Beauty's Longing

Feather-fingered branches massage the morning sky--
a pale gray pallette awaiting a tarrying dawn;
voices from that distant wood echo
lower, far, far lower than my thoughts.
Music casts its magical curse on
my wooden ears of flesh, where the echoes die.

Elven languages leave me wandering,
wondering whether Tolkien heard them plainer:
songs across the western seas
where gray ships pass away, never returning...
Life of the song, heat of the flame, blindness of the light,
all beyond, far beyond my knowing.

But of Joy, Love, Truth, a mocking fragrance
bugles the hunt for one more day.
Through the gray a bow of promise breaks
and nettles of beauty pierce my stony depths.
At such tortured moments my soul would fly
into eager immolation, losing itself
in the One no mortal man could see, and live.


MNA
3.23.2016

Pearls, Pigs and Parables

God’s truth is the most precious thing on earth. It makes one wise unto salvation. It’s the one true window we possess into the wondrous unseen world of heavenly things. Besides the souls of men and women, it’s the one treasure of this world that shall never pass away.

In our Christian literature-soaked culture, it’s hard to fathom that, in whole regions of our planet, people are risking more than their lives in order to possess even a fragment of this Book of Books.

Perhaps the most amazing thing about the Christian Scriptures (Testaments Old and New) is that, in spite of their divine origin and profound wisdom, so much of this Book is so easy to comprehend. Its overarching theme and story-line reads like a simple fairy tale. Yet its history, teaching and directives are so practical and all-encompassing, that the most scholarly minds are still plumbing its depths after thousands of years!

Clearly, the Bible is a message from the keenest and deepest Thinker in the universe. Of course, as has often been admitted, ALL truth is GOD’S truth...we know many useful things about our world through our secular observations. Yet there are essential truths God has shared with us in the Scriptures about humanity, Himself, history, hope for the future--things we could learn in no other way. Pearls of great price, indeed!

Unfortunately, most people today fail to recognize God’s written revelation as the precious string of pearls it is. Many who feel themselves too self-sufficient, worldly-wise, scientific and sophisticated, view those who love God’s Word as “Bible-thumpers,” bigoted hayseeds and unschooled hicks. The combined childlike simplicity and timeless profundity of the Scriptures leave them uninterested, unimpressed, unmoved.

To most folks, the Bible is a purely human invention, a crutch for feeble minds; at best, it’s just one arcane religious tome among many. To them, the possibility that their sovereign Maker has a message they desperately need to hear, is too remote a possibility to bother about. If honest, they would say, “That book was useful in years gone by, before mankind ‘came of age’ and realized we’re nothing but creatures sprung up by chance from primordial slime. But we’ve grown up. We’ve gone beyond supernatural explanations and old-fashioned myths.”

Interestingly, this was the attitude of many of the skeptics in Jesus’ day when He was ministering throughout Galilee and Judea. Jews of the party of the Sadducees were especially prone to dismiss Jesus as just one more troublesome fanatic who spoke of a supernatural realm and a coming divine kingdom, where all human power structures would be subject to God’s judgment, and the down-trodden poor would be rewarded and comforted at last.

The Pharisees weren’t much better. Unlike the Sadducees, they believed in the supernatural and the possibility of miracles. But they saw God as One who could be appeased and manipulated by “playing the system” of rules and regulations, most of which their traditions had added on to God’s own requirements of obedient Jews. They listened carefully to Jesus’ teachings. But they did so with the primary goal of confirming their own preconceived interpretations, or else, finding fault with His teaching so they could accuse Him of sedition or heresy.

One of the most insulting epithets that I can think of is to call somebody a “pig” or a “swine.” To most people, this would be associated with one who is inhumanly selfish, rotten, dirty or vile. Pigs are animals which are known as rooters in the mud and the slime. This is a name thrown at police officers by those who run afoul of the law. It’s used by tyrants to describe people they have no use for and wish to denigrate as less than human. I’ve even heard it used to characterize women who are hopelessly committed to lives of prostitution.

When Jesus wanted to make a point about those who had no use for His words, He drew the picture of casting a valuable string of pearls into the pigsty. He warned His followers against casting pearls before swine, and giving holy things to dogs (Matthew 7:6). Both dogs and pigs were unclean animals to the Jews, and the Lord was clearly saying that some hearers of the truth are so hardened in their hearts and confirmed in their rejection of what is holy, that the clear presentation of God’s truth to such people only provokes them to even more violent rejection.

This is one of the reasons, I believe, that Jesus’ primary mode of teaching, especially among large crowds, was by way of parables. Some of His most chilling words are recorded in Mark 4:11-12...

“To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, so that ‘they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.’”

Elsewhere, Jesus taught that one must become as a little child to enter His kingdom. Little children typically will sit on a parent’s or grandparent’s lap and happily drink in the stories and instructions he or she is given. An innocent little child won’t get hung up on doubts and objections and needless adult-style worries when confronted with uncomfortable truths.

Sadly, though, most folks bring a great deal of mental and moral baggage with them as they are exposed to the precious pearls of God’s truth. And far too many of them consider themselves too sophisticated and “mature” to humbly submit to what God has to tell them. They see themselves as above and beyond the need for repentance and a new birth such as Jesus offered to Nicodemus in John chapter 3. These know-it-alls find it offensive that a simple carpenter from Galilee (or one of His untaught followers) would seek to instruct them in matters of spiritual importance.

In Romans chapter one, Paul writes that the sinful proclivity of mankind that chiefly causes God to display His holy wrath against us, is that of suppressing His truth in unrighteousness. Even the mere awareness of God’s presence in our universe, revealed in creation and in our own consciences, is so repugnant to us, we do all we can to repress it, deny it, explain it away, push it down and out of sight. And when we can’t do that, we twist that knowledge into a false deity-- some idol we can fashion and control.

Jesus’ words of warning must be heard. Even now, God is scattering the seed of His Word all around us. It is a day of grace. But, that grace will not be offered forever. If my heart is resisting the simple call of Christ to repent and believe and follow Him, the day may come when He’ll consider me dog-like or pig-like enough to keep His pearls away from me forever.

Run, Rejoice, Rest

O run away! Escape Destruction City.
Proud Babylon has held thee far too long,
Imprisoned by her pleasures cheap and pretty,
And lulled in senseless slumber by her song.
Succumb not to her wisdom vain and witty:
Flee now to Christ and leave her hellish throng.

Rejoice in Jesus Christ, your Lord and Savior
Who, sinless, died for sinners on the tree;
For never did His virtue wane or waver,
But, raised up, Jesus silenced death’s decree!
Today, on high, He guides our gospel labor,
From Satan’s kingdom setting spirits free!

O rest and worship in His holy presence
‘Til Jesus comes all nations to depose.
This age shall pass, of faith and of repentance,
And Christ return to vanquish all our foes.
He calls all men to hush and give attendance--
O heed His word! This day of Grace shall close!


MNA
3.8.16

Friends Forever!

“Peace on earth and mercy mild; God and sinners reconciled!
Joyful, all ye nations rise--join the triumph of the skies!”
                                                              -- from a Christmas carol

One of the least contemplated needs of men and women in our secular age, is the need for reconciliation with their Maker. Yet, know it or not, that is humanity’s most pressing need--far more so than self-esteem, shelter, or even daily bread.

Of course, for two parties to be reconciled, the first step is certainly an awareness that they are, in fact, estranged from one another. Either one or the other party has committed some crime or offense that has caused the animosity that exists--an offense that MUST be addressed before there can be an end to hostilities and a peaceful resolution.

I would venture that only a tiny minority of folks today are aware that human beings are truly born enemies of God. Most people would be horrified if you even suggested such a notion. “What, ME? God’s ENEMY? That’s ridiculous! Why, there’s no reason God could have any grievance with me...I’ve never even thought about Him enough to give Him any grounds for a complaint!”

But what most people are apt to forget, is that we are living, moving, having our being, as created beings in a created world. Each of us owes his or her life--body, soul and substance--to a Supreme Ruler who made us for a PURPOSE. Rather than occupy ourselves with discovering that purpose and fulfilling it, the vast majority would rather ignore God completely, all the while enjoying all the pleasures and benefits His creation and His providence gives them.

In short, we are REBELS at heart. We could be compared with an infestation of termites in a large, grand house. The homeowner discovers this tiny colony of enemies within his walls, a host of creatures who are enjoying themselves by eating away at what their human host has built, not giving a tiny termite thought that they’ve angered this host in any way.

Ignoring and offending God with our sins has become so second-nature to us, that if and when He ever calls the exterminators to come and deal with the infestation of His home, our jaws would surely drop open and we’d be shocked and amazed.

The sad difference between us and the insects is that we don’t really need the hammer to fall to inform us that we are overstepping the moral boundaries our Maker set for us. We need no stone tablets with graven commandments to tell us that we are not what He means for us to be. The voice of our conscience is ever whispering...sighing...pleading...screaming to us, reminding us that this world isn’t all there is. That there is another Hand at work, another Verdict to be pronounced, another World beyond this one, where we will be held accountable for the lives we’ve lived.

There is a post-war Tribunal at which all the crimes against our Supreme Ruler will at last be fully addressed. All His enemies will be judged with perfect justice and fairness. And there will be no “higher court” to which one may appeal.

In the writings of the New Testament, reconciliation is a major, if not THE major, theme. The Apostle Paul was once a staunch enemy of Jesus Christ and His followers. He spent several years as a young Pharasaic scholar, doing all he could to persecute and stamp out the infant church of the crucified Nazarene.

But one day, on his way to Damascus, the risen and ascended Jesus shone on him with a blinding light and Paul was converted. Christ Himself called him to a new life and a new mission to carry His saving message of reconciliation to the far reaches of the Roman world. Eventually, Paul made it to Rome, the capital of the empire itself, where he faced capital punishment under the persecution of Emperor Nero.

Along the way, Paul’s mission included the authorship of many letters to the churches he helped establish during his journeys. But his lengthiest letter, to the Romans, was written to believers he’d never met. He wanted to give them a thorough, scholarly treatise on the roots, the nature, and the meaning, of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Who He was, why He came, why He died and rose again, and how His finished work could benefit all who would believe in Him.

How does this Jesus, this workman and preacher from Galilee, bring the animosity between man and God to an end? Here are some of Paul’s immortal words:

“For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have received this reconciliation” Romans 5:10-11

Paul, former enemy and eventual apostle of Christ, never got over the amazing grace that caused Jesus to die in his place on the cross. He continued to rejoice, as do all of Jesus’ people, that their Lord didn’t stay in the tomb. Because He lived a perfect life on our behalf and died for the sins of all believers...because He ascended to heaven’s throne and now rules and intercedes for us, our reconciliation with the Maker we’ve offended is guaranteed to last forever.

Because Christ died, our war with God can be over. Simply trust and submit to Him.

Because Christ lives, that war, once over, can never begin again. We are reconciled FOREVER!


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