Don’t Give up on America
There has never been a nation that hasn’t suffered a decline and eventual death and America is not going to be an exception. BUT it doesn’t have to be now. It is true we have never had more major crises internally and abroad at once, but don’t give up on America. Our greatest threat is in America giving up on God.
Abraham Lincoln, in a Proclamation appointing a National Prayer Day, got it right when he noted: “Whereas it is the duty of nations as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins, and transgressions, in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope, that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.”
Lamentably there is no such mood prevailing in our nation. Prayer is perceived to be so void in America that a delegation of South Korea Christians recently came to America to conduct prayer vigils across the nation.
Three times before America has been in a position as desperate as an elephant hanging over a cliff by its trunk to a bush. In each of three instances America was as devoid of a spiritual base as we are now. Three times a moral malaise has engulfed the land. In each instance God responded to concerted prayer and renewal followed.
1714 – 1770 a religious and social awakening resulted.
1790 – 1820 a great frontier revival swept the land.
1890 – 1920 a social gospel dispelled despair.
This type of national revival is not true just in America. There was such a spiritual movement in Wales some cities dismissed their police force feeling there was such a moral response they were not needed. That is a lesson on how to do it in America for those wanting to dismiss the police.
I believe God is waiting to see our response and determine His role.
One of the bloodiest Civil War Generals, William Tecumseh Sherman, had a spiritually maturing experience with the Lord in his latter years. Soon thereafter his beloved wife died. He wrote one of the most popular ministers of the day, DeWitt Talmadge, the following.
“I am sure that you know that the God who create the minnow, and who has molded the rose and the carnation giving each its sweet fragrance, will provide for those mortal men who strive to do right in this world which He Himself has stocked with birds, animals, and men. At all events I will trust Him with absolute confidence.”
Regardless of the result of our national spiritual conduct, may we follow the example of the Old Testament leader Joshua who charged his people to serve the Lord and said “As for me and my house we will serve the Lord.” May our response be that of his people, “So the people answered and said: “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods…” (Joshua 24: 15, 16).
Don’t give up on God lest God give up on us.
Be Prepared
As a youth I was excited to join the Boy Scouts and learn the motto: “Be Prepared.” In 1907, Baden-Powell, an English soldier, devised the Scout motto: and said it meant “you are always in a state of readiness in mind and body to do your duty.” Good, no, great idea. By spending time as Scouts, young people learn to handle almost anything life puts in front of them.
To flesh out the idea it is good to always have a contingency plan, a backup plan as to what to do in the event of an unpredictable circumstance. Make a mental list of plans of action in the event needs arise. Be prepared.
Scouting has a plan for young boys to earn merit badges. These are things they must merit regarding First Aid, Citizenship in the Community, Citizenship in Society, Citizenship in the World, Communication, and Cooking.
I remember earning the final of twenty-one required to become an Eagle Scout. I went further and earned three Palms. It was a big deal.
Consider these things to prepare for should a sudden need arise: a house fire, a significant accident or sickness, an unexpected financial emergency, or a death.
Shift gears and make a spiritual application of the motto “Be Prepared.” Think of contingencies needed in your spiritual life.
There is the inevitable, the spiritual contingency regarding death. What arrangement do you need to make in order to be prepared in the event a close loved one dies? Push this train of thought regarding your own life. What do you need to do in that event? Do you have a will? Regardless of your age a will is needed. Some even plan their funeral, pick out a casket, is cremation an option, and select participants to participate in your funeral. Do it and put it behind you.
There is a TV ad sponsored by the government regarding travel abroad. It relates principally to drug laws. The theme: “Know before you go.” Apply that to your death. Do you know where you would go if you were to die today? That is the ultimate for which you should be prepared. Sincere steps you should take in order to be prepared are: make an earnest request of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and the gift of new life followed by a loving commitment to Jesus as Savior. I repeat “know before you go” and “be prepared.”
Jesus said, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (John 14: 3). Are you prepared for that prepared place?
You, God, and Aging – Part Two
There are two groups secure enough to laugh at themselves and don’t mind others doing it. The elderly are foremost among the self-confident. That said, lighten your load and enjoy their (no, our) bequest to younger generations.
“None of us are as old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.” – Henry David Thoreau
“You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope, as old as your despair.” – Douglas MacArthur
“Live your life and forget your age.” – Norman Vincent Peale
“How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are.” – Satchel Paige
“Everyone is the age of their heart.” – Guatemalan Proverb
“Too old to plant trees for my own gratification, I shall do it for my posterity.” – Thomas Jefferson
“The key to successful aging is to pay as little attention to it as possible.” – Judith Regan
“We should so provide for old age that it should have no urgent wants of this world to absorb it from meditation on the next.” – Pearl S. Buck
“Among all my patients in the second half of life . . . there has not been one whose problem in the last resort was not that of finding a religious outlook on life.” – Dr. Carl Jung
And now a bit on the lighter side. Consider the quotes or alleged quotes.
“My memory’s not as sharp as it used to be.” Also, my memory is not as sharp as it used to be.”
“Don’t give me any thing that has an extended warranty.”
“These days about half the stuff in my shopping cart says, ‘For fast relief.’”
“I am the life of the party… Even if it lasts past 8:00 p.m.”
“I am very good at opening child proof caps . . . . With a hammer.”
“I’m smiling all the time because I can’t hear a word you are saying.”
“I’m sure everything I can’t find is in a safe secure place, somewhere.”
“I’m beginning to realize aging is not for wimps.”
“Spread the laughter. Share the cheer. Let’s be happy while we are here.”
THE SENILITY PRAYER: “Grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway, the good fortune to run into the ones I do like, and the eyesight to tell the difference.”
And now on a more serious side. Exercise good judgment knowing there is another life awaiting and there is only one way to prepare for eternity and that is to invest your life with Jesus.
You, God, and Aging – Part One
God speaks through the prophet Isaiah about aging Israel in Isaiah 46. His address was directly applicable to the people of Israel as they aged. It is relevant to believers in every era regarding aging personally.
In a TV commercial Kathy Lee Gifford speaks of aging: “I’m not saying growing old is easy. I am saying it can be easier.” God never hinted life would be easy. He, too, has said it can be easier.
Through Isaiah God speaks, “I will be your God throughout your lifetime – until your hair is white with age. I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you: (Isaiah 46: 4).
This promise to aged Israel is applicable to every aged believer. God has graciously engaged to support and comfort His faithful servants, even in their old age. Expanded application is as though God is saying, “Even to your old age, when you grow unfit for business, when you are compassed with infirmities, and perhaps your relations begin to grow weary of you, yet I am he-he that I am, he that I have been – the very same by whom you have been borne from the belly and carried from the womb. You change, but I am the same.”
From the womb to the tomb He is God and as such is worth our devotion.
Graphic, isn’t it? Also gratifying isn’t it?
My wife and I have passed through the nonagenarian portal and not without continuing problems and pain like people of such age. We need a passageway through our perplexities and we are finding God, true to His word, is providing it. There is no exemption from difficulty and no immunity from ailing as we age. Every aging individual knows what I speak.
Every person knows they will get old, but some people live as though an exception will be made in their case. There are no exceptions. It helps if you eat right, exercise properly, rest well and avoid certain aging properties. That is our part. Do them and you will find God does His part. Even if you fail to do your part He still does His, but with the limits you put on yourself.
Actress Sophia Loren noted, “There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age.” Truly those are assets when the Lord is added to the equation. Even as those attributes fade as a vapor there stands the Lord with a smile on His face saying, “I am here and I love you.”
We should so live that it might be said of us as it was Abraham: “Abraham breathed his last and died in a ripe old age, an old man and satisfied with life; and he was gathered to his people” (Genesis 25: 8).
Trinity: How Could There Be Three in One?
This is offered to enable my esteemed Jewish friends to understand why Christians believe in the Trinity. Often when asked to name the members of the Holy Trinity the answer is: God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Wrong. The three are God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. All three constitute one God comprising the Tri-Unity, three in one. Some people refer to them as the Godhead.
The Bible speaks of the Father as God (Phil. 1:2), Jesus as God (Titus 2:13), and the Holy Spirit as God (Acts 5:3-4).
The concept of three in one is found throughout nature.
H20 as a liquid is water, as ice a solid, as a vapor steam.
One egg has three different parts – the shell, the white, the yoke. Similarly, one apple has three different parts – the skin, the flesh, and the seed.
In math 1+1+1 = 3. However, 1x1x1 = 1. Each is multiplied by self to make one. The latter represents the Tri-Unity.
Sigmund Freud, by no means a friend of theology, nevertheless theorized that human personalities are made up of three parts: Id, Ego, Super-ego. As people, we are balanced out by the impulsive Id, the logical Ego, and the moralizing Super-ego. Likewise, God is balanced out to us in a way we can understand by the all-seeing Father, the teacher Jesus, and the guiding Holy Spirit. They are the different natures of God, who is one being.
John 1: 1, 2 states, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.”
The word, Word is a reference to Jesus Christ who was with God and He was God. Logically, the question is often asked how could He be God and be with God.
His very essence, His intrinsic nature or indispensable quality that determined His character was God. His essence was God as much as the Father and Holy Spirit are God. Summarily He was God the Son.
Physically He was with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.
During an era when nations worship multiple gods the Hebrew Shema was penned: “Hear O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Deuteronomy 6: 4). Historically Jews have repeated it together in the synagogues. The Hebrew word “echad” translated “one” refers to a compound unit. It reveals a plurality, more than one. It is used instead of another Hebrew word, “yacheed” which speaks of a single unit.
Echad, meaning one compound unit, is used rather than “yacheed,” A compound unit, (echad) for example, might speak of one compound unit of gum (stick) in one yacheed pack. One pack having five units, five in one.
The first name for God in the Bible is the one used here, “Elohim.” Though grammatically plural it is used as though singular. This is the case in Genesis 1: 26 also, “Then God (Elohim) said, ‘Let us make man in Our image, according to our likeness….:’” Elohim, translated here “us” and “Our” is plural. This reveals the Tri-Unity, God as one.
(This is a complex subject, one of the most complex. Don’t be concerned that it might have to be read more than once and studied to be better understood.)