Don't Get Cheated!

 “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power (rule and authority).” Colossians 2:8-10

If you are like me, you really hate getting cheated. Maybe you read an advertisement offering a brand new detergent that promised to get your clothes cleaner than ever before. So you go to the store and pay more than you usually do to get this new, improved product, you take it home and try it out. Then, you find out that, not only doesn’t it get your wash any cleaner, it makes your skin break out in a rash when you wear your clothes! “I was robbed!” you might say. “I was cheated! This company promised something they couldn’t deliver!”

The Apostle Paul was writing a letter to a church he had never visited. The church in a small, unimportant town called Colosse. But when we read this letter today, it’s clear that Paul was greatly concerned about the Colossian church. His friend Epaphras came from Colosse, and he had brought Paul some disturbing news. There were some teachers in the town who were offering some ideas to the people that they said would improve their Christian lives.

Now, before I describe these ideas, I want to ask you: “Have you ever read a book or heard a speaker or watched a TV program that made some promises or claims to be able to improve your life with Jesus Christ? Maybe by using this or that special prayer? Or meditating on this or that scripture verse? Or studying this or that new doctrinal view? Doctrine is just another word for a teaching or a basis for belief, a matter of faith. And ever since the Lord Jesus came and walked the earth, various teachings have arisen about Him and His life and ministry. Some of these teachings are true, and some are questionable. Sadly, there are many doctrines being taught that are untrue.

Why was Paul eager to tell the Colossian Christians that the “fullness of the Godhead dwells” in Jesus Christ? And that those believers are “complete in Him,” that is, in Christ? It is because the ideas the new teachers were presenting--the so-called improvements to their Christian lives-- were “not according to Christ.” And because of that, they were unnecessary, untrue, and actually harmful.

Of course, Paul’s friendship with Epaphras had informed him of the teachings about Christ that had originally been shared with the Colossians. The gospel message that Jesus, God’s Son, had come into the world as the promised Savior long foretold by the Hebrew prophets. That He had traveled around the land of Israel teaching and performing miracles, proclaiming the good news of God’s kingdom to the people. And that this Jesus had been condemned by the Jewish leaders and handed over to the Romans to be put to death on the cross. After being in the tomb for three days, Jesus rose from death and appeared to hundreds of people alive again. Finally, He commissioned His followers to “go and make disciples from every nation.” Then He ascended to His Father’s throne in heaven, one day to return to earth in order to judge all of mankind and make all things new!

Learning about Jesus Christ, trusting Him for salvation from sin’s punishment, and following His teachings given through His apostles--these were originally all that the Colossians needed. Those who believed, trusted, and were devoted to Christ made up the Colossian church. But then, some new teachers had made their way into this fellowship of believers. They had originally claimed to be fellow Christians. But soon, they began spreading some strange new ideas.

Paul spends a lot of his letter writing about the sufficiency and completeness of Christ. This is a topic that needs to be emphasized in our own day. In the Colossian church, people began to wonder, “Is it truly enough to trust and follow Jesus, learn to obey Him, and seek to share this simple message with others? Is it not necessary to observe some of the old Jewish traditions like circumcision and special feast days and abstaining from certain foods and drinks? Perhaps the path to greater holiness means communicating with angelic beings and even worshiping them, or learning some mystical truths about the spirit world?”

Paul wrote in our passage that these newer ideas came from “philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.” Now, let’s be careful here. Not all philosophy is evil and deceptive. Not all traditions and basic principles are wrong or misleading. It is only when these things are designed to ADD something to the gospel and doctrine of God’s Word that they become deceitful and dangerous.

When the Lord Jesus came and began teaching the Jewish people of His day, they had many traditions and philosophies that were not based on the Scriptures God had given them. Jesus said that many of their beliefs were simply based on man’s own ideas and not on God’s Word. For example, it is one of the Ten Commandments that they were to “Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy.” Well in order to do that, the Jewish leaders called Pharisees had come up with hundreds of traditions like how many steps a person could walk on the Sabbath, or what kind of ailment it was permitted to heal on the Sabbath. They had made up so many rules that people no longer looked forward to that day as one of joyful rest, but one of dread and drudgery.

Jesus taught that the Sabbath was made for man’s benefit, not his bondage to a bunch of rules. Well, the religious leaders didn’t like that. They wanted to tie the people to their traditions because it gave them a sense of authority and prestige: “We are holier than you because we keep all of the Sabbath rules and you can’t be bothered to be as serious as we are!”

The new teachers in Colosse claimed that simple faith in Christ and His Word wasn’t enough to make believers acceptable in God’s sight. They wanted to add some suggestions or requirements to strengthen people’s acceptability before God. They taught that if a Christian is really serious about pleasing God, they would add on some disciplines that went above and beyond what God required of them.

But just think about it: If a sinner could please God by following some hard disciplines of abstinence or self-denial, then why did Jesus have to come and become our Savior? If you and I are required to suffer through a lot of man-made requirements to be acceptable to God, then why did the Father require His only begotten Son to suffer and die on the cross in our place? We sing the old hymn: “Jesus paid it ALL. ALL to Him I owe.” We were created by God, and therefore we owed Him all our love and trust and obedience. But none of us have paid that debt. In fact, we were born in sin and alienated from God in our hearts, minds and actions. Only Jesus Christ the Savior lived a perfect, sinless life. Only He kept God’s law fully and completely. Only Jesus.

Sin means more than hurting people, lying to people, cheating people, hating people. Sin is any thought, word, or deed that violates the perfect, holy law of our righteous Creator. Any of His commandments. God is the Supreme King of the Universe, the One who made every person and every thing there is. He is our Author, so He has all Authority. Including the authority to make and enforce His commands. We all have sinned--we’ve rebelled against our supreme Commander.

But God is so much more than a rule-maker. More than a king or a judge. God is first of all a Father. He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, a Trinity of Persons who have loved one another from all eternity, and who desired to share that love with a beloved, adopted household of children. The Apostle John wrote, “But as many as received Him (Christ), to them He gave the authority to become the sons of God, even to them who believe on His name.”

How do you and I receive Jesus? By believing on His name. By learning who this Jesus was and is, what He came to accomplish, and trusting that He did it all so that my sins could be forgiven and washed away. Jesus came to rescue sinners from their lives of sin, and from the punishment that their sins deserved. He bore the sins of His people while He hung there on the cruel cross. Because He took my guilt and my punishment, I am forgiven and freed from that death sentence. My acceptance by God the righteous Judge is guaranteed since Christ died in my place!

How audacious and ridiculous it is for philosophers and religious thinkers to even attempt to add something to what Christ has already accomplished for sinners like us to be made acceptable. Does such an attempt come from an over-active conscience that just can’t believe that salvation could be that simple? A mind that insists that there must be something a person has to contribute? Perhaps.

But Paul makes use of the word “deceit.” And he also warns his readers that they might be “cheated” by these foreign ideas. Those who cheat and deceive are out to deliberately make us believe what is not true. There are teachers who are merely mistaken in their doctrinal beliefs. But other teachers know full well what the Bible teaches about Christ, and yet they seek to lead believers in His simple gospel astray with teachings that “add” to or contradict God’s message.

The first one to use such tactics was Satan himself, that fallen angel who used the form of a serpent to perform a deception on Eve in the Garden of Eden. He began by questioning the word of God: “Has God said that you may not eat from any of the trees of the Garden?” Notice that this is, on its surface, a confusing question. Did Satan mean to ask if there were ANY trees that were forbidden? Or did he mean to suggest that God had forbidden ANY and ALL trees and their fruit? What is clear in his question is the point of God saying “you may not.” What Satan was hinting at was the idea of God’s authority and His fairness. The suggestion that a God who makes a rule that FORBIDS something is a God who unfairly LIMITS our freedom.

A deception usually begins with a subtle suggestion. The devil is sinuous. He INSINUATES that God is not the loving, kind, gracious Person He claims to be. The same insinuation is evident in the teaching of many religious thinkers. “The gospel seems so simple and so gracious. But there is still more for US to do to gain God’s ultimate approval.” In other words, “Jesus made a down payment...but He did not pay it ALL.”

Satan plants doubts in Eve’s mind about the authority and goodness of her Creator. Then he continues his deception by actually attacking God’s word. “You will not surely die if you eat the forbidden fruit,” he tells her. “You will be like God, knowing good and evil. Disobeying God’s command will make you truly FREE!” 

We know from studying the Bible that Satan was created by God as one of His chief angels. But at one point, this beautiful angel convinced himself that he deserved more than God had given him and created him to be. He was not content with his Master’s word and will. He wanted MORE. Because of his rebellion, many of the angels fell with him, and became God’s enemies.

Paul wrote to Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter 4 that “people will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and the doctrines of demons.” When he describes the teachers who teach such doctrines, he mentions that some of them forbid people from getting married and tell them to avoid certain foods that God has permitted to be eaten with thankfulness. The ideas that false, deceptive teachers use to lead their hearers astray, often involve forbidding something that God permits, in order to rise to a higher level of holiness. To them, the simple gospel of knowing and trusting Jesus Christ and obeying His word, is not SUFFICIENT. 

False teachers who get their ideas, not from God, but from Satan… not from Jesus and the Apostles, but from demons and their own human reasonings--these teachers are trying to sell you something that cannot deliver what they promise. They are trying to cheat and rob you. Like the Pharisees of Jesus’ day who added burdensome rules to their people to make them feel more righteous and holy, all it did was puff them up with pride (if they kept the rules) or fill them with guilt and steal their joy (if they failed to keep them). Either way, they were refusing to rely on God and trust His word, that His will was best for them.

How then, can we keep from being cheated by false teaching? By believing the gospel and trusting our Lord Jesus Christ. He came and lived a perfect, God-pleasing life here on planet earth, and He did so FOR US. We must admit that we are unable in ourselves to live a totally obedient life before God. Jesus offers to His followers His own perfect robe of righteousness. Once we confess our sinful state and trust our crucified, risen Christ to save us and come into our lives, we continue to trust Him to help us live the Christian life in the power of His Spirit.

Our righteousness before God is IN CHRIST. And our ability to live for God here on earth is also IN CHRIST. The more we know and love Jesus, the more we learn to trust Him, and the happier we are to obey Him. “Trust and Obey, for there’s no other way to be HAPPY in Jesus, but to Trust and Obey!”

Jesus truly did “pay it all.” If we remember all He’s done for us, and all He’s doing IN us, then we’ll never GET CHEATED!

MNA

10/30/2021

The Dutiful Art of Adulting

It probably will be futile to learn exactly when the word ADULT became a verb, as well as a noun and an adjective...but…

I have been reading various references to the newly discovered practice of “adulting” for quite a while now. Perhaps I’m late in the game in saying so, but what is now termed adulting bears a close resemblance to what used to be seen as simply “doing one’s duty.”

Now that I am officially a “senior citizen” in every conceivable age-wise sense, I may safely engage in that time-honored practice of bemoaning the newest generation of homo sapiens as having it “nowhere as hard as my generation had it.” Thanks in advance for bearing with me.

When I left the carefree days of home and hearth behind me and ventured to a far-off world of college life and what lay beyond, it was with a spirit of great anticipation as well as a certain degree of fear. But I guess what chiefly characterized my attitude was DETERMINATION. It was a deep desire to prove myself worthy and able to face the challenges that lay ahead, hopefully without begging for help from my parents.

Don’t get me wrong. I had a profound love for my mom and dad. So profound, in fact, that I longed for them to be proud of me--proud, primarily, that they had raised a son who was ready to take on the world by himself! I guess I had read enough rags-to-riches stories and watched enough films featuring two-fisted protagonists facing fearsome foes, that I wanted to prove myself tough enough to survive as a full-fledged adult as soon as possible.

Probably most of the credit for this determinism streak could be given to my upbringing, in which both parents were hard-working and committed, both to their family and their jobs, not to mention our church, where we were all involved. The ideas of honest sweat and serious effort were not so much taught as they were “caught” by observing and following mom and dad’s examples.

So, as the months and years went by at college, and then my engagement at twenty and my entry into marriage a year later, somewhere in there I had crossed--largely unnoticed--into the status of adulthood! And the older adults in my life gradually began to TREAT me as an adult, as I took on the various expected DUTIES that productive maturity entails.

Another key aspect of this transition is the understanding that 1: Things that are worthwhile and lasting in value are worth your strenuous effort and perseverance; and, 2: There is pleasure and a sense of proud accomplishment in reaching those goals.

I had a pretty clear idea of where I was headed in those early years, and although my wife and I had to make adjustments along the way, with counsel from others, lots of soul searching and prayer, and by the grace of God, we sought to do our best, in doing our duty. The path we came to follow was not arrow-straight, or always easy, but there were moments of solid commitment that helped us see things through.

And maybe that factor, COMMITMENT, is one that seems to be lacking in younger people that I observe in today’s world. Perhaps because there are so many more distractions and sources of amusement out there for them. Perhaps too many options to be “kept open” to settle on one path or the other. But, to me, committing to a single ideal and “going for it” no matter what, is the key to entering into true adulthood.

Because it is almost impossible to steer your vessel on the ocean of life, if it isn’t moving forward. Get going SOMEWHERE, and soon you’ll find that your adulthood--your duties--will find YOU!

MNA

10/10/2021

Facts Or Feelings?

During the long checkered history of humanity, most of us have learned that tolerance of varying points of view is generally a good, positive thing. The great American ideal of religious freedom and equal treatment under the law has permitted many brands of religious faith to flourish. The persecution of this or that sect or denomination by other groups, or by the government, has all but vanished from our culture.

However, only the very naive will insist that competition between religious viewpoints has ceased to exist. The fact that all religions (excepting those that promote the victimization of people) are equally tolerated in our land, has unfortunately led some to the mistaken notion that all religions are, therefore, equally valid in their truth claims.

To give an obvious example: One religion claims that its primary historical figure was not only a great teacher and prophet, but God incarnate, the second Person and Son of the true, triune Creator... 

...While a competing religion denies that this same man was divine, and insists that the Creator has no “Son.”

Such a contradiction makes it impossible for both viewpoints to be equally valid. No matter how the question is resolved, sadly, somebody is wrong. To be wrong need not be a terrible problem, so long as both adherents are willing to honestly examine the available evidence and possibly change their mind.

What makes it a terrifying problem is when somebody claims that whether someone is right or wrong makes no difference, but matters not at all! When people begin to say that contradictory truth claims can all be “right” depending on the whim of each claimant, that is when we have passed through the proverbial looking glass into a land of absurdity.

A land in which Jesus can be Lord and God in the world of person A, and not Lord and God in the world of person B. In the real world, the objective world of reality, either Jesus is who Christians believe Him to be, or He isn’t.

When it comes to spiritual things, there are far too many folks walking around feeling instead of thinking. People who are content to “feel” what must be true, instead of facing hard facts and reasoning things out. I might feel like it would be great if I could travel through time in a sports car a la Back to the Future. But reality makes such travel impossible. Imagination might create all kinds of alternate realities for us to pretend in. But objective reality is quite different.

I strongly suspect that many of these “feeling”-type folks live in their make-believe world where right or wrong beliefs don’t matter, simply because, for them, they genuinely don’t matter. They have come to the conclusion that objective spiritual/religious truth doesn’t exist, and that God the Creator, Redeemer and Judge might not exist either, so why sweat the details?

But the Bible clearly teaches that all people, regardless of how they feel, or what they think, will one day stand before their Maker and face ultimate judgment. According to this Book of books, Heaven and Hell are realities that one day will no longer be deniable.

To put it realistically, I am a sinner against a holy God who will one day have to “face the facts.” And according to His word, I will need a Savior on that day to plead my case. Do you have One to plead yours? Read His word and find Him now. 

Jesus Christ is the ultimate reality.

MNA

2/7/2021

What a Kingdom! What a King!

 

“The kingdoms of this world have become the Kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ. And He shall reign forever and ever!” 

I can’t really recite those immortal words without hearing the powerful choral strains of Handel’s Hallelujah chorus echoing in my brain. I suspect that the heavenly choir itself will be singing that masterpiece right up to and forever after the final consummation, resulting in “a new Heaven and a new Earth,” ushering in the blessed, eternal state.

The kingdom of God, of Heaven, of Christ Jesus our Lord, is far more than an incidental theme of holy scripture. Kingdom created, polluted, re-taken, restored, recreated--this is certainly the background theme that ties all of the varied subtexts of the Bible together. And in the New Testament Gospels and other apostolic accounts, the Lord’s kingdom takes center stage again and again as the King Himself steps onto the stage of earth’s history.

The Son of God had, like David of old, been anointed by His Father as the rightful King of kings and Lord of lords. Various Old Testament “Christophanies” such as the Commander of the Lord’s armies who faced off with Joshua, suggested that God the Son had visited the earth personally before His future incarnation. But Jesus’ conception and birth as a human child meant far more than just another “sightseeing” visit, only to return to His past glory. 

In becoming a man, God’s anointed King was stepping across a veritable Rubicon of space and time that would unite godhead with humanity in an indissoluble link--the Person of Jesus Christ. Saint Matthew’s genealogy traced the kingly line of David to its ultimate Potentate, the One who was to receive “all authority in heaven and earth.” The risen Christ had finished His life of active and passive obedience to the Father, which had secured our redemption from sin and death. And on the basis of His hard-fought victory, He gave the martial orders to His followers: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations... You shall be my witnesses.”

Back in the Garden of Eden, the original Man and Woman fell to the wiles of the devil, surrendering to him the power and authority over the earth that their Creator had meant to be ours. Ever since then, down through our tragic and sickening history, mankind has made a mess of this world, all in the name of pride, arrogance, sinful autonomy and evil desire. Greed, lust, laziness, violence, wrath, and all the other escapees from Pandora’s box, have plagued the hearts, minds and accomplishments of humanity. It seemed like God’s kingdom-dream had been a cruel joke, a pipe dream never to be realized.

But, as the long, intricate pages of the Bible reveal to us, for centuries the sovereign unseen hand of God was moving, predicting, presaging, preparing the stage for the promised “Seed of the woman” who was to crush the wily serpent’s ugly head!

The story of the Old Testament is a story about kings and kingdoms. Most of the kings portrayed were inadequate at best, and positively bestial at worst. Earthly kings comprised a “rogues gallery” of imperfect--in fact, rebellious--rascals and tyrants. They squandered and misused the power that Providence put into their hands. And the Lord God had no alternative but to punish them and the wayward people who followed their loathsome example. And to add insult to injury, He lashed their backs and their foolish pride with the whips of nations even more wicked than His own chosen people had become!

With infinite, sublime patience, Jehovah God was teaching them, and us, and the world, that Adam and Eve’s disobedience--their “declaration of independence” from their Creator, was not worth the price they and we would have to pay. Satan had decided that, for himself, it was “better to rule in hell, than to serve in heaven.” And Adam’s race had chosen to join that rebellion, turning our backs on the loving kingship of our kind heavenly Father. But God was not willing to “wash His hands” of our predicament and let us face eternal hell with the devilish dragon!

From all eternity, His anointed King was preparing to enter history as ONE of us. Armed with the “full armor of God” and filled with the Spirit. Resisting Satan’s temptations, casting out his minions from their human hosts, remaining strong in His times of pain and weakness, willing to pay the horrendous price of forsaken-ness and death on the cross.

“You shall be my witnesses,” the King told his followers. King Jesus calls us His witnesses still. Yes, I’m a citizen of the United States, and proud of it. But I’m enormously MORE glad to be a subject of a far BETTER nation--a KINGDOM that will never be shaken. It is a kingdom that is calling out to those in rebellion, those who are the King’s sworn enemies. It is a kingdom that offers peace, joy, love, mercy, forgiveness... and eternal life.

To enter this better kingdom costs a person nothing in the way of qualifications or payment. Jesus the King has supplied both the holiness we need, and the payment we could never afford.

On the other hand, entering God’s kingdom costs a person EVERYTHING. You must renounce and turn your back on your previous life of rebellion and self-sufficiency. You must willingly begin again, with Christ as your King. 

Believe me, you’ll find in Jesus not only a gracious Ruler and Protector, but your dearest Friend. Leave your past behind you, child of this world, and kneel before your true King.

MNA

11/14/2020

Obey the Call

He entered the human world 

    without the fertilization of a human father.
His birth was foretold by centuries-old prophecies 

    and angelic messengers.
He grew up among the poor and oppressed, 

    one day to challenge the rich and oppressors.
His powers healed and freed from demons, 

    His teaching lighted the spiritually blind.
He ruled over nature--even death!--with His word, 

    He resisted the very powers of hell.
His followers tried to crown Him their king, 

    His enemies’ attempts to smear Him all failed.
He claimed Heaven as His origin, God as His Father, 

    Himself as the only way to be saved.
His warnings threatened eternal torment, 

    His promises offered joys beyond hope or thought.
He told fallen women that faith had saved them, 

    He told pious men they must be re-born.
His fellow rabbis marveled yet resented His audacity, 

    kings and rulers feared His popularity.
He warned His disciples they must be ready to die, 

    and predicted his own death many times.
His entire life’s plan was to orchestrate His own sacrificial death 

    on a cross during Passover.
He entered Jerusalem as a King, cleansed its Temple as a Priest, 

    taught there as a Prophet.
His call rang out across and beyond the Holy Land, 

    so that even Gentiles were seeking Him.
He eluded arrest more than once, 

    then yielded to the mob after preparing His soul to die.
His trusted treasurer sold Him out, His best friend denied Him, 

    His closest followers fled.
He spoke the truth at His trial and it condemned Him, 

    His truth perplexed even Pontius Pilate.
His road to execution was pure torture, 

    His body and soul were bared and forsaken even by God.
He lived the only pure and perfect life ever lived, 

    so saintly and sinless even death released Him.
His agony on the cross bore the weight of man’s sin, 

    paying the debt we could never afford.
He came out of the tomb never to die again, 

    glorified by His Father, ready to take His Throne.
His disciples encountered Him numerous times after His death, 

    changing their lives forever.
He calls out still today by His followers, His word, His Spirit, 

    commanding repentance and faith.
His call is, “Come to Me. I am what you need. 

    I have what you need. Leave all else behind.”

Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus the Messiah, Jesus the Christ, Jesus Light of the World.

The greatest human being who ever lived was God Himself in human flesh. This God-man did nothing but good, spoke nothing but truth, offers nothing but the beauty of union with Him and His Father.

 
Jesus Christ is the worthiest human being in existence, now occupying the throne of the universe. He is also the most ignored, neglected, hated person in all creation. His followers must still be prepared to suffer, because in His own words, “Remember, they hated Me first.”

But the reason He came in the first place was to SAVE His Father’s enemies from their SIN. Our own human rebellion made this world a place of suffering. Right now, Christ is gathering a new humanity that will stand with Him against that rebellion until He comes back to make ALL things new!

Obey His call. Join with Jesus. Surrender, repent, believe, obey Him. 

The day He returns, my friend, it will be TOO LATE.

MNA
10/31/2020

Together Again!

 Once again, R.C. Sproul’s series on the life of Joseph has inspired some fresh insights in my heart and mind. Hope they are helpful to some of you out there in the “real world.”

His lesson this morning concerning the reunion of Joseph with his father Jacob reminded me of how precious the relationships in our lives remain even after they’ve been broken for a number of years. And how great the joy can be, and will be, one day when those broken relationships are healed, re-established or reunited.

As I think back over the years, so many people come to mind that I’ve shared cherished friendships with, or family closeness, but have since lost touch with either by death, or by distance, or even by disagreements that cannot be reconciled. Although I still have wonderful relationships with many friends and family members in the present, I can’t help but think of my departed Mom and Dad, for example, who always were there for me, cheering me on in my endeavors, my successes and defeats. The joy we shared together is all the more precious even as a fond memory after their death. And, like Jacob and Joseph, our reunion in Heaven will be a time of unspeakable ecstasy as well.

There are friends from my school days that were as close to me as family, but are gone as well, such as my pal David Wade, a fellow I witnessed to and prayed for constantly, but never knew whether or not the Lord saved him before he passed away. There is a couple that Linda and I got to know at one of the many churches I directed music for. They befriended us in an especially beautiful way, and especially appreciated the poems I shared with them. I don’t even recall their names, but they brought an abundance of joy and encouragement into my soul without even knowing it at the time.

Glen Rosenberger is another friend of immensely joyful memory who has passed on. He counseled Linda and me during a very challenging “rough patch” in the beginning phase of our marriage. I’ll never forget his useful metaphor of loving servanthood: being willing to be “the Lord’s donkey” rather than a heroic stallion! Glen poured his time and prayer so selflessly into our lives at that time, as did many other teachers and pastors down through the years!

I just recently got back in touch with a pastor’s wife we had a strong personal friendship with years ago while the children were little and our family was traveling around doing concerts. What a special joy it has been to share with her, now that her husband is in a nursing home facing some awesome challenges. It was so good to find out that their memories of Linda and me are equally precious to them!

Toward the end of the book of Genesis, when Joseph’s brothers return home and tell Jacob their father the good news that his favorite son still lives and is Prime Minister in Egypt, he first finds it hard to believe. He has spent several decades pining away and mourning the loss of Joseph, believing him to be the fatal victim of ravenous beasts. 

Finally, when their father chooses to believe their astonishing report, he exclaims: “It is enough. I will go down to Egypt and see Joseph before I die.” Like the old saint Simeon, who held the baby Jesus in the Jerusalem temple, father Jacob was faced with the fulfillment of a long lost hope: to somehow be reunited with Joseph after many years (and tears!) of separation. After nearing the very edge of despair, as if truly believing “everything is against me!”, this venerable patriarch was as “surprised by joy” as anyone in biblical history.

At their actual meeting down in Egypt, Joseph showed an equal level of joy at their reunion by falling on his father’s neck and he “wept on his neck a good while” (Genesis 46:29). Tears of joy will certainly flow that day when all the relationships we’ve cherished and lost are brought back together. Like the overjoyed father of the prodigal son, we will rejoice that lost, seemingly dead, relationships are “alive again!”

Treasuring and cherishing the people in our life ought to be near the top of our list of priorities. Filling those relationships with times of deep, lasting, truth-filled enjoyment, centered on our shared love for our Lord and Savior, will make our memories of one another worthwhile, even when distance, disagreement, or even death itself, comes between us.

And, then, Lord willing, “When we all get to Heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be!”

MNA

10/24/2020

PRIDE...KILLS...LOVE

Power, all authority, was there

Resting on the shoulders of the just.

In the Upper Room, so unaware,

Disciples lounged, their feet adorned with dust.

Every one preoccupied with self,

Keeping close the greatness self assumed,

Intimacy languished on the shelf.

Like a pet, egos were fondly groomed.

Love, however, made its presence plain

Softly, unobtrusively and low;

Leaving them to preen, He rose again.

Over to the basin stand to go.

Volunteering humbly, love complete,

Exemplifying grace, He washed their feet.

MNA

10/11/2020