and others, and he daily modeled that compassionate, sacrificial love to his disciples and followers. And now, just several hours before his arrest and crucifixion, he restates, as a command, their need to love each other — no exceptions, no excuses, and no conditions.

And just in case they may think about trivializing the “meaning” of love, he raises the bar to its highest level and gives them a particularly challenging definition of sacrificial love: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” (John 13:34).

In other words, the measure of love we share with others must reflect nothing less than the measure of “amazing love” we have received from God through Jesus. What has come to us from God should and must, in like quality and quantity, flow through us and out to all others!

Also, our actions of loving ALL others will be what sets us apart from the world and authenticates our declaration of being a Christian. “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:35).The only distinguishing mark ever given in Scripture regarding who is a Christian is their ability to love others in the same manner as Jesus loves.

So, if you believe, as I do, that Jesus is the “precious cornerstone for a sure foundation” then I think we can accurately believe that God’s two greatest commandments make for a rock-solid foundation, and that Jesus’ teachings and modeling of God’s sacrificial (agape) love, is the cornerstone for building our (house) life in the present “here and now.”  

This understanding of scripture brings to life all of Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount” as recorded in Matthew, chapters 5-7; as well as His concluding parable of the “wise and foolish builders.” “Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” (Mt. 7:24-25).

Harry Stack Sullivan writes in his book, Conceptions of Modern Psychiatry, “When the satisfaction, security, and development of another person become as significant to you as your own satisfaction, security, and development, love exists.”  I believe this is a good definition of married love, and a most excellent definition of Christian sacrificial “agape” love.

For Jesus, Paul, and all the apostles, to be a follower of Jesus, building God’s Kingdom on earth, requires a transformed heart that will daily live a lifestyle of loving God and others. They consistently taught us that a transformed heart will be evidenced by the outflow of God’s love in our relationships with fellow believers, and in shaping our attitude and behavior towards all people, including enemies. Ouch!

 Yes, it may hurt, but the world needs to see our Christian identification in BOTH words and works.  May be do so in every opportunity.

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“Healing Rays of Righteousness” – October 12, 2022

www.geigler13.wordpress.com

Ray M. Geigley