Healing Rays of Righteousness

Cultivating A Grateful Attitude

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God‘s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day, a day set aside for us to reflect and give thanks for God’s goodness toward us during the past year.  Maybe the year did not go as we had hoped.  Maybe it was a very difficult year of disappointments, painful sufferings, and grievous losses.  Even so, I believe there is always much for which we can be and should be thankful.

I’m reminded of the boy in elementary school who arrived late to school and was reprimanded for it.  Later, he discovered that he had forgotten his homework, and was scolded again.  Then he began to feel sick, and ran in from the playground to go home.  And as he ran, he tripped and fell, breaking his arm.  While he was on the ground, he found a quarter.  Later, going home from the doctor’s office he told his parents, “This is the best day of my life!  I have never found a quarter before.”

We all need to cultivate that kind of grateful spirit so that we can see and acknowledge the good things that happen to us and be more thankful, even when much is going wrong for us.

The most important attitude that we can ever cultivate in our life is the attitude of gratitude, of being thankful in all circumstances.  A grateful attitude causes our life to open up like a flower, full of beauty and sweet fragrance.  And it causes our life to become filled with joy and pleasant surprises because we more readily see God blessing us in so many wonderful ways.

Health research consistently shows that people who count their blessings sleep better, are more active, and care more about others.  Furthermore, people who are daily counting their blessings, show significant improvements in mental, physical, and spiritual health.  And these results are true regardless of your age or life situation.

Every situation of pain and/or loss has the potential for us to cultivate a spirit of gratitude or resentment.  Every problem provides an opportunity for stronger faith and new relationships, or for frustration and despair.  The need for surgery can make us dread the pain or thank God for the surgeon’s skills.  Stormy weather can create dreary complaints or gratitude for the sunny days.  The death of a spouse can produce a terror of the future or a song of thanksgiving for memories of ten thousand shared joys.  A grateful heart discovers blessings in what the discontented, resentful heart overlooks or takes for granted.

I read of a psychiatrist who prescribes a simple cure to his depressed patients, which they are to use for six weeks.  He instructs his patients to say “Thank you” whenever anyone does them a favor and they are to emphasize their words with a smile.

He reports that often the common reply is, “But, doctor, no one ever does any favors for me.”  And the doctor responds, “That’s why you are sick.  You don’t look for reasons to be thankful.”

The psychiatrist reports that two good results flow from this treatment – the patient becomes less discouraged, and persons who associate with the patient become more active in their affirming words and good deeds toward the patient.

Truly, it is a basic principle of life – thanks given to another person has a boomerang effect of appreciation and favor being returned.  It is amazing to see what happens to us when we cultivate the habit of always saying “Thank you” to others, and to God in every situation and circumstance we may find ourselves.

“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thess. 5:16-18).

Snoopy is getting his usual dog food for his Thanksgiving Day dinner and he is aware that everyone else in the family is inside the house having turkey.  He thinks about this and talks to himself – “How about that?  Everyone is eating turkey today, but just because I’m a dog I get dog-food.”  He trots away and positions himself on top of his doghouse and then gratefully concludes, “Of course, it could be worse.  I could have been born a turkey.”

Yes, and I repeat, the most important attitude that we can ever cultivate in our life, is the “attitude of gratitude”, of being thankful in all circumstances.  An “attitude of gratitude” will both bless us and others.

I remember hearing of a southern mountain woman who had chiseled in rough and uneven letters on her husband’s tombstone, this epitaph, “He always appreciated.”

I hope that this same tribute can be said about you and me after our deaths.  But for that to happen we need to join the Psalmist in reminding ourselves, “Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.” (Ps. 103:2).  And so, beginning today, let us discipline ourselves in cultivating a truly grateful heart and mind.

“Healing Rays of Righteousness” – November 21, 2018

Celebrating A Goodly Heritage

Read Psalm 16:5-11

Thanksgiving Day is traditionally a time of celebrating harvest, to admire our work and to be grateful for what we have.  It is the time of year when we think of family and friends more intentionally.  It is a time of remembering our connections with those who died, and celebrating our connections with those yet living.  It is a time to reflect from where we have come and how God’s gift of presence and grace surrounds and blesses our lives.

This “God gift” of presence and grace, often looms larger in retrospect than what is seen in the present moment.  To reminisce, reflect and realize that all of our life has been and is being blessed by God’s gracious presence and love for us, I believe, will soon have us echoing the psalmist’s joyous praise, “The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.”  This reflective thought will also reaffirm and strengthen our hope and encourage us to move into the future with full confidence in God’s goodness toward us.

This does not mean that all the places of our heritage were pleasant.  Nor does it discount or diminish the difficult struggles in our life’s “cup” of relationships and circumstances.  But the deep sense of contentment expressed in verse 6, flows from the sense of security expressed in verse 8, “I keep my eyes always on the Lord.  With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.”

A wise man once said that when it comes to Thanksgiving Day activities, most people fall into either of two classes, those who take things for granted and those who take things with gratitude.

For an example, whenever we sit down to eat, we have two options about the way we partake of what is put before us; and the choice we make from these two options says a lot about our attitude toward life in general.  We can approach the meal with a negative spirit, wishing we were at a different table, critical of the way the food is cooked, unhappy about what we are being served.  Or we can sit down with gratitude and appreciation that a meal has been provided for us, and thoroughly enjoy what we have been given.

We have the same two options when we sit down at the table of life with its many unpleasant situations and relationships.  We humans are never free to determine what will be set before us, but we are free to choose how we will experience it.  We can choose to either receive these difficult and unsavory things with resentment and bitterness, or we can accept them with gratefulness and confident hope, knowing that the Lord is at my right hand.

The psalmist expressed contentment and confidence and chose to say, “Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure.”  Being fully satisfied with the Lord and the total security that God’s faithful care provides, even in death, the psalmist testifies, “You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand” (v.11).  In Psalm 23, verse 5, the psalmist further testifies, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.  You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.”

It is very interesting to discover that whenever the Gospel writers depict Jesus as eating a meal, they describe him as doing what he would later do at the Last Supper: (He) took bread, and gave thanks……he took the cup, and gave thanks.

This was more than just an ancient Jewish ritual.  I think of it as a picture of the way Jesus sat down to the banquet table of life.  It was how he related to all of what God was setting before him.  Jesus was not resentful of the fare that was placed before him.  He did not mistrust the intentions of his Father.  Rather, a grateful acceptance undergirded his whole life, and this thankful spirit opened the fountain of joy and peace that so beautifully characterized him.

What, in your life, are the pleasant places of goodly heritage in terms of family, church, community and Godly faith that you can declare and celebrate in your life?

I invite you to give some extended thought to reminiscing, reflecting, realizing God’s goodness in your life, and then joyously celebrate with thanksgiving.

“Healing Rays of Righteousness” – November 14, 2018

Count Your Blessings

Read Luke 17:11-19

In the healing of the ten lepers, Jesus does not reach out and touch them.  He doesn’t say, “Be healed.”  He tells them “Go, show yourselves to the priests.”  He was telling them to believe that they could be and would be healed.  In faith they started out, and while on the way to the priests they were cleansed; that is, they were healed and the priests would declare them clean.

We can only imagine the joy that they must have felt in being cleansed of their skin ailment and now able to live, work, and play in their community again. It was a great new day in their life.

All ten lepers, who acted in faith, were cleansed and healed of leprosy, but only one of them “when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice.  He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him – and he was a Samaritan.”  After asking about the other nine, Jesus tells him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”

Ten lepers were healed, but only one was “made well.”  The literal translation of the original Greek would indicate that the healing was more than physical.  I think we would agree that soul healing, that is, being made whole, is far more important then just being physically healed.

I think Jesus’ use of words in this story is consistent with the oft-repeated biblical teaching that unless genuine gratitude is a foundational part of our character and lifestyle, we can’t be “made well” people.  The other nine lepers were physically healed but not “made well;” and if, according to biblical teachings, ingratitude is more deadly than leprosy, then they were in worse spiritual shape than before.

Some years ago, I heard it said – “Ingratitude does not deny us God’s mercies – it denies us of relationship with Him.  Jesus did not punish the nine lepers for their ingratitude; He just left them with His miracle gift and themselves.”  We do well to ponder that statement.

Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed?  Where are the other nine?”  Why did he ask this?  We could assume his feelings were hurt because nine of the ten didn’t feel it necessary to thank him for their healing of leprosy.  But, I wonder if he wasn’t more disappointed than hurt – disappointed because he had so much more to give them.  He loved them, as he loves us, and wanted to give them, as he wants to give us, his wonderful, life-changing gift of being “made well”  – a gift that can be received and enjoyed only in an intimate 24/7 faith relationship with him.

Furthermore, remember that this healed Samaritan leper came back praising God even though he still had some very enormous problems and difficulties facing him.  He had been living as an outcast with no family, no job, and no status.  It would not be easy, and highly improbable, that he could go back into the community and quickly experience being warmly welcomed, fully accepted and trusted.  Even so, he is grateful and praising God.

Most likely many of you have a difficult, painful situation facing you right now.  I’m reasonably certain that nobody is problem-free.  Let’s listen to the apostle Paul as he exhorts us to praise God even in the midst of our problems:

“Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  (Eph.5: 19-20).  “Rejoice always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”  (1 Thess. 5:16-18).

Listen to Helen Keller, who was blind and deaf, saying, “I thank God for my handicaps.  Through them I have found myself, my work, and my God.” 

It’s hard for me to imagine being Helen Keller, living with the two major difficulties of blindness and deafness.  Helen Keller was not healed of her blindness and deafness, but she was “made well” by her faith in Jesus, as evidenced by the many praise songs she wrote and that we still sing today.

In remembering Helen’s very difficult physical situation and her constant testimony of God’s blessings in her life, I’m led to conclude that it is in our thanksgiving and praise that God’s healing power is released in the most dramatic ways.

Many of us are quick to say “Thank you, God” for the big things in life, but forget to thank God for the little things in life, taking them for granted.  The Scriptures repeatedly tell us that a grateful heart gives thanks for all things, big and little.

In these days leading up to Thanksgiving Day, I challenge you to count your blessings, large and small, significant and common, and like the returning leper, “praise God in a loud voice,” who is the source of every good and gracious gift.  Remember, we don’t deserve a thing, so our every day should be filled with thanksgiving and praise to God.

“Healing Rays of Righteousness” – November 7, 2018

Living In God’s Time

This weekend we will perform the annual Autumn ritual of turning our clocks back one hour.  When “Daylight Savings Time” went into effect in 1967, a lot of people refused to change the time on their clocks, saying that the government had no business messing with God’s time.  Whether or not you agree with that sentiment, it is correct to link time 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 mankind to disobey God and sin entered time.  God immediately began working within time to mold and shape for himself a people who would experience his intended purposes of 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 mankind had known since the early times of Genesis.

Then the Romans came to 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, molding time, 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, “Don’t worry, my time has not yet come.  They can’t take me until my time comes.” 

When his time did come, he prays, “Father, the time has come.  Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.”  In that set time, his enemies nailed him to a cross, stretched out in time above the darkened earth, so that his redeeming purpose of providing redemption for all mankind might be accomplished.

And so, all of us, should 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 of us.

What Are We Doing With Time?                                                                                                                 God created time and gives it to us as a gift.  What we do with that gift greatly and directly shapes our eternal destiny of DAY or NIGHT.  The Scriptures urgently invite us to seriously consider how we our living in God’s time:  “I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:2).

The Greeks had two slogans posted over the temple at Delphi.  One is very familiar to us.  It said, “Know Thyself.”  The other is much more significant for us, living as we do in a narcissistic culture.  It said, “Know Thy Moment.”  It is also more biblical.

Jesus chided the Pharisees for their blindness to the “signs of the times.” (Matthew 16:1-3).  Jesus wept over Jerusalem “because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”  (Luke 19:41-44).  To know what time it is and to be appropriately obedient to God within the context of that knowledge assures us a future in God’s Kingdom of eternal love.

God Will Someday End Time                                                                                                                       God who created time and worked in time and sent his Son in the fullness of time is going to someday say, “Time’s up, that’s it, there is no more time.”

We can throw away our watches, datebooks, calendars, and time-clocks.  There won’t be any such thing as time in heaven.  We won’t need to worry about being on time, saving time, keeping time, changing time, or wasting time.  What follows is our timely prior choice of eternal destiny as DAY or NIGHT.

“Healing Rays of Righteousness” – October 31, 2018

How Is Christian Love Made Visible?

Read 1 Corinthians 13

One of the major misconceptions in today’s culture centers upon the definition of love.  Many people tend to define love according to psychological dispositions and sensual appetites.  People “fall in love,” a person might have a “lover,” or a couple might “make love.”  These fallacies are ultimately rooted in an egotistical understanding of how love satisfies the self.

Building on what I said in last week’s blog, I am convinced that Christian “agape” love is not a special gift which some Christians have and others do not.  But rather, Christian love is the indispensable requirement and expectation for all followers of Jesus Christ.

In his first letter, the apostle John stated plainly that the one sure way of knowing whether a person was really a Christian was whether he/she loved others (4:7-8) – “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.  Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.  Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

A few verses later, 16b and 19-20, John summarizes this theme – “God is love.  Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.  …We love because he first loved us.  Whoever claims to love God yet hates his brother or sister is a liar.  For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.”

But how do I know what is the character and behavior of this Christ-like love?  The apostle Paul answers that question by making it very clear in 1 Corinthians 13, that real love does not seek to satisfy selfish gratifications or to fulfill personal ambitions.  Instead, it is made visible by actions of enduring kindness toward others and is motivated by a righteous zeal for truth.

In this chapter, Paul describes how Christian love thinks and behaves toward others – all others.  For Paul, love is much more than cozy sentimental feelings, but rather is at the motivational core of clearly defined behaviors.

In verses 1 to 3, Paul sets love above all virtuous abilities and actions as “the most excellent way.”  Then in verses 4-7 he lists the visible ingredients of Christian love.

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’s the first feeling we learn to disguise quite well.

Second, this love “is not proud … is not rude.”  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 … 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.  Rather, they forgive and forget the past act, the hurt feelings.

Finally, this love “does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.”  The Jerusalem Bible reads, “Love takes no pleasure in other people’s sins.   …It is always ready to excuse.”  I’m fairly certain, that we all know the secret delight we get from someone else’s sin.  It’s so easy, so human, to look at other’s wrongdoings and feel a little less wicked by comparison.

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

Paul then tells the Christians in Corinth, who were so enamored with spiritual gifts, that 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 – love never ends.”

I hear the apostle Paul emphatically and unwaveringly declaring Christian “agape” love to be the greatest gift of all, and that to exercise this gift in all our relationships with others is “the most excellent way” to live in our churches and communities all day, every day.

“Healing Rays of Righteousness” – October 24, 2018

Jesus’ Command to Love

Read John 13:34-35 and Matthew 22:36-40

In our American culture, the word “love” is broadly used in reference to intimate sexual romance (eros), to close family, church, community friendships (phileo); or to what foods or things we enjoy.  The Greek language was much richer, offering three different words to define “love,” making it a much less nebulous concept – eros, phileo, agape.

Jesus chooses the Greek word “agape” in the scriptures noted above, to define the love that his disciples are to have for one another; a love that is habitually unconditional, sacrificial, service oriented and outwardly focused.

The reality of “agape” love is that it rises above the fickle nature of feelings and is, instead, much more an act of the will.  Choosing to love with “agape” love often means doing hard things such as forgiving, returning good for evil, serving and denying one’s own desires in providing for the needs of another.

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 in regards to 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).

A few 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).

Throughout his three-year teaching, 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 a few 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 very challenging definition of “agape” love: “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” 

In other words, the measure of love we share with others must reflect nothing less than the measure of love we have been given by God through Jesus. What has come to us from God must appropriately flow through us to all others!

Also, our acts 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.”  The only distinguishing mark ever given in Scripture regarding who is a Christian is their ability to love in the same manner as Jesus loves.

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.”  This is a good definition of Christian love.

In his devotional book, A Daily Walk Through Romans, Myron Augsburger comments on 12:9, saying, “There is a cost in love, for when you love someone, their experience is shared with you, their problems become your problems.  Love is far deeper than tolerance; it calls for repentance while tolerance doesn’t require change.  Love does not select.  Love shares totally with the person.  When we love we identify honestly, openly, fully.  Paul states his admonition simply but profoundly: “Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good.”

Josh McDowell writes in the August, 1999, issue of Focus on the Family Magazine:  Tolerance says, ‘You must approve of what I do.’  Love responds, ‘I must do something harder: I will love you, even when your behavior offends me.’  Tolerance says, ‘You must agree with me.’  Love responds, ‘I must do something harder: I will tell you the truth, because I am convinced the truth will set you free.’  Tolerance says, ‘You must allow me to have my way.’  Love responds, ‘I must do something harder: I will plead with you to follow the right way, because I believe you are worth the risk.’  Tolerance seeks to be inoffensive; love takes risks.  Tolerance glorifies division; love seeks unity. Tolerance costs nothing; love costs everything.”

For Jesus, Paul and the other apostles, followers of Jesus will daily live a lifestyle of loving others.  Love is to be at the core of our relationships with fellow believers, and at the same time it determines our attitude and behavior towards all people, including enemies.  Love is the only identification we carry, authenticating our claim of being Christian.

“Healing Rays of Righteousness” – October 17, 2018

Reclaiming Human Dignity

Human dignity has become a disposable commodity these days, and is under threat of extinction as we rush toward a culture of selfish individualism and gratification.  When it comes to affirming and protecting the dignity of others, our society is strong in vocal advocating for same, but extremely weak in practice.  Increasingly, more and more people find it easy and acceptable to cruelly “trash” those we don’t like or who disagree with us.

Our political campaigns and disputes have deteriorated into sickening trash talking about opponents, and are no longer a way to learn truthful facts about a person’s life and beliefs.  Unfortunately, this childish and prejudiced name-calling has become the character of our American culture, and encouraged by our top government leaders.  Shame, shame, shame!

What is the origin of our human dignity and why does it demand our respect?  In the biblical record of Jeremiah, God is about to send Jeremiah as a prophet into a culture that had lost all reverence for human life.  They were corrupting themselves with the most flagrant disregard for human dignity.  To encourage and commission Jeremiah as his prophet, God says to him, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”  (Jeremiah 1:5)

“I formed you in the womb” – Our earthbound little minds imagine conception as only a biological event.  Yet this verse forces us to think again about the origin and dignity of human life.  If God, as sovereign Creator, is present in the process of human conception, then the value of human life takes on the highest expectations of eternal relationship with God.

I think that the extent and weight of our glory as humans comes through these words to Jeremiah.  We are truly greater and infinitely more than just biological children of humankind.

The Psalmist knows this to be true and praises God, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” (Psalm 139:13-14).

But, there is more.  Listen carefully to what God said to Jeremiah. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart.”  I hear God saying that our conception and birth is not our real beginning, nor will our death be the end.

Wow!  What a mind-boggling thought for us to ponder.  Before the day and moment of your conception, God knew you.  God dignified you by calling you into existence.  God names you in his mind and dignifies you with purpose and plan.

This is so amazing.  Let this thought infuse you with dignity.  Before your mother lovingly cradled you in her arms, God wrapped his greater arms around you and held you fast in a purpose designed especially for you.

The psalmist continues in verses 16-17, “Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.  How precious to me are your thoughts, God!  How vast is the sum of them!”  And so, whether you choose to believe it or not,  God dignified your personhood before your first heartbeat and continues to dignify you forever.

But this is the reality kicker.  What God did in bringing you into existence, he did for every human being on this earth.  I repeat – What God did in bringing you into existence, he did for every human being on this earth.  We must let this truth permeate our whole being, and even into the deepest recesses of mind and heart.

Because, if we do not keep this perspective of human dignity before us, it becomes easy to debate and decide about others on the basis of their usefulness to us, and whether we like them or not.

Yes, it is true that many people do not live up to the dignity God instilled in them at their birth.  Many do not live up to God’s purpose and plan, nor even to their potential.  There are many reasons for such failure, but probably the most sad is when the cause is because the person did not receive the affirmation, dignity and respect needed to experience wholesome personhood.

In my many years of experience as pastor and chaplain, I have discovered that there are many, many individuals in our communities, churches, and workplaces, who struggle with low self-esteem and suffer a starving sense of worthlessness and of little value in their world.

It has also been my joy to see the lives of many of these same persons being transformed as we worked at creating a healing environment that dignified their personhood and treated them with respect as uniquely gifted persons of great worth.  Every human being needs to have their personhood dignified and respected in order to experience abundant living.

And, I am convinced that our communities, nation, and world can be transformed in like manner if we all could agree to reclaim God’s gifting of human dignity; and individually commit ourselves to dignifying the personhood of all others regardless of their race, religion, politic, or nationality – even as our creator God does.  May God help us in doing so!

“Healing Rays of Righteousness” – October 10, 2018

Stretch Out Your Hand

Read Mark 3:1-6

I believe this story can be appreciated and understood as being much more than simply another miracle event.  I believe Jesus saw in this particular situation, during his visit to the synagogue, an excellent teaching opportunity for his disciples, as well as challenging his religious critics.

In contrast to the man with leprosy who came to Jesus and “…begged him on his knees, ‘If you are willing, you can make me clean”(Mk. 1:40);  or blind Bartimaeus who shouted to Jesus as he walked by, “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me” (Mk. 10:47);  this man, with his shriveled hand, was just there, in the synagogue, the place of worship.  He wasn’t there begging or shouting for healing.  He was there to learn of God and worship him.

This causes me to believe that the writer, Mark, would have us understand that Jesus saw and seized the opportunity not only to heal the man’s shriveled hand, but also to teach an important truth about the Christian lifestyle of appropriately caring for others, wherever they may be and on whatever day it may be.

The first level of teaching is very evident.  Jesus had the man to “stand up in front of everyone.”  It is “show and tell” time to discuss the question, when is it appropriate to respond to human need?  When is it the right time “to do good, … to save life?”  When is it “lawful” to serve others?

Jesus angrily looked around at his critics’ stubborn silence and responded with a dramatic teaching moment.  Deeply distressed, Jesus acted out the Kingdom lesson he wanted to teach.  He had the man stand up in front of everyone and stretch out his shriveled hand so that everyone could see it, then he miraculously and completely restored it.

The lesson we are to hear, is this;  – that God’s so amazing grace in loving us demands we respond in healing ways to human need whenever and wherever the need presents itself, – and that religion without love is a most ugly thing in the world.

Throughout his ministry on earth, Jesus taught and modeled this lifestyle of providing for the needs of others as a basic principle of daily Christian living, and the way of doing business.

The second level of teaching may not be as apparent, but I think it is also seen in this story.  The shriveled, withered hand was “completely restored” when the man obeyed Jesus’ command to “Stretch out your hand.”

Today we know that there is substantial non-biblical evidence from studies of human nature, that persons who keep their hands close to themselves, selfishly clutching their accumulated treasures and divinely endowed abilities and skills, soon experience a withering of their spirit and a shriveling of their lives in every way, spiritually, socially, and physically.  They soon become fearful, unhappy, handicapped and useless in society.

Furthermore, I believe these same studies would confirm the biblical story of complete healing and restoration happens whenever we obey Jesus’ command to:

• love one another as I have loved you.
• love your neighbor as yourself.
• be a servant in serving the needs of others.
• do good deeds to all, even your enemies.

The cure for a shriveled life remains the same today as in Jesus’ day, “Stretch out your hand” in helping others toward wholeness.  For when we do, we also find healing for ourselves.

The truth is that we don’t have to obey Jesus’ command to “Stretch out your hand.”  We don’t have to love our neighbor; we don’t have to share what God has given us; we don’t have to feed the hungry, care for the sick and feeble, and be a friend to the lonely and dying.  We don’t have to be kind, compassionate, and considerate of the needs of others.

We don’t have to do any of these things, but we get to do them as a privilege to love and serve God by responding to the needs of others.  Our love for God because of what he has done for us, transforms our life from selfish grabbing to generous giving, and our work from dutiful labor to joyous privilege.

My Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition has always included an ethos of service to people in need and suffering, of stretching out our hands in helping others.  And my prayer is that the life energy of every church and community would flow from that same healing fountain of Christian compassion and concern for others, in spite of the challenges and difficulties we may encounter in doing so.  Shalom!

“Healing Rays of Righteousness” – October 3, 2018

Overflowing With Hope

Romans 5:1-5

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.  And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.  Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”

In both church and non-church conversations I hear a lot of despair and hopelessness.  The daily news is bad and the future looks increasingly violent and dangerous.  For many there seems to be very little hope for any possibility of good changes happening.  To speak of “hope” seems to these people to be just a lot of wishful thinking.

However, I am convinced that hope is a critical necessity for living, and that we cannot survive without it.  Take away hope and we will soon weaken and die spiritually, emotionally, and physically, and most likely in that order.  I believe hope is that divine gift which energizes us and enables us to envision possibility, “a way through” that shapes our responses in any and every difficult, threatening circumstance or situation.

I must remind you that there are different levels or meanings to our contemporary use of this word “hope.”  The “hope” that we hear being expressed by the biblical writers is something different than wishful thinking as in “I hope it doesn’t rain on our picnic.”  This is the most popular use of the word “hope.”

It is also different than reasonable expectation as when the doctor says to the family “We have every reason to hope for full recovery” after his medical/surgical treatment to the patient. The doctor’s past experience with similar cases makes it possible for him/her to offer hope of recovery.

The “hope” we hear expressed by the biblical writers is a dynamic word of confident assurance.  It is the confident assurance of a promised future of personally sharing in the glory of God.  That is, we will share/participate in God’s triumph over sin and death.  This is the strong, sure hope that God has given us in Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Furthermore, this hope is rooted in the confident assurance that there is purposeful movement in human history towards a future filled with meaning.  We believe that our God is the God of Hope – the God who said; “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

The writer of the book of Hebrews says that “hope” is closely related to our “faith” in chapter 11, verse 1 – “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”

As Christian believers we claim this “hope and future” as belonging to us, with the confident assurance that regardless of what is happening around us or to us, we can rejoice – not because of our present troubles, but because of being sure of our future glory.

Even though we do admit that In the midst of difficult experiences, hope may seem very distant and dim, we are reminded by the biblical writers that this is where hope has its beginning and growth.  Story after story throughout the Bible affirms the truth that the Christian’s confident assurance (hope) is rooted in and springs up from the soil of suffering and loss.

The reality is that without suffering and/or loss, we would have no need or reason to hope for something better.  We also know that our pain and suffering is transformed when we choose to invest it with some meaningful purpose and value.  And according to Apostle Paul, our “suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope” thus having eternal value in making us better children of God.

He also tells us that this hope is fully reliable because it rests on and is dependent on God alone. This hope will never disappoint us because of God’s Holy Spirit within us certifies it.  “God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”

The Holy Spirit does not guarantee that we shall never make mistakes or experience suffering in life.  But instead, the Holy Spirit uses the difficulties and hardships we experience to shape and transform us into new and better persons.

As children of God’s family, we have been given God’s gift of hope – an unmerited, unique opportunity to share in God’s triumphant glory and eternal life.  What an amazing gift of love!  What a reason to rejoice!

Paul concludes his theological letter to the Romans with this benediction in 15:13 – “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

“Healing Rays of Righteousness” – September 26, 2018

A Song of Confidence

Violence and greed, disrespect and racism, political and religious animosity have escalated to a fever pitch during the past year, causing many of us to become anxious, uncertain and fearful. God’s message of hope, peace, joy and love is in danger of being silenced and forgotten by the loud, clanging noises of economic crisis, criminal violence, terrorist attack, war, racism, divisive national politics with its unstable and unpredictable leadership.

So how should you and I, who claim to have faith in God, respond to these threatening situations?  One of the truths that I have learned over the years by personal experiences and Bible study is this – God is not our protector against trouble, but he is our refuge and strength – our very present help in trouble. 

I understand this to mean that I should not expect God to prevent tragedies and pain, nor should I blame Him if they happen, but I can expect God to strengthen and sustain me in and through every difficult and threatening situation of life.

Read Psalm 46

Psalm 46 is a statement of faith declaring God to be in charge of history, and that he is more than adequate for every difficult and threatening event of life, so therefore we do not need to be afraid.  This psalm encourages us to trust God at all times and in every circumstance, and particularly when our life becomes difficult.

We may be facing an uncertain and frightening tomorrow or experiencing a very painful situation today; the earth and mountains may be shaking with storms and earthquakes of all kinds, and yet the psalmist assuredly declares that God is mighty and able to sustain and see us through the threatening darkness of evil.

The writer of this psalm reckoned with the possibility that God may allow the worst to happen in our world and life.  But in the midst of the crisis, he renounces fear and reaffirms faith with three great affirmations of faith that can keep us from being robbed of the hope, peace, joy and love that Jesus brings to us in his promise never to leave us nor forsake us.

The first affirmation is regarding God’s POWER in verse 1-3; “God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble.”  No matter what storm rages, the almighty God is present in the midst of the trouble to help us.  God’s strength will surround our weakness and protect us.  “Therefore we will not fear” even if the worst is happening.

The second affirmation is regarding God’s PRESENCE in verses 4-7; “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells.  …The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.”  The powerful, loving presence of God gives us confidence, no matter the tumult swirling around us and threatening to destroy us. Therefore, we will not faint, nor fall.

Writing to the Romans, Paul put it this way: “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rm. 8:38-39).

The third affirmation is regarding God’s PEACE in verse 10; “He says, ‘Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”  When in the midst of desolations as described in this psalm, we look up and seeing God’s sovereignty, we rest in confidence of God’s exalted power and presence.  When we believe with certainty that God is present, powerful, and provides all the resources we need in the situation, God’s gift of peace settles upon us and calms our hearts.  Therefore, we will not fret.

Yes, we may be facing an uncertain and frightening tomorrow or experiencing a very painful situation today – the earth and mountains may be shaking with storms and earthquakes of all kinds – yet the psalmist assuredly declares that God is able to protect, provide, and lead us through the threatening event or situation. Because we know and trust the Lord to always keep his promises to us, we can say:

“I will not fear – I have a fortress, a place of refuge and protection. 

I will not faint – I have a river of refreshing resources from God. 

 I will not fret – I see the rainbow of God’s sovereignty and majestic glory over all the earth. 

Are we worthy of such help?  Of course not.  But God does not help us because we are worthy.  He helps us because He loves us and is gracious toward us.

It was when Martin Luther was going through a personal storm he meditated on Psalm 46 and was inspired to write, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.”  If we can grasp the message of this hymn, and trust the God that this hymn exalts, I believe we also will discover the secret of living with calm confidence in the midst of fear-filled uncertainty.

“The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.”  Amen.

“Healing Rays of Righteousness” – September 19, 2018