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“At first you caught my eye,
And then you stole my heart.
I didn’t think I could
Love you more after that.
But now I realize
You have even become
A part of the person I am.
And my very finest qualities
Come from loving you.”
I saw these sentiments written on a card and I was struck by the profundity of their meaning.
The beginning of a relationship with all its expectations and in its naivete being satisfied with those early emotions and considering them to be complete and enough.
And then the progression to a more mature relationship and the surprise at what the “two becoming one flesh” really means. Things better understood by experience rather than the expression of mere words.
And then finally realizing that loving another person causes changes in our very own selves that we had no way of expecting. Changes that are awe inspiring. The transforming power of love.
What a blessing here on earth, but understand… the real blessing is being transformed into the very image of Jesus Christ. Becoming a part of him and realizing that our very finest qualities come from not only his loving us but also from our loving him.
That’s hard to understand in the very earliest days of becoming a Christian and I suppose that’s the way God meant for it to be so that we can wake up each day and reflect on where we’ve been and where we are and where we are going.
Praise God!
Julie pointed out something about me the other day. She said I like to make conversation with ordinary people like wait staff at a restaurant or workers that come to our house or bus drivers or cruise ship staff. I guess she’s right… who am I to argue with her, she knows me better than anyone else. Invariably though I will ask those kinds of folks this question… “Where do you go to church?” What I’m looking for are those who are not going anywhere or those who are not happy where they are going. Whereupon I have Julie give them a Parkway Church of Christ business card.
I’ve had some success with that. I had a waitress tell me that she had been struggling and thought I was sent from God. A guy came out the other day to do electrical work at our home and he said he and his young family would be attending. But who really knows how much success there has been? Sometimes you just can’t tell.
I am friends on Facebook with a concierge who worked at a hotel we stayed at in Italy. I’m also friends on FB with a young Filipino guy who worked on a cruise ship we were on. Also a Russian tour guide. Of course on Facebook I’m not ashamed of my faith and they see the religious articles I occasionally share.
Work at being friendly with everyone and don’t be afraid to ask the simple question… “where do you go to church?” Maybe just maybe you were sent from God to help someone discover their faith.
I was thinking about the unspeakable gift that God gave us when he allowed his son to be brutally sacrificed. And by the way that word “unspeakable” is awfully easy to say… unspeakable, unspeakable, unspeakable.
I’m not sure though that we really understand that word. Would I, for instance, ask my son to allow himself to be killed for a murderer or a rapist or an abuser of children… probably not.
Every once in a while I hear about someone needing a kidney to save their life. Even though I have two kidneys I have never been to be tested to see if I was a good donor. I might think… I really need both my kidneys or I don’t like to stay in a hospital or be cut on. What if I catch some kind of infection in the hospital like COVID?
I might donate a kidney for my wife or my children or my grandchildren if you’re in that circle or even close to that circle, but for a stranger… probably not and for a derelict of society… definitely not.
I know some people who won’t even put the transplant option on their driver’s licenses in case the doctor has a friend who needs a kidney and says something like… “he’s too far gone, we can’t save him… harvest his organs”
God didn’t ask Jesus to give up a kidney for one of his righteous disciples for instance. He asked Jesus to give up his precious, precious life for the worst of humanity… that’s an unspeakable gift and one I’m ashamed to say… I’m not ready to give.
Fortunately God doesn’t ask us to do that. What he does ask is for us to give up our old lives and transform our lives into the pattern of Jesus Christ’s life.
That “speakable” gift is not too much to trade for an “unspeakable” gift is it? Of course it isn’t.
The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to you shepherds of Israel who only take care of yourselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals. My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them.
“‘Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, because my flock lacks a shepherd and so has been plundered and has become food for all the wild animals, and because my shepherds did not search for my flock but cared for themselves rather than for my flock, therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for my flock. I will remove them from tending the flock so that the shepherds can no longer feed themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them.
“‘For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land. I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the settlements in the land. I will tend them in a good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there they will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign Lord. I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice. Ezekiel 34.
The context of these verses is the failure of the priests and prophets to take care of the nation of Israel. Because they did not teach, encourage and admonish properly God punished the nation of Israel. He lays the blame squarely upon the priests/prophets.
Israel’s shepherds failed to nourish/instruct them properly. Elders in a congregation are responsible for spiritual nourishment… not the preacher, not the deacons and not the Bible class teachers. Certainly they serve under the umbrella of the elder-hood but Elders must make sure the right things are being taught by the teachers with the most ability.
Israel’s shepherds failed to look after those who were straying. Elders as well are responsible to search for those who stray. It’s not too hard in a congregation to see who are straying. Attendance may not be the best criteria but it is an important one. Members who don’t attend or who don’t attend well (and have the ability to) l need to be taught and strengthened. They are not participating in the classes. They certainly have not prepared themselves to be teachers. They generally are lacking in hospitality in the congregation and they are not participating in the three hallmarks of one another responsibilities… encouragement, edification and admonishment.
Israel’s shepherds failed to treat the injured and strengthen the weak. Elders have the same responsibility. Sometimes members are weak because their faith is weak and they don’t know God’s word. Too often Elders take a one size shoe fits all… well it doesn’t. The weak are on the “milk of the word” and are “babes in Christ”. Plugging them into the auditorium class that is studying Revelation is tantamount to child abuse. The weak and injured need to be individually assessed and helped accordingly.
The Prophet Jeremiah laments the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and the destruction of the Jewish people by the Babylonians. He puts the blame on the Jews and among these charges we find this…
“The visions of your prophets were false and worthless; they did not expose your sin to ward off your captivity. The prophecies they gave you were false and misleading” Lamentations 2:14
One of the purposes of prophets specifically and God’s other messengers generally is the identification of sin and its consequences.
God expects a level of conduct among his faithful ones. Unfortunately we are occasionally deceived by Satan and led astray. Being led astray could have eternal consequences for us.
So God’s messengers, preachers, teachers and spiritually mature need to be constantly on guard to watch for those untoward behaviors so that those behaviors can be addressed and God’s people will not be led astray.
In addition, because sin is often of a secretive nature general teaching on the most common sins needs to be common.
The most common sins (public and private) include sexual immorality of all shapes and forms, drunkenness, anger issues and trivializing and missing church assemblies for the smallest of reasons.
Woe and lamentations to the teachers of our age on the Day of Judgement if they have failed in the most basic of their responsibilities to guide God’s people to living righteous lives.
In Luke 18 Jesus tells the very rich Ruler of the Jews to sell everything he had and give it to the poor and “follow me”.
The rich ruler turned away in sorrow and Jesus said these very famous and troubling words…
“it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God”
By definition, in the scriptures, the “poor” are identified as not having the daily necessities of life; food, clothing and shelter. Therefore, compared to the poor, those who have those necessities are rich.
I personally do not know anyone who fits that definition of being poor. Everyone I know is rich.
You might develop the idea that it’s best to be poor that God doesn’t want us to be rich… not true,
The promises of the Mosaic Law were that those who obeyed it would be prosperous on earth.
On the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said that those who put the kingdom first would have all the necessities that they needed in life.
In fact when someone comes into the church building begging I tell them I know what their problem is… they haven’t put God first.
So how are we going to get that camel through that needle?
1 Timothy 6:17-19, identifies several things rich Christians are to do.
- Be not high minded or arrogant
- Have hope set on God, not personal wealth
- Do good and be rich in good works
- Be ready to distribute or share their wealth
- Be sympathetic to the needs of other
An example or two might be handy.
Zaccheus dedicated 50% of his paycheck to help the poor. If he wronged anyone financially he not only returned their money but gave them 4X back.
Righteous Job instructed many, steadied the weak and braced up tired knees.
So how do we get that camel through the needle?
Easy… don’t make it your goal in life to become wealthy. Our goal should be to serve God with the totality of our being and if God wants us to be wealthy he will make us wealthy.
I don’t know where I went wrong with Caleb. Maybe I was too hard on him or maybe I was too soft… I just don’t know. His mother Abigail died when he was just a toddler and I just couldn’t bring myself to remarry. Every time I looked at Caleb as he grew up I could see more and more of his mother in him and I don’t know… it kind of hurt.
Seth wasn’t anything like Caleb, he was big and strong and I could count on him to do the work we needed on the farm… he loved farm life and I loved him for loving what I loved.
Every time we went into town on the Sabbath Caleb was always hanging around with kids his age who were a little on the wild side and Caleb seemed to like to hang around the Gentile boys too.
I knew that sooner or later I was going to lose him and then one day he came up to me and said… Dad, I’m of age and since I’m not going to inherit this farm anyway I just want my inheritance to try something different.
I didn’t really trust what Caleb was telling me but I knew if I didn’t give him the money he would resent it and I would probably never see him again. I watched him gather his things and watched him walk down that road until he disappeared. Oh Jehovah God what have I done? Where is Abigail when I need her the most? Please protect Caleb for me!
I remember when I got that money from my Dad that I was finally going to do things my way. I was tired of Seth being the favorite son… Mr Goody Two Shoes.
The Gentile boys had told me what life was like in Ammon… drinking and dancing and girls who knew how to do things that I couldn’t even imagine. I had a great time for a while until the money began to run out. Once the money was gone my drinking buddies were gone too.
The girls quit smiling at me and flirting with their eyes. I lost all my money, I lost all my friends, I lost a place to stay and now I was stuck sleeping with these unclean hogs doing a job no one else wanted to do for pennies. I was always hungry and had nothing to eat but hog food.
Dad could never forgive me… I had slept with unclean gentile girls and now with unclean hogs. But maybe Dad would let me be a servant… they had beds to sleep in and ate three meals a day and lived happy lives.
I’ll go back home and be a servant in my father’s house. Every step I took on the way back home I rehearsed what I would say… I’m sorry Dad, you were right and I was wrong. You were so right that I am not even worthy to carry your name. Please let me be the least of all servants in your home.
Ever since Caleb had left the first thing I would do every morning when I got out of bed was get on my knees and pray to Jehovah God to bring mine and Abigail’s son back. Then in the afternoon I would sit on the porch of the house and watch the road to see if my prayers were answered.
I knew right where Caleb was. I knew he was in Ammon and I knew what he was doing there. I had heard that he had run out of money and was down on his luck.
I also knew that if I wanted him back forever I couldn’t go after him. He had to make up his own mind to come back.
One day I was watching the road and I saw a solitary figure approaching. I didn’t want to get my hopes up just to be dashed like had happened so many times before. But as the figure got closer and closer something about him seemed familiar… the way he walked… the way he held himself. Could it be?
As he got closer and closer… it had to be Caleb… it had to him. I jumped up and ran to him. It was him! It was him! He started to say something about not being worthy but I didn’t let him finish… I couldn’t. I hugged his neck and started crying and then an amazing thing happened Caleb hugged my neck and started crying too.
We held each other for a little while and I realized all the servants were watching. I told them… get these filthy clothes off him, bathe him and dress him like he deserves to be dressed… like my son… because Jehovah has done a great thing… he has returned my lost son.
A little later Seth came in from the fields and when he heard the news he was angry and said Dad I have worked side by side with you all my life. Caleb wasted your money and disgraced our family name. How could you honor him this way when you have never even thrown a party for me?
Seth, Seth… I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life but you are not one of them. You are everything to me. I couldn’t do anything without you by my side but Caleb is your brother and the second son of your own mother. Yes he wasted the money and yes he behaved in a disgraceful way but doesn’t sorrow and repentance count for anything?
Jehovah God brought your brother back and unless I miss my guess he’ll be twice the brother and twice the son he was before.
If Jehovah can forgive so can we and so should we.
