Abba Father
Up in the hills of east Tennessee some years ago a young unmarried woman gave birth to her son. It was a previous era in which children born out of wedlock were ostracized and criticized. No one knew who the father of little Ben Hooper was. All his young life he was an outcast. Whenever he was in public people could be heard whispering, “Who do you think his father is?”
Parents wouldn’t let their children play with him. Adults scolded him in public. In school the teacher set him apart and none of the children would associate with him. As a result he became a virtual recluse.
A new young preacher came to town. Ben Hooper heard folks talking about the young preacher who was friendly, kind, and loving. Quietly one Sunday Ben slipped in the back door of the church and sat on the last seat in the house. He was encouraged by the pastor’s message and continued to come back. He always slipped out before the end of the service and no one spoke to him.
One Sunday Ben was so caught up in the message and warmed by the pastor’s message on love he didn’t get out quickly enough and got caught in the crowd. He looked up and right in his path was the preacher. The preacher smiled at him and said, “Whose boy are you?”
A hush fell over the crowd. The sensitive minister recovered quickly and said, “Oh, I know whose boy you are. Why, the family resemblance is unmistakable. You are a child of God.”
“That’s quite an inheritance you’ve got there, boy. Now, go and see to it you live up to it.”
Years later Ben Hooper said that was the day he first realized he was loved and had self-worth. Yes, it was years later when the outcast Ben Hooper, Governor of Tennessee, said that was the day life took on meaning for him. His awareness of his inheritance gave him a bright new outlook on life.
Ben Hooper was on his way to becoming a new creature in Christ.
An awareness of whose child he was, God the Father, changed the course of his life. The dignity of being a child of the King comes from the royal blood that flows in your veins. His DNA is your DNA. Act in a way becoming of your Father.
God is our Father and we can let His Spirit live through us in a way that is a natural reflection of who is in us. When our lives become aligned with His truth, and this truth naturally expresses itself outwardly, there is a sense of fulfillment.
Jesus prayed, “Abba Father….” (Mark 14: 36) Abba is a term of intimacy and obedience. We know it best as a beautiful term indicating intimacy, but fail to realize it as a term indicating obedience. May we pray it with the understanding of its meaning, “Here I am dear Father committed to obeying you.”
Ben Hooper’s realization that God was his father changed his life. So our lives are changed by it. Pray with a full understanding of gratitude, “Abba Father.”
A New Beginning
Do you ever feel like you are a failure and you would like to start over? You can’t, but you can begin now and make a wonderful new conclusion.
This journey to “becoming” begins with the first step. You don’t have to see the whole road to start, just take the first step, and that is putting your uncompromising faith in Jesus. You may be one of two people. One is a person who did trust Jesus as Savior, but you failed to grow spiritually and got on the wrong road. Repentance for you is not unto salvation, but to faithfulness.
Billy Sunday, former baseball player and later evangelist said, “Stopping at third adds no more to the score than striking out. It doesn’t matter how well you start if you fail to finish.” Start now and finish well.
Perhaps the other you is an individual who never put your faith in Jesus, but now you know the potential He offers through salvation and living faith. The Greek word for repentance, “metanoeo,” means a change of mind, thought, or thinking so powerful that it changes one’s very way of life. In summary it means to turn. Make this the turning point in your life by asking Him to forgive your past and give you new life. The operative word is “new.”
Don’t say to yourself, “I have failed,” “I am broken,” “I have issues of trust.” Shout within, “I am a new creature in Christ,” “I am being renewed,” “I am being transformed.” Develop that new you in your thoughts. That was me, this IS me.
Every sunrise is God’s way of saying this is a new day, make it a great day. You can use them one by one to develop your wonderful conclusion. Every new day is your way to build your life like you wish it had always been.
Keep in mind there is absolutely nothing that can keep you from living by your standard for the new you. Regardless of where you are on the development scale you can be and do better. Forget about past negatives, ponder the new possibilities. Create your new image and flood your mind with what can be.
There is a story of a great flood that drove people to desperate measures. Two persons awaiting a rescue sat on a rooftop and watched as an old hat floated by. To their amazement it reached a certain point where it turned and went back up stream. To their puzzlement this happened several times. Finally, one said, “I know what that is, grandad said he was going to mow the lawn today come hell or high water.” That is the kind of determination needed in becoming all you can be. Grandad had it and so can you.
Here is the empowering enablement: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (II Corinthians 5:17)
Your heritage or legacy doesn’t matter. It isn’t important that you be remembered. It’s important that when you stand before the Lord, he says, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Aspire to finish strong.
Make your new motto for life: “Semper Crescis,” “Always improving/growing.”
The Fear Factor Foiled
At a critical time in the life of Israel God made them a promise that typifies Him, and gives us hope and help.
“Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” (Isaiah 41: 10)
“Fear not,” or “Don’t be afraid” appears 365 times in the Bible. God made His pont. Fear casts a foreboding shadow that is much larger than itself. It often freezes a person into inactivity and leads to defeat. Heed the advice of Babe Ruth, “Never let the fear of striking out get in your way.” It is based on “what-ifs.”
He gives assurance of two things we have no need to do:
“Fear not,” and “be not dismayed.” These two attitudes capriciously rob us of the joy of life. When either or both impose themselves on you, remember the following.
From the middle east comes this fable indicating the power of fear.
Pestilence met a caravan on its way to Baghdad and asked the Chief why he was going to Baghdad. “To take 5,000 lives” was the answer.
On the way back Pestilence said, “You fooled me, you took 50,000 lives.” “No, said the caravan Chief, “I killed only 5,000 lives. Fear killed the rest.”
When faced with fear may it be said of you, “I sought the Lord, and He heard me, And delivered me from all my fears. They looked to Him and were radiant, And their faces were not ashamed.” (Psalm 34:4-5)
When you do, then the winds of fear are abated and the clouds of dismay dispersed.
Dismayed is a word meaning don’t give up, don’t quit. When you are inclined to give up, don’t. Perhaps you need to rethink your situation and immerse it in prayer.
Reasons for not fearing or giving up are noted: “I am with you,” “I am your God, “I will strengthen you,” “I will help you,” and “I will uphold.” Those five factors, like giant reliable marble columns, support us.
Dr. David Livingstone (1813-1873) served as a medical missionary to Africa. For 30 years he suffered hunger, sickness and injuries. “Shall I tell you what sustained me amidst the toils, the hardships, and loneliness of my yielded life?” asked Dr. Livingstone. He continued, “It was the promise, ‘Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end.’” He knew what we each needed to realize, the God who created the Universe is your God.
The last words of an individual are often very important. Among those of Jesus are found these ones of comfort: “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled.”
Commitment
Convictions can be costly. Standing by one’s convictions and/or keeping one’s word often offers an awkward opportunity to prove one’s sincerity.
I have a friend whose example of commitment to his convictions cost him dearly. He was the coach of a D1 football team. As he neared retirement he promised one of his assistant coaches that if he would stay with him five more years he would retire and recommend him as his successor. Five years later he won two successive national championships and had the best recruiting class he had ever had. He recounted this and said, “I didn’t want to retire, but I gave him my word so I did.” He then quoted. “If a man vow a vow unto the Lord, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.” (Numbers 30:2)
Though he did not want to retire he kept his word and retired.
Following is the story of another example of unrelenting commitment:
For months Eric Liddell trained with his heart set on winning the 100-meter race in the 1924 Olympics. Most sportswriters predicted he would win. At the games, however, Liddell learned that the 100-meter race was scheduled to be run on a Sunday. This posed a major problem for him, because he didn’t believe he could honor God by running on the Lord’s Day. He bowed out of the race, and his fans were stunned. Some who had praised him in the past, now called him a fool. He came under intense pressure to change his mind, but he stood firm. Then a runner dropped out of the 400-meter race, which was scheduled on a weekday, and Liddell was offered the opportunity to fill the slot. This was not really “his race.” The distance was four times as long as the one he’d diligently trained for. Even so, he crossed the finish line as victor and set a new record of 47.6 seconds in the process. He earned an Olympic gold medal and made an uncompromising stand for his faith, and his story was told in the Academy Award-winning movie Chariots of Fire. But Eric Liddell has an even greater claim to fame. He went on to become a missionary in China, where he died in a P.O.W. camp in 1945. He’s like Jephthah, who said, “I have given my word to the Lord, and I cannot go back on it”. The lesson that comes through loud and clear from this man’s life is—stand by your convictions, and God will honor you.
Hope Beyond the Grave
It is said death is one of the most frequently thought of subjects, BUT one of the least talked about. It surely is not in the top 10 of cheery thoughts. Since we all know we will inevitably experience it, it is good to have a healthy understanding of it. First, this confirmation. The good news that follows is predicated on having invested one’s faith in Jesus Christ as savior and seeking to obey and follow Him. By the resurrection dawn’s early light the grave became a symbol of heaven’s triumph.
Death’s night sky would be starless and its day hopeless were it not for Jesus’ exaltation, “I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore.” (Revelation 1: 18)
Victor Hugo voiced the hope with which many approach the grave. “When I go down to the grave I can say, like so many others: I have finished my work, but I cannot say I have finished my life. My day’s work will begin the next morning. My tomb is not a blind alley. It is a thoroughfare. It closes in the twilight to open in the dawn.”
The light of the world now shines to guild the mountaintops of our achievements and light the valley of the shadow of death.
In a moment, in the twinkling of the eye, we are transported from one life to another. The two lives are really not comparable. The second is so superior to our present one there is no way to compare them. Some people want to know minute details regarding it. Comfort and confidence enough can be gained by the sublime factor Jesus is there. If it is good enough for Him, it will be glorious and fulfilling for us.
Before Columbus, maps of the world off the coasts of England and Europe had written across the unknown sea, “Ne Plus Ultra,” meaning “No more beyond.” Further out in the sea were such inscriptions as, “Here be dragons.” These hope defeating giants were replaced after the voyage of Columbus with “Plus Ultra,” meaning “Much more beyond.”
Jesus’ coming out of the grave proves there is much more in the after-life.
An infinite blessing is found in that it is antithetical to the alternative, hell. The hell of hell is not found in the gory details it embodies, but in the fact Jesus is not there and His love is not to be enjoyed. Heaven offers hope, hell means despair. The Lord leaves the choice to us.
Revel in this reality: “Death is swallowed up in victory. O Death, where is your sting? O Grave, where is your victory… Thanks be to God, which gives us the victory through our Lord….”
This turns people unable to cope into people of hope.