C.S. Lewis Was a Fascinating Poet!

Here's a link to one of my favorite poems of his...read and enjoy!

The Late Passenger by C.S. Lewis

Deniers Restored

Have you ever had a close friend who really let you down...or even betrayed you? How difficult was it to get over that “let-down”...that betrayal? Were you able to forgive that person? Were you able to continue your friendship with him or her in the same way, or did your friend’s unfaithfulness cause a shadow to fall between you that just won’t go away?

Our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ is like no other relationship on earth. The friendships we form with others in our lives can be--OUGHT to be--very special. Friendships within families, playmates and classmates at school, colleagues we work with, folks in the neighborhood we meet across the fence. But the Proverbs in the Bible speak of a “friend who sticks closer than a brother.” The Lord Jesus Christ is that kind of Friend.

When Jesus lived here on this earth 2,000 years ago, He had come on a wonderful, divine mission: “to seek and to save that which was lost.” His was an eternal rescue mission, seeking to save sinners from the eternal punishment in hell they truly deserved. Jesus was the eternal Son of God, and yet He was also a human being like you and I. And one of the genuine human needs that Jesus experienced was the need for friendships.

Jesus was kind and friendly to everyone He met, I am certain. But there were some people He befriended on a much deeper and more personal level than others. This is true for all of us and it is surely true of Jesus. His special, closest friends included two women of Bethany named Mary and Martha, along with their brother Lazarus. They opened their home for Jesus and His disciples to come and rest after their labors of healing and teaching.

But His closest friends of all were most likely the twelve disciples Jesus chose to instruct in private, teaching them the deeper truths about His kingdom and His plans.

Can you just imagine what it would have been like to have the Lord Jesus as a close friend, sharing with you his hopes and his dreams, his needs and his fears? Yes, Jesus was their Rabbi, their teacher, whom the Twelve held in high honor and reverence. After all, John the Baptist had pointed out Jesus of Nazareth as the “Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.” So, anyone that Jesus later chose to be in His inner circle of disciples would feel awed and privileged to be so chosen. But Jesus was much more than their Teacher. He was their Friend as well.

And what a friend Jesus was! Here was a friend who could do wonders--heal sick people with the touch of His hand, or even by speaking a word! A friend who could fill the fisherman’s net after that fisherman’s boat had fished all night and caught nothing! Here was a friend who never uttered an unkind word or acted with selfish, prideful motives. A friend who truly cared about you even when you had nothing to offer but yourself. Here was a friend you could be totally honest with and never fear that He’d take advantage of the secret things you told Him.

Jesus gathered his twelve special, closest friends around Him. He Himself was the perfect Son of God...the ultimate, perfect Friend of sinners. But the twelve friends He chose were far from perfect. They were every bit as fallible as sinful friends could be.

On the night when Jesus needed friends the most, the night His worst enemies came to arrest Him, try Him and have Him killed...on that very night, it was one of His closest friends who betrayed and turned Jesus over to them. Judas Iscariot sold His Master and Friend for thirty pieces of silver. Later, Judas was so stricken with guilt and remorse that he threw the money away and went out and committed suicide. Sadly, he never even gave Jesus the chance to forgive him for his betrayal.

But what about Jesus’ other closest friends? All of them were with Him at the Last Supper there in the Upper Room. They were all there when they agreed with Simon Peter who proclaimed: “Even if everyone else forsakes you, I would never forsake you. I would go to prison, or even to death for you, Jesus!” They all said the same. Imprisonment...even death...nothing was too high a price to pay to remain faithful to their Best Friend of All.

We all know what happened. The Garden of Gethsemane was a place of agonizing prayer for Jesus, where He sweated great drops of blood because the Cross of Calvary lay before Him where He’d be forsaken by His Father. And yet not one of the disciples could stay awake for one hour to pray along with their Master and their Friend. When Judas came and brought the mob to arrest Jesus, all His friends had the opportunity of fulfilling their pledge... “go to prison...even to death...” But they all ran away.

Human friendships are so often like that. We might have the best intentions of being the best of friends. Of remaining steadfast, loyal and true. But when the going gets tough, when our friend is facing opposition and mocking and deadly danger, so often our good intentions are not enough and our courage takes a holiday.

But the ultimate friendship failure is modeled for us in the denials of Simon Peter. Peter was one of Jesus’ inner circle of three. Peter, James and John were three of the first ones Jesus called to follow Him there by the Sea of Galilee. Peter and John actually "followed at a distance" as the mob dragged Jesus to the home of the high priest that awful night. Someone in the priest’s home knew John by sight and allowed him admittance, and John spoke on Peter’s behalf so that Peter could enter the courtyard and see what would happen to Jesus.

Of course, if Peter had wanted to be pointed out as one of Jesus’ followers, he wouldn’t have “followed at a distance.” He would have been at his Master’s side during the trial. But he wanted to conceal the fact that he had been with Jesus. And when some of the other people in the courtyard began to recognize Peter, this is when his pledge of friendship was put to the ultimate test. Have you ever made friends with an unpopular person? Or has a close friend ever become unpopular and you were faced with the choice of affirming or denying your friendship? This was Peter’s predicament.

When Jesus began His ministry, His popularity began to grow and grow. People were excited by this new prophet who could do miracles, heal people and feed thousands by multiplying a young lad’s lunch. During such times of high popularity it was fun and thrilling to be a close friend of Jesus of Nazareth!

Now, however, friendship wasn’t fun and exciting anymore. It was demanding. It was dangerous. To remain a friend of Jesus could be highly costly and even deadly. Perhaps Peter was recalling Jesus’ words: “If any man would follow after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross, and follow me...If anyone confesses me before men, I will confess him before my Father; but if anyone denies me before men, I will also deny him before my Father in Heaven.”

Peter’s friendship failed him that day. Just as Jesus had predicted in the Upper Room, Peter denied three times that he was Jesus’ friend and disciple. He denied that he’d even heard of Him. Jesus also predicted that this denial would take place “before the rooster crows.” And as Peter heard the voice of that crowing bird, his gaze just happened to meet the eyes of Jesus Himself as the Master glanced out into the courtyard. What a moment that must have been!

How lost Peter must have felt! “I’ve denied Him just as He said I would! I’m a traitor! I’m a wretched sinner! I’ll never be forgiven for this! It’s all over!” Peter went out of the courtyard and broke down and wept bitterly. When was the last time you or I wept bitter tears over our sins? For every time we sin against God or other people, we are betraying our Lord Jesus, who died on the cross in our place to pay for all our sins. To save us from our sins and give us the power to say “no” to sin in the future.

So was Jesus’ friendship with Peter coming to an end? Was there indeed no hope, as Peter feared? What does Jesus, the Friend of sinners, do with fallen disciples--friends who let Him down and give in to the pressure that bids us deny Him? You and I are so often tempted to sin against this best of Friends. Is there hope for you and me?

First of all, there IS hope, because Jesus PRAYS for His friends. In the Upper Room He told Peter, “Simon, Satan has asked to sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you. When you are restored, strengthen your brethren.” And in His prayer to the Father later that night He thanked Him that He would “lose none of those you have given to Me.”

Second, there is hope, because Jesus INCLUDES His fallen friends. After His resurrection, the angel at the empty tomb instructed the women who beheld them: “Tell the disciples...and Peter that I will see them in Galilee.” Jesus made sure that as soon as possible after His victory over death and sin, even the most unworthy of His friends would know they had not been excluded in His atonement for sin or in His plans for the future!

Third, there is hope, because Jesus VISITS His fallen friends. Paul tells us that Christ’s personal post-resurrection appearances included a separate personal visit to “Cephas”--the Aramaic translation of the name Peter. Apparently, it was at this one-on-one meeting that Jesus heard Peter’s personal confession and Peter received Jesus’ blessing of total forgiveness for his denials.

Fourth, there is hope, because Jesus RESTORES His fallen friends. After strengthening Peter’s faith after the resurrection, the Lord met with seven of His friends by the Sea of Galilee where He served them breakfast. It was here that He challenged Peter with His three-fold questioning: “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” And not once, not twice, but three times, Peter replies, “Yes, Lord, I love you.” “Feed my sheep,” Jesus told him, letting Peter know that their friendship was far from over. In fact, it was just beginning. And Peter would become one of the Lord’s greatest church leaders and evangelists.

Jesus is still the sinner’s ultimate Friend. He came to give His life for those who hated and despised Him. Those who denied and betrayed Him. And to those who simply trust Him to save them, He grants full forgiveness and eternal life and friendship with Him and the Heavenly Father. And our Jesus PRAYS for His friends. He INCLUDES them in His plans. He VISITS them in His Word and by His Spirit. And He RESTORES them when they fall.

If you are feeling lost and alone today, feeling like a failure...like you have let God down and could never be forgiven...DON'T be like Judas and give up to despair. Run to Jesus, the BEST FRIEND a fallen sinner could ever have. Trust Him to welcome you, pray for you, include, visit and restore you. "None who come to Me," Jesus says, "will I ever cast out."

MNA
9/11/16

All for Good

“For your own good,” I hear them say--
those who inflict some discipline
designed to make me shy away
from what, to them, is a grievous sin.

I smart and sting, and rue the rod
that wrangles my unbridled flesh,
for in my heart an impish god
usurps the throne...invades the creche.

He tells me I deserve so much:
more than strict Providence allots,
goods that I’m not allowed to touch,
daydreams of myriad have-nots.

He praises me with siren hymns
and deftly sweeps my faults aside
while, in my soul, a candle dims
from lack of air sucked up by pride.

Still, there is yet a pesky thorn
that keeps my candle-conscience lit,
a stubborn sin that makes me mourn
and even cry to Heav’n a bit...

Again, my image makes me cringe
should in the mirror it appear--
my secret folly, just a tinge
of which could freeze my heart with fear.

If any knew, if it became
a cause for public scrutiny...
can someone truly “die of shame”?
then that dread someone would be me.

But, faith clings to a living Hope,
an active Agency above
who rescues from sin’s fearful slope
and answers shame with gracious love.

Hope called me once, it calls me now,
It ever calls to trust His word:
sweet promises from One whose vow
even the dead to life have stirred!

“I work out all things for the good
of all the loved ones in My care.
Even the bad deeds no one would
imagine, My great plan can bear!

“I’ll use that secret, stubborn sin
to humble you, to cure your pride...
to plant compassion deep within,
so you can spread it far and wide.

“Yes, I am angry when you sin,
but it’s a Father’s anger now...
By grace my Son has brought you in,
and royal sonship, I endow.

“So come for cleansing kind and free!
Delight in My laws as you should!
For you are now at peace with Me...
and I work ALL THINGS for your good.”

MNA
8-2-2016

Power People

Kings used to dream of autonomy
and grasp at power like swords from stones.

Now, rulers creep beneath
moth-eaten veils of freedom,
trembling at the feet of
super-men who drink their power
out of cardboard containers.

Bucks blithely traded to the stars,
borrowed from the treasure of tomorrow,
would-be royals play their world away,
reckoning yesterday’s rules will reward them.


MNA 5/5/2016

The Watchful "What If...?"

It’s hard to believe my dad has been gone now for six years. He slipped and fell on an icy parking lot on his way to the evening service at his church, striking his head. About ten days later, the Lord called him home.

There are many precious things I remember about my father. He was a sweet, gentle, strong, kind, dedicated man. He loved God, his family, his church, community and country. And he displayed those loves via his continual acts of service.

One of the key elements in my dad’s life, in my opinion, was his watchfulness. Perhaps partly because of his training and experience as a U.S. Marine and a New York State Trooper, Dad had a good, instinctive grasp of both the positive and negative sides of human nature. He seemed to make friends easily, but he was never naïve in a Pollyanna sort of way. He picked up signals from people that revealed their character, and never seemed rattled when their hidden faults or virtues manifested themselves. Hardly anything ever took him by surprise.

Whether I’m aware of it or not, watchfulness is a very important part of my life. And this quality is one of the hallmarks of effective fatherhood.

When a man first ventures into the territory of fatherhood, he might be unaware of the dangers and responsibilities he’ll be expected to face. But all too soon, the reality will become clear that there are people, influences, forces, and even governments, that are poised to make their marks upon that dad’s family. And most of them won’t hesitate to use every nasty, deceitful, seductive trick in the book to press their assault.

Unfortunately, we live in an age where this kind of watchful awareness is routinely scoffed at or minimized in people’s minds. The idea that evil forces must be assumed, identified, resisted and fought against is largely relegated to a bygone age. We are told by most that the biggest problems we must encounter are things like low self-esteem, religious fanaticism, playground bullying, and who uses which restroom. Discussing things like evil, sin and worldliness is uncomfortable to most people and is simply not done.

But, like it or not, God commands me to be watchful. The Bible continually harps on this.

Even back in the Garden of Eden, when the Lord warned His children not to eat from the forbidden tree, lest they die, the implicit warning was there: “Watch out! You may be tempted to eat from this tree. Don’t do it--you’ll die if you do!” When the subtle serpent slithered into their lives and promised them godlike knowledge if only they’d disobey God, Adam and Eve should have been ready for the old liar. They’d been duly warned. They should have been watchful!

Ever since the Fall of mankind into sin, God has been warning us...encouraging watchfulness and caution. He told Cain when the older brother was angry that Abel was honored (and Cain wasn’t) “Watch out! Sin is crouching at your door; it wants to have you, but you must master it.” Ancient Israel was repeatedly warned never to forget God’s commands and His mighty acts of deliverance, lest they falter in their trust in Him and seek after other gods.

Giving gentle, serious warnings to His children is something God is particularly good at. His warnings, as well as His promises, are woven into the entire fabric of His age-long plan of redemption. His great heart of love longs for each of us to heed those warnings and cling to those promises. How I respond to them will determine whether the course of my life leads me into a path of blessing...or cursing.

The Bible generally warns against three sources of evil I must watch out for. The World, the Flesh, and the Devil.

The Book of Job, considered by many to be the oldest book contained in the Bible, begins with a glowing description of the title character. Job is described as a righteous, pious, wealthy, respected man who knew the blessing of God in an abundant way, and responded to God’s special treatment by way of a careful, diligent watchfulness.

Whenever one of his ten children would give a feast, inviting the others to attend and join the celebration, Job’s practice was to bring them all together after the party ended. Then he would sacrifice burnt offerings to God for each of them, just because of the possibility that one of them had sinned in his or her heart during the course of that feast!

Now, you and I might feel that this practice borders on the neurotic or the overly extravagant...but whether or not it does, I think we would agree that it proves the sincerity of Job’s faith, not only in God, but in the reality of spiritual evil and how dangerous that evil can be. To Father Job, the World was not just dangerous on a physical plain. The Flesh, to him, was capable of being enflamed by a harmless party into something offensive to God. And the Devil was an enemy worth fighting against with a stern and costly zeal.

Job was said to be “the greatest man in the East” of his day. And a mark of that greatness was the fact that he could, and often did, ask the question, “What if...?” And he asked this because he believed in the harsh reality of evil and the vulnerability of the human soul.

“What if one of my beloved children had a bit too much wine at that last feast, then cursed God in her heart? What if my son has been led astray by a companion into some shady business venture? What if my foreman has been mistreating some of my servants? What if...?” Those kinds of questions needn’t be seen as fanatical or morbidly neurotic. Rather, they can reveal the heart of one who “hungers and thirsts after righteousness.” One who takes God’s warnings seriously to “watch and pray, lest you fall into temptation.”

If I am serious about my relationship with Jesus Christ, that means I will be serious about my growth in Christ-likeness...in true holiness. I’m happy to say I have more than one or two people in my life who care enough about my soul to be watchful over me.

Hopefully, watchfulness will come to characterize my own life more and more. Because there are people whose eternal souls I deeply care about...and this world is a dangerous place for eternal souls.

(1115 words)

American Lament III

Eye phone is the new oracle;
it mystifies with its imaginariness
and words that fly from thumbs
through the thoughtless void.

Finally, computers truly are personal
and man’s wisdom can be grasped
in a woman’s left hand while
she multi-tasks her way to the grave
at the wheel of her smart hybrid.

I’m reluctant to call this progress,
for robotic humanity may be closing in
on that permanent mental state
where all one does is talk to oneself.

MNA
May 2016

Mercy...Who Needs It?

(a message based on Matthew 18:21-35)

In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, everything was “very good”... including people. There was no strife, no sadness, no sin. And therefore, there was no need for mercy or forgiveness. Nothing had happened yet that required a just punishment, and therefore, no one had to decide whether or not to give out mercy instead of justice.

For that is what mercy is: rather than demanding what somebody owes you, according to justice, a merciful person chooses to give that person a break. To at least be patient. Maybe even forgive the debt completely, the way the king in Jesus’ story chose to do. The king showed mercy to a man who owed him a huge debt he could never have paid back. Why? Jesus said it was “out of pity for him.” The king felt compassion for the man and his family, and so he showed mercy by forgiving the debt.

In the beginning, back in the Garden of Eden, what did Adam and Eve owe to God? In a word, EVERYTHING: Life and breath, health and food, water and shelter, beauty and purpose, the glory of knowing and serving and sweet fellowship with God. All they could ever become and all they would ever wish for. All God asked for in return was for them to trust and obey Him. He didn’t expect them to “pay him back” for His kindnesses, for that was a debt they never could have repaid!

The first servant in Jesus’ story owed the king ten thousand talents. One estimate of just ONE talent of money places the amount at what a typical worker would earn in twenty YEARS. So if we do the math, and assume that the servant really intended to pay the king back what he owed...he would have had to work for at least two hundred THOUSAND years to do it! Obviously, Jesus wanted to make a serious point here, by choosing a ridiculously large amount for the debt the servant owed. He wanted to show that any plan he had to pay the king back was totally hopeless.

When Adam and Eve chose to disobey God’s command not to eat the forbidden fruit from the forbidden tree, they believed the serpent’s lie. He told them “You shall not surely die.” God had made it plain that disobedience would bring death. “In the day you eat of it,” God told them, “you shall surely die.” And, being a just and holy God who always keeps His word, His justice demanded that Adam and Eve should be put to death. Because of their disobedience, the guilty couple owed God their very lives!

But, just like the kind, compassionate king in Jesus' parable, God took pity on Adam and Eve, and on all their descendants. Even though they had to leave Paradise and suffer in a fallen world, and eventually die physically, God showed them mercy by promising a path to victory over the devil and a Savior who would one day pay off the debt of their sin. Actually, this promise was given to the serpent. God told him, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed. He will crush your head, and you will bruise his heel.” This was the first declaration that the Savior of the world would come, namely Jesus Christ.

Well, Jesus eventually did come. And He had been teaching His disciples about how we should treat those who sin against us. He told them they should be willing to forgive and receive back a brother or sister who is willing to admit their fault and turn from their sin. Peter, who was often the spokesman for the disciples, came to Jesus with a question. How many times were they expected to forgive the same person, presumably for the same kind of offense? Is there a numerical LIMIT for one’s willingness to forgive, after which justice has been delayed long enough?

We shouldn’t be too hard on Peter for asking this. All of us have been sinned against by others. All of us have seen sinful people getting away without being punished, and have felt angry and indignant about it. After all, each of us is made in the image of our Creator, who loves justice and righteousness. We long for a just world where everyone is treated fairly and all the wrong things are made right. Jesus even said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.”

Jesus answered Peter’s question, telling the disciples--and us--that “seven times” is far too small a number! “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times!” (Or, seventy times seven). In other words, the demands of mercy far outweigh the requirements of justice. At that point, Jesus tells his story of the unforgiving servant. He wants His followers to know who it is that really has the right to administer true justice, and the merciful way He has of dealing with all His servants.

Like the servant and his family were to the king in the parable, all our lives are in the hands of God, who can deal with us in any way He pleases. He alone has the right to sell us, use us, cause us to live or to be ill or well, or even to die. We are His creatures and we belong to Him. The Psalmist says in Psalm 100, “We are His people, the sheep of His pasture.” It would certainly be a fearful thing if God were not so kind and gracious, so loving and faithful. What if He delighted in inflicting pain and agony and tragedy on all His creatures instead of supplying them with all they need to live and grow and thrive?

And yet, rather than thanking and praising our good Creator and King, how do we treat Him? Do we often forget to pray and thank Him? Do we often complain and forget how much we owe the Lord for all His blessings? I know I do. I constantly need to be reminded of the enormous debt I owe to Him. A debt of gratitude, of love, of worship, of obedience to His commandments. And every opportunity I lose to pay that debt, is one I can never get back. It is a debt that can never be repaid. Even in a thousand lifetimes.

But the hopeless servant was shown mercy by his king. “Out of pity for him,” the master forgave him the entire debt he could never have paid. What a burden was lifted from the servant’s shoulders in that one moment! He entered the king’s presence with the weight of the world on him, and left that throne room completely debt-free! He was a forgiven debtor, without a care in the world.

Sadly, though, that’s not the end of the story. Apparently, the king’s kindness to him had made little or no difference in the servant’s own wicked heart. All the man could think about after leaving the throne room, was finding his fellow servant to demand back what he himself was owed.

Let’s consider for a minute the depth of this kind of wickedness. If the king had NOT shown mercy to him, forgiving his own enormous debt, then the amount the other servant owed to him would have seemed next to nothing! In fact, compared to what he owed the king, it would have been just a drop in the ocean! And the money would have been the king’s anyway, even if the first servant did collect it.

But this wicked, ungrateful servant chose to insist on justice, rather than show mercy. Instead of being melted and molded by the generous king’s example, instead of having his own heart moved to feel pity and show compassion on others, instead of being instructed by the abundance of forgiveness he himself had received, this first servant had the second poor wretch thrown into prison. And when the other servants informed the king about it, the king was filled with anger!

Jesus is telling His servants that all of them NEED mercy, and day by day, year by year, all of us RECEIVE mercy from the generous hand of our kind Creator and King. Every time we sin, every minute we withhold from God the worship and glory and honor and obedience we owe to Him, we are piling up a mountain of debt we can never hope to pay. And yet, because of the grace of God, and the once-for-all sacrifice of His Son Jesus on the cross, our sin debt has been paid!

Do you believe this? Do I believe this? Truly believe that my mountain of debt before God has been paid and forgiven? To really accept and believe it, I need a changed heart. You need a changed heart. A heart that is clean and new and loves God and His ways. A heart that longs to show the same mercy and grace to others that I’ve received from my Master.

Adam and Eve’s children, all their descendants, have proven again and again that it is much easier to insist on “our rights” and demand justice from others, than to love mercy and walk humbly with our God. The first, unmerciful servant was handed over to the jailers because he failed to show his own Master’s mercy to a fellow servant. In that way, the king was making a clear statement: You are surely no true servant of mine!

A “good and faithful servant” of our Father’s kingdom will do what he sees his Father doing, acting as He acts, forgiving as He forgives, loving as He loves, and, as Jesus taught us, “doing unto others what we would have them do unto us.” Let us all be quick to show mercy and forgive, and leave justice in the hands of the Lord. Truly, an unforgiving heart...is an unforgivEN heart!

Jesus, God's Son, paid our unpayable debt so we'd be freed from sin's slavery, and out of gratitude, emulate God by showing mercy to others.

Have YOU trusted this merciful Savior, and turned from your sin to follow Him?