When All Shook-up

My wife and I were on the 24th floor of a hotel in San Diego. It was around 2:00 AM when we were awakened by the shaking of the bed and rumbling. It was an earthquake we later learned measured 7.4 on the Richter scale, a numerical scale for expressing the magnitude of an earthquake on the basis of seismograph oscillations. The more destructive earthquakes typically have magnitudes between about 5.5 and 8.9. Our’s was a big one. If not, I don’t want a bigger one.

Getting up I saw the curtains swaying, felt the floor shake, and looking out saw water sloshing out of the pool. The entire building swayed from side to side. With each sway I thought it is going down with this one. Looking around I saw my wife curled up in the bed. I asked what she was doing. She said she was praying for our grandchildren, and asked what I was doing. I said, “I am praying for the grandchildren’s grandparents.” It was a shaking experience.

I processed what we should do. I knew not to use the elevator and the stairs were too many and risky. I had read if in an earthquake stand in the doorway. It provides the best support. I thought the reason they suggest standing in the doorway was so they could find our bodies more easily.

I kept reminding myself of the biblical principle that when death comes for the believer there is no fear. I had fear so in light of that factor I knew I was not going to die.

The shaking stopped, but I knew to expect subsequent shakes. There were and each one resurrected more uncertainty. It was a long frightful night.

Though things were shaking all around us there was within us a sense of stability. It wasn’t that there was no cause for concern, it was that there was a greater cause for calm. I kept reminding myself of  such promises as: “let not your heart be troubled,” and “… He has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you…”

I knew that was a forever never with no exception ever, so that meant He was in the midst of the quake.

With the coming of dawn the quakes ceased and calm prevailed. Our experience proved to be a microcosm of life. Daily we have earthquakes that come in a variety of forms, things that tend to shake us up. In our uncertain times of instability He is with us. That does not mean things will always be alright, but it does mean we will always be alright in life or death.

Stability for unstable times must be cultivated in stable times. Cultivate a personal culture of being aware of His presence in all things. Anchor your soul in the fact “…He has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you…”

There is a line from an ageless hymn, “And He walks with me, and He talks with me, and He tells me I am His own.” It is a daily ongoing personal relationship. Whether you feel like it or not He is there. Live by facts, not feelings.

On Being Strong

“You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” II Timothy 2: 1 & 3

Who are we that we should think that we alone should be exempt from hardship? Everyone, repeat everyone, experiences them. No one wants them and everyone would like to avoid them. Yet, God allows all of us to experience them. Therefore, there must be some lesson disguised in each. Often the reason why isn’t answered until some time later. The time of waiting on the Lord for the answer often draws us closer to the Lord than the actual answer.

In seeking an answer be sure you are asking the right question. Instead of “why” consider asking “how.” That is, “Lord, now that this has happened how can it make me more like you?”

Twenty-five times in this one Bible Book we are encouraged to be strong and to continue in the strength of Jesus, not give up. That hints in itself that the warfare believers are in is intimidating.

Persons tempted to give up need to be mindful that conditions in Satan’s POW camp are not pleasant.

We, like Timothy, are exhorted to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. We must stir up ourselves to do it, and strengthen ourselves for it. Being strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus may be understood in opposition to the weakness of grace. As our trials increase, we need to grow stronger and stronger in that which is good; our faith stronger, our resolution stronger, our love for Jesus stronger. This must be understood in opposition to our being strong in our own strength: “Be strong, not confiding in your own sufficiency, but in the grace that is in Jesus Christ.” (II Corinthians 3: 5)  “Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.” (Ephesians 6: 10) When Peter promised to die for Jesus rather than deny Him he was strong in his own strength. Had he been strong in the grace that is in Jesus, he would have kept his commitment later after Jesus’ arrest when he denied Him three times.

It is said, “He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might, He increases strength… those that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.” (Isaiah 40:29, 30) Count on it and claim the promise. 

His strength is not promised to the passive. It is given to the persistent combatant.

Be strengthened by reminding yourself, “I am a child of the King. I have the love and strength provided by my Lord. Therefore, I await your command to charge.”

“Endure hardship as a good soldier.” 

A good soldier always obeys his commander.

The Five Jesuses I Have Known

My good friend, Leonard E. LeSourd, long time Executive Editor of Guidepost Magazine, introduced to the five Jesus’ he had known. The title confused me at first. Then he explained how one’s understanding of Jesus changes as they grow spiritually.

The first Jesus was the one with a pale anemic face as depicted on the wall in Sunday School. He believed in God, went to church, and was a perfunctory Christian. Apart from church He was given little thought.

The second Jesus was the historical Jesus he learned of in college. He was easy to take a comfortable position toward. He was a historical figure set far from the mainstream of life. He joined the intellectual crowd who in chorus said, “Jesus was a good man, a great teacher, but you have to be cautious about those myths and fairy tales.” Having such a view of Him prevents one from being considered a fanatic.

The third Jesus he drifted to was Jesus the teacher. In the process of applying for a job he encountered spiritually mature people with a faith he admired. A salesman said to him, “Jesus is the greatest teacher, and there is practical value for us in the gospels for us today.” He grew to consider Jesus as a good psychologist. He understood people. All this was fine as far as it went. Unfortunately his interest was not in what He was and is, but what He could do for him.

The fourth Jesus emerged after college when a fellowship group introduced him to Jesus the person. He wandered into a church and eventually their activities. To them Jesus was more than a teacher, He was a man of adventure. He thought what an adventure it must have been for the apostles to follow such a man.

The fifth and most meaningful Jesus was the indwelling Jesus. On a weekend retreat with peers they began talking about making a personal commitment to Jesus. At first he thought he had already done that in that he believed in God and went to church.

One in the group described how he had made a personal commitment to Jesus as Savior. This made him uneasy because it was a threat to his self-confidence, an emotional faith he had always tried to avoid. Soon he realized it was more than that. Before he left the retreat he knelt and prayed, “Lord I want to give my life to you, and I do so now. Show me how to be a good disciple.”

Life thereafter wasn’t always easy. Some failures and losses followed, but his new found faith supported him. He realized the same power that sustained the apostles in all of their trials was available to him. Thus, he began his faith walk.

With which of the five Jesus’ are you most familiar? Don’t stop growing until you are confidentially familiar with the fifth Jesus.

Truths Defined

“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8: 32

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a brilliant young man who committed his life to serve the Lord two years before Hitler came to power. Being unable to share his faith publically under the Fuhrer, he briefly sought asylum in America. He soon realized he should not forsake his fellow Christians in Germany and returned. He was imprisoned for opposing Hitler and proclaiming the gospel. There is much to be gained by assimilating truth as he saw it. Following are quotes of truth he espoused. They are worthy of our meditation and therefore adherence.

“God loves human beings. God loves the world. Not an ideal human, but human beings as they are; not an ideal world, but the real world. What we find repulsive in their opposition to God, what we shrink back from with pain and hostility… this is for God the ground of unfathomable love.”

“Christianity preaches the infinite worth of that which is seemingly worthless and the infinite worthlessness of that which is seemingly so valued.”

“The first service one owes to others in a community involves listening to them. Just as our love for God begins with listening to God’s Word, the beginning of love for others is learning to listen to them. God’s love for us is shown by the fact that God not only gives God’s Word but also lends us God’s ear… We do God’s work for our brothers and sisters when we learn to listen to them.”

“May we be enabled to say ‘No’ to sin, and ‘Yes’ to the sinner.”

“Judging others makes us blind, whereas love is illuminating. By judging others we blind ourselves to our own evil and to the grace which others are just as entitled to as we are.”

“Nothing that we despise in other men is inherently absent from ourselves. We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or don’t do, and more in light of what they suffer.”

“We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God.”

“We pray for the big things and forget to give thanks for the ordinary, small (and yet really not small) gifts. How can God entrust great things to one who will not thankfully receive from Him the little things?”

“The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children.”  

“Seek God, not happiness – this is the fundamental rule of all meditation. If you seek God alone, you will gain happiness: that is its promise.”

Pause and reflect on this heavenly wisdom. Contemplate it and commit to it.

Pro Life – Yes

A deeply divided US Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision and wiped out the constitutional right to abortion, issuing a historic ruling likely to render the procedure largely illegal in half the country.

The impact promises to be transformational. Twenty-six states either will or are likely to ban almost all abortions. Thirteen have so-called trigger laws designed to automatically outlaw abortion.

The issue of abortion deserves an objective biblical perspective. Most pro-abortionists never mention having a pro-biblical perspective. There is none. They merely refer to a woman’s right to her body. The right of the unborn to his or her body deserves advocacy. 

That is not merely a fetus in the womb of a woman. That is a work of art and God is the artist: “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. your eyes saw my unformed body” (Psalm 139: 15, 16).

In Scripture the Greek word “brephos” is used for a young child in the womb and as well as those already born. This evidences the sanctity of the lives of both.

Studies show why young women often seek abortion. The reasons most frequently cited were that having a child would interfere with a woman’s education, work or ability to care for dependents (74%); that she could not afford a baby now (73%); and that she did not want to be a single mother or was having relationship problems (48%).

Since Roe v Wade many Americans have become hardened about abortion. Many are so hardened they fill streets in protest marches favoring it.

The mothers of numerous well known individuals considered an abortion. Some are: Steve Jobs, Oprah Winfrey, Tim Tebow, Pope John Paul II, Justin Bieber, Jesse Jackson, Celine Dion, Andrea Bocelli, Brooke Shields, Cher, Eartha Kitt, Faith Daniels, Ethel Waters and many others. Consider all the delayed-gratification in that list.

I started the first home for unwed mothers in the state which had a capacity for fifteen young women. In considering the name for the home I suggested the name Clay Home. It honored the former owner and depicted the fact that the young women who lived there were clay in the Potter’s hand.

Recently I met a young mother who identified herself as having been a resident of the home. She said her son, born while she was living in the home, was just entering college on an athletic scholarship. She gave him the name of the home, Clay.  Her gratification in giving him birth was evident by the pride shown in talking about it. He was one of many given birth as a result of our ministry.

The other thing evidencing my support of pro-life is that I started the first abortion clinic in the area where young women considering an abortion could receive pro-life counsel. Since then several hundred young women have changed their opinion and given life to their children.

Concern for young women faced with a choice of life or death should be expressed by prayers and support of pro-life individuals. The decision of the young woman is a decision affecting two lives, hers and that of the child.