We Only Bow to God

 

Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care.

—Psalm 95:6-7

When a person enters the presence of a monarch, he or she shows respect and allegiance by kneeling. It is a sign of yielding one’s own will to the will of the monarch. That’s why, in the turmoil of our present culture, kneeling causes such concern for those of us who belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the only one before whom we feel the urge to kneel.

Kneeling in submission has very powerful implications. When people kneel as part of a so-called peaceful protest, they indicate their submission to whatever group is leading that protest. A commitment to justice for all humans and a desire to see that all humans be given an equal opportunity to lift themselves up in society does not require submission to some secular authority who has become a self-appointed representative of those who believe they are oppressed. Rather, instead of kneeling to show our obedience to such an authority, we need to rise up and speak up for those who are oppressed. We need to do everything we can to promote equal opportunity, while recognizing that the provision of an equal opportunity will not necessarily result in equal achievement. Please allow me to illustrate my point:

Many years ago, when I was part of the group who examined candidates for employment who would fill the position of fire protection engineer at the insurance company where I worked, I was very disappointed to hear older men speak disparagingly of the very few female candidates who applied for the position. Those men expressed an opinion that was clearly biased. They asserted that a woman simply could not perform the tasks associated with the job. I strongly disagreed and began to champion the hiring of women as fire protection engineers.

Now, you must understand that these female candidates had met every qualification. They had earned degrees in fire protection engineering, or in a related field of engineering, from respected colleges and universities. They had shown that they clearly understood the rigorous parts of the job responsibilities. They displayed the kinds of personalities who could stand up to the rough treatment they might receive when inspecting the factories that our insurance company serviced. In every way, they had shown they had the knowledge, skills, and temperament to do the job for which they were applying.

To my great delight, almost every single woman that we hired for the position of fire protection engineer greatly exceeded expectations. Not only did they perform the job tasks with professionalism and excellence, they soon rose through the ranks of the company to hold ever greater levels of responsibility.

Today, an increasing number of women are entering the field of fire protection engineering. And, those women are enthusiastically hired for their skills and training. That I had a very small part in that transition from an all-male endeavor to one now open to every qualified candidate, regardless of gender, gives me joy.

We did not have to change any qualifications of the job to recruit qualified women. The women we hired had already gained the education, knowledge, and training they needed. All we had to do was set aside the long-held prejudice against women in that profession and welcome these qualified candidates into the job force. We did not need to physically kneel before some self-appointed leader of a movement. We simply had to make a completely rational decision to accept the reality that qualified women could perform the tasks associated with the profession.

As followers of Jesus, we need to reserve our kneeling for the one true God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—who is the only One who truly deserves the humble subjection of our foolish human will to His divine, perfect, and holy will. To do otherwise besmirches the reality that God is the only One worthy of our subjection. We bow our knees to God and to Him alone.

 

_{Copyright © 2020 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Bad Seeds

 

The acts of the flesh are obvious: … hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

—Galatians 5:19-21

Sometimes, hatred and negativity seem to prosper within certain families. It’s almost as if seeds of hatred and negativity have been passed down from grandparents to parents to children. Have generations past sown seeds of disharmony and discord in us that flare up to cause breaks in our relationships with family and friends?

If so, we need to embrace the new life God gives us in and through the Lord Jesus Christ.

As the Apostle Paul reminded us in 2 Corinthians 5:17:

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

If we have acknowledged that the Jesus Christ is our Savior and Lord, we must embrace our new life. We must put aside our hurts and grudges. We must say “No!” to the discord that has separated us from friends and family.

Instead, we must let the love of Christ flow out from us to touch the lives of everyone who crosses our pathway.

Let’s turn our backs on those seeds of negativity that were sown in us so many generations ago. We must embrace our new life in Christ. We will never change what we continue to tolerate.

 

_{Copyright © 2020 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Does Your Walk Match Your Talk?

 

Be very careful, then, how you live— not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.

—Ephesians 5:15-17

Does your daily walk match your talk? Here’s a cautionary tale to consider:

As Ted battled rush hour traffic, the light turned yellow just in front of him, as he drove cautiously in his blue minivan. He did the right thing, stopping at the white line before the crosswalk, even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection. A tailgating woman braked sharply behind him. She was furious, as she honked her horn and screamed in frustration at missing her chance to get through the intersection. In her anger, she dropped her cell phone and the makeup she had been so carefully applying while trying to rush down the busy street.

As she was still in mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a very serious police officer. The officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands up. He handcuffed her, placed her in the back of his patrol car, and took her to the police station where she was searched by a female officer, fingerprinted, photographed, and placed in a holding cell.

After a couple of hours, a policewoman approached the cell and opened the door. The incarcerated woman was escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer was waiting with her personal effects.

He said, “I’m very sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping off the guy in front of you, and cussing a blue streak at him. I noticed the “What Would Jesus Do’ decal on your rear window, the ‘Choose Life’license plate holder, the ‘Follow Me to Sunday School’ bumper sticker, and the chrome-plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk, so naturally I assumed you had stolen the car.”

Certainly something to think about. Here’s an expansion on the Scripture passage quoted at the beginning of this blog post to give you a bit more of the context of Paul’s message to the church at Ephesus from Ephesians 5:8-20:

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. This is why it is said: “Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let’s determine to be careful how we live—so that our walk with fully match our talk.

 

_{Copyright © 2020 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Like a Refreshing Spring Rain

 

You heavens above, rain down righteousness; let the clouds shower it down. Let the earth open wide, let salvation spring up, let righteousness grow with it; I, the Lord, have created it.

—Isaiah 45:8

Restore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may return; renew our days as of old.

—Lamentations&nbap;5:21

Nothing rejuvenates living things as much as a cool, refreshing spring rain. That’s why those who write about revival often use rain as an image for the renewing that takes place when God sends His Holy Spirit to refresh the hearts of those He loves.

As a teenager in the 1960s, we would often close our Wednesday night prayer meetings by singing a little gospel chorus written by Daniel Iverson. Here are the words:

Spirit of the living God,
    Fall afresh on me.
Spirit of the living God,
    Fall afresh on me.
Break me, melt me,
    mold me, fill me.
Spirit of the living God,
    Fall afresh on me.

The sweet solemnity of twenty to thirty young people kneeling in a circle softly singing this song still touches me after all these years have passed. Even more so, the desire in my heart for a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit to bring a sweeping revival to our land has only deepened with the passing years. I long for revival more today than ever before.

When I use the word “revival,” I am talking about a “coming to life again.”—an awakening, a rejuvination, a new beginning, an enlivening.

The longing for revival comes from the heart of someone who observes the weakness of our current Evangelical Christian culture. Great power in sharing the gospel has long ago diminished. Deeply rooted spiritual formation seems more like something I might read about in a history book than experience in a modern Evangelical church. A burning passion for sharing what Christ has done to redeem those He loves, coupled with a heart-wrenching burden for the lost—the people who do not yet know what Christ has done for them—seems like something from a long ago time in the past.

I long for a fresh, vital, drenching outpouring of God’s mercy, love, and grace. I long for a renewal of the Spirit of God within my life. Even more, I long for my fellow believers to experience what it means to become solely concerned about Kingdom matters—the work that God wants us to accomplish in His behalf here on this earth, right now, in this present time.

So, I pray earnestly and fervently that God will give us a fresh falling of the Holy Spirit to revive us, to renew us, to set our hearts on fire for the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and to fill our hearts with His God-breathed love for those around us who need to come to a life-transforming relationship with Jesus.

In case you do not know this little gospel chorus, please let me share it with you through this video.

So, how does revival begin? The great 19th century evangelist, Charles Finney, once took a stick and drew a large circle on the ground. Then, he stepped into the middle of that circle and prayed, “Lord, be pleased to revive everyone inside this circle.” That’s how revival begins. It begins by asking God to revive each one of us as individuals. Then, we can join together and pray for that great, sweeping revival to flow across our nation and even around the world.

Would you be willing to join with me in this prayer?

Thank You, God, for loving us. Thank You for sending Jesus to be our Savior. Thank You for sending us Your Holy Spirit to dwell within us.

O God, we long for revival. We long for the spring rain of Your Holy Spirit, drenching us in body, mind, and spirit. We long to experience the coming to life again that revival provides. We long to become people whose hearts are ablaze for the cause of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In Your great mercy, grace, and love, be pleased to hear our prayer and renew a right spirit within us. Turn our cold, lifeless hearts into passionate vessels of Your love and grace. Let Your mercy flow into us, through us, and out of us to touch a sick and dying world. Help us to bring Your healing to everyone who crosses our pathway.

We thank You for your constant faithfulness. And, we thank You for hearing our prayer in and through the precious Name of Your Son, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

 

_{Copyright © 2020 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

As We Begin the Day

 

Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray. In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.

—Psalm 5:2-3

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.

—Mark 1:35

I have written a blog about this general subject before. But I believe that certain subjects bear visiting again from time to time.

Bishop Ralph Spaulding Cushman (1879-1960) wrote over 25 books on evangelism, stewardship, and prayer. He faithfully served seven congregations until becoming a denominational executive for the latter part of his earthly ministry. One of his most famous poems appears immediately below:

I met God in the morning
when the day was at its best,
And His Presence came like sunrise,
Like a glory in my breast.

All day long the Presence lingered,
All day long He stayed with me,
And we sailed in perfect calmness
O’er a very troubled sea.

Other ships were blown and battered,
Other ships were sore distressed,
But the winds that seemed to drive them,
Brought to me a peace and rest.

Then I thought of other mornings,
With a keen remorse of mind,
When I too had loosed the moorings,
With the presence left behind.

So, I think I know the secret,
Learned from many a troubled way:
You must seek Him in the morning
If you want Him through the day!

There’s something very special about setting aside time at the beginning of each new day to meet with God. We “listen” to Him by reading His Word—the Bible. We talk with Him in prayer. This time together at the beginning of the day becomes an important and very precious few moments.

In the Lord’s Prayer we begin by acknowledging that God is our Father. He has chosen to adopt us into His Eternal Kingdom. As beleivers in the Lord Jesus Christ we are no longer mere creatures that He has created, but we have become children. As children, chosen by God before the foundation of the earth to belong to Him, we have the rights and privileges of children. We come into God’s presence as His children and we rightly may call Him “Father.” Not only do we call Him “Father,” but we acknowledge that He is. He is not someone who once was. Rather, He currently exists in all His power and glory. And, He waits to welcome us.

You know we really don’t understand this. We don’t get it. The God of the Universe, the One who spoke a word and all creation came into being, has chosen us as His children. And, He waits to welcome us to come and sit with Him and talk with Him.

Prayer is a fundamental, cohesive, and powerful component of our relationship with God. He is not only willing to have us talk with Him, He welcomes it. He expects it. He longs for it. He waits for it. He waits for us. He wants us to come and sit with Him a while and talk with Him. We have the authority of no one less than the Son of God, Himself, telling us to come into the Father’s Presence and sit a while.

I encourage you to seek God each day. As Bishop Cushman suggests, meeting God first thing in the morning will set you on the right path for the day that stretches ahead.

I would also encourage you to meet with God at the end of your day. Talk to Him about what’s happened during the hours that stretched between your time with Him in the morning and these moments as your day comes to a close. He cares about you. He wants to know what you’re feeling, hoping, wishing, and dreaming. He wants to know the things that trouble you and the things that bring you joy.

So, start now. Don’t put it off. Plan now to meet with God as a new day dawns. You will be very glad you did.

 

_{Copyright © 2020 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Attributing Worth

 

The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.

—Psalm 28:7

One of our greatest joys, as followers of Jesus, is the daily opportunity we have to thank God for His divine Presence in our lives through the in-dwelling Holy Spirit. In fact, worshipping God—that is, attributing worth to God for who He is—should fill our hearts and minds with enormous peace. Nothing can make our world explode with light more rapidly than taking time to acknowledge the attributes that God has revealed to us about Himself in His precious written Word.

The poet Edward Estlin “E. E.” Cummings led a very controversial life. Sadly, especially in the cultural climate of our day, many of his poems would spark a riotous mob to burn down buildings. However, in the midst of a life that would make many shudder, he did write some amazing poems, including the one reproduced below.

i thank You God for most this amazing
day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday; this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any--lifted from the no
of all nothing—human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

In this related video, renowned composer Eric Whitacre, conducts the Netherlands choral group “VU Kamerkoor” in singing his composition based on the above poem. Please watch this video.

 

_{Copyright © 2020 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Two Questions

 

Then he took them with him and they withdrew by themselves to a town called Bethsaida, but the crowds learned about it and followed him. He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing.

—Luke 9:10-11

Question No. 1:

What kind of church do you attend? I’m not talking about the architecture, or the denomination, or the version of the Bible in the pew rack, or the hymnbook the congregation uses, or the size of the projection screens. I’m asking you what central purpose does your church espouse? What kind of church do you attend?

Some churches seem to have developed the intentional flavor of a well-meaning social club. Lots of like-minded people gathering together from time to time in order to catch up on the latest gossip. Along the way they may sing some songs or hymns, read some Scripture—or maybe some poetry from another source—and listen to a (hopefully) quick few words from the “main man” or “main woman.”

Other churches have adopted a pattern set by the Lord Jesus Christ in the Scripture passage at the beginning of this blog post. Because healing drew people’s attention to the benefit of a relationship with the Savior, they see their church as a place for healing. Here’s how one church states this goal:

Our Church—A Place for Healing Among the distinctives that will, over time, come to define our church, inform our missional approach to the ministry of the church, and help us reach out to our community, we want our church to become a place for healing. As the Holy Spirit leads us, we want to become a place where wounded people can bring the heartaches and disappointments of their daily lives and find healing within a community of believers through the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. We recognize that every person has some difficulties through which he or she must pass in this life. Many times such people feel they must conceal their struggles. But, hiding our hurts does not allow us to heal. Denying that we have difficulties in our lives only makes it harder to find healing and true God-given peace. If we speak honestly, each one of us at our church knows, first hand, what it is to experience the hurt, pain, and ache deep within our souls when the circumstances of life turn against us. Sometimes these hurts may seem minor, petty, or insignificant. But, we serve a Savior who understands every difficulty and knows that sometimes the smallest bump in the road of life can become an impediment to spiritual growth. If you, or friends you may know, are looking for a safe place where the ordinary and extraordinary troubles of daily life can be dealt with compassionately and with sincere understanding, we invite you to come and join with us. Together, we can support each other and find the healing that only Christ can give us. Together, we can become whole again and move forward with our lives. Together, we can experience the joy of being a part of a loving, caring community of believers.

Whatever the flavor of your church—hopefully more intentionally spiritual than the first one I described above—I believe the church must be a place for healing. I agree with the statement of the second church. I believe a church should be a place for healing. Please let me explain.

A church, any church, must not begin without purpose, nor without mission, nor without a great deal of thought and prayer. After spending time earnestly seeking God’s leading, those who formulate the foundation of a church must make certain the endeavor serves as a means to meet certain well-defined goals.

For example, if I were starting a new church, I would set forth four goals that would meet the needs of displaced people—displaced by society, displaced by their family, displaced by their friends, or even displaced by a former church. These four goals would include the following:

1. To provide a safe place for people to gather for worship who have become displaced, for whatever reason, from the normal group with whom they identify.
   
   
2. To provide a place for healing.
   
   The events that led up to the displacement of so many families and individuals from whatever group with which they normally identify have likely inflicted different kinds of wounds in various individuals. The church leadership must recognize that each person will need a safe place where he or she can learn to recognize the nature of his or her particular hurt, and also learn how to express his or her particular hurt in a healthy way that would allow the Holy Spirit to begin a healing process in each one’s individual life.
   
   
3. To provide a place where the healing process can become actualized by a new pathway of spiritual formation.
   
   The groups from which people have become displaced may not have afforded them the privilege, nor the opportunity, to systematically experience a deliberate process of spiritual formation. If that group from which they have become displaced was another church, the new church leadership may discover a people who were quite ignorant of key truths from God’s written Word and did not even have a solid grasp of the very theology that informed the foundations of their previous church.
   
   Seldom did any sermon they heard in their years at their former church ever require any specific response from the people. Seldom did casual conversations dwell on the things of the Lord. Some individuals who may have developed their own rich personal devotional lives—and who may have come to that former church from other church backgrounds—did seem to possess the kind of heart knowledge that could form the foundation for developing a church that would serve as a proper expression of God’s Kingdom here on earth. But, these people were too few to move the “behemoth” of their former church—especially if it was one with a large church roll and significantly smaller church attendance—forward on behalf of the Kingdom.
   
   In the midst of the pain inflicted by the displacement, perhaps God may have provided this event as an opportunity to gather a remnant who could heal together, learn together, and grow spiritually mature together in a way that would enable them to minister effectively in bringing the Gospel to a very, very needy community.
   
   
4. To provide a safe place for people to exercise their spiritual gifts, and thus preserve a sense of ministry that would promote healing from the horrific treatment they received from their “brothers and sisters” at their previous church.
   
   Such people often have significant skills that God has clearly given them, first and foremost, as spiritual gifts. Each of them has taken those spiritual gifts and explored what talents God may also have given them to enhance the effectiveness of those spiritual gifts. Each of them has then proceeded along a pathway of education and training to hone those spiritual gifts and talents by developing them into crucial skills that will enable them to put their spiritual gifts to use on behalf of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Kingdom.
   
   By providing these folks with an opportunity to continue to use their spiritual gifts, while they make their way through a pathway of healing, the new church can accelerate the healing process and also confirm in them God’s continued hand on their lives and ministry.

Every person experiences hurts and difficulties in making his or her way along the road of life! No one is immune. The only difference is how individuals process those hurts.

For example, many, many people hide their hurts, pretend they don’t exist, “buck it up,” or in some other way deny the hurts that they have experienced. Others subjugate their hurts into activities to keep them from having to deal honestly and openly with what they are feeling. Others seek secular professional help. Others turn to drugs, alcohol, illicit sex, or some other harmful activity that will hide their pain from themselves. Still others seek some secular group where they can find a mutual caring—at least on the surface—to provide some level of healing. Such groups include all the 12-Step programs, but also include social clubs and other similar organizations.

A few people find a community of genuinely loving believers in the Lord Jesus Christ who have deliberately provided a safe place where people can heal. The pathway to healing is one provided by the Holy Spirit through the proclamation of God’s written Word, the development of rock-solid spiritual formation, and the expression of deep, abiding, God-breathed (agape) love.

A church can choose to embrace these four very specific and “deliberately missional” goals. “Deliberately missional” because, until a hurting people begin to heal, they cannot begin to have an impact in spreading the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to others in need. However, by providing a safe place for hurting people to heal, a church does, in fact, create the very venue for reaching hurting people through the demonstration of God-breathed love at work in the hearts of individual believers and in the heart of the entire congregation.

If the members of your church are not allowed to heal, all throughout the future life of your church the un-healed hurts will pop up to provide barriers to effective ministry. Show me a church that is ineffective and I will show you a people who need genuine healing. We all know at least one such church.

I assert to you that a process of healing is essential for every person. An environment fueled by God’s love is essential for any lasting and effective healing. Only within the church—the body of Christ—can the expression of God’s love provide the safe place that every person needs to heal.

Whether you determine to focus the ministry of your church on the displaced people at local rescue mission or the displaced people who reside in the mansions along the avenues in the affluent part of your community, providing a conscious, continual, deliberate, safe place for healing does, in fact, make a church “missional.”

Question No. 2:

I began by asking you a question: “What kind of church do you attend?” I conclude by asking you another question: “How do others perceive your church?”

To give you something to think about before you answer my second question, I invite you to please view this video. It attempts to illustrate what a Starbucks would look like if it was marketed like most Evangelical churches.

 

_{Copyright © 2020 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

My Fondest Desire

 

You heavens above, rain down righteousness; let the clouds shower it down. Let the earth open wide, let salvation spring up, let righteousness grow with it; I, the Lord, have created it.

—Isaiah 45:8

As a new normal for the United States begins to take shape, more than anything else, what would you like to see happen? Interesting question, isn’t it?

How about you? More than anything else, what would you like to see happen, as this new normal takes hold? What’s your greatest desire? What do want most? What do you long to see happen? What springs up from deep within you as something you would really give everything to see happen?

It’s easy for me to answer that question. More than anything, my fondest desire would be to see a great revival sweep across this land: from sea to sea, from the north to the south, from the tip of Maine to the farthest island of Hawaii. I long to see the Holy Spirit move across our land and bring conviction of sin, sincere repentance of sin, an overwhelming commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ, and a complete resurgence of newness of life for the Church.

Revival means “a coming to life again.” Having read countless books that recall past great movements of God in our own nation and in other parts of the world, I desire to experience a fresh breath from God blowing across our land. Some writers have likened such a movement of God as a fresh spring rain that brings new life into the seemingly dead ground of winter.

This Gospel song from the late 1800s expresses the longing that I feel today.

There Shall Be Showers Of Blessing
Words written by Daniel W. Whittle in 1883 andMusic written by James MacGranahan

There shall be showers of blessing:
This is the promise of love;
There shall be seasons refreshing,
Sent from the Savior above.

Refrain:
Showers of blessing,
Showers of blessing we need:
Mercy drops round us are falling,
But for the showers we plead.

There shall be showers of blessing,
Precious reviving again;
Over the hills and the valleys,
Sound of abundance of rain.

Refrain:
Showers of blessing,
Showers of blessing we need:
Mercy drops round us are falling,
But for the showers we plead.

There shall be showers of blessing;
Send them upon us, O Lord;
Grant to us now a refreshing,
Come, and now honor Thy Word.

Refrain:
Showers of blessing,
Showers of blessing we need:
Mercy drops round us are falling,
But for the showers we plead.

There shall be showers of blessing:
Oh, that today they might fall,
Now as to God we’re confessing,
Now as on Jesus we call!

Refrain:
Showers of blessing,
Showers of blessing we need:
Mercy drops round us are falling,
But for the showers we plead.

There shall be showers of blessing,
If we but trust and obey;
There shall be seasons refreshing,
If we let God have His way.

Refrain:
Showers of blessing,
Showers of blessing we need:
Mercy drops round us are falling,
But for the showers we plead.

 

_{Copyright © 2020 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

The Source of Peace

 

You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord, is the Rock eternal.

—Isaiah 26:3-4

As a small boy, I would often hear my mother hum a very winsome tune as she worked around our home. The melodic line of this song had an ethereal quality that always made me have a sense of well-being. One day I asked her what that tune was. She told me that the tune came from a song based on the Scripture text at the beginning of this blog post.

The original version of this song used the language style of the King James Version of the Bible. The first stanza and the tune were written by Vivian A. Kretz. The second and third stanzas were written by Floyd Hawkins. Here is the text of the song:

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on Thee.
When the shadows come and darkness falls,
He giveth inward peace.

O, He is the only perfect resting place,
He giveth perfect peace.
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on Thee.

In the shadow of the mighty Rock
I lay me down to sleep;
He who watches over Israel
So faithfully will keep.

O, He is the only perfect resting place,
He giveth perfect peace.
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on Thee.

’Tis the promise of the Holy One;
“My peace I give to thee.”
Tho’ the storms of life in fury rage,
Thy Refuge sure is He.

O, He is the only perfect resting place,
He giveth perfect peace.
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on Thee.

And, here is a video version of this lovely song, sung by Martha Reed Garvin:

Today, if your heart is heavy with a weight of care, I urge you to turn to God through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will lift the burden of your care and give you His inward peace. If you look for the evidence of His loving care in your life, you will surely find it.

 

_{Copyright © 2020 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

I'm Sorry!

 

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place. Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

—Psalm 51:1-12

When you make a mistake, do you willingly say, “I’m sorry”? Please let me illustrate my question:

I vividly remember an incident from my first grade year at the Sixth Ward Elementary School in my hometown. The teacher, Miss Bradley, had set up six easels with four large glass jars of paint at each easel. The four jars contained, respectively, red, yellow, blue, and green paint. The easels held large sheets of newsprint.

Miss Bradley had placed the easels perpendicular to and against the row of steam radiators along the wide expanse of windows that overlooked South Kendall Avenue. Six at a time, the students took their turns at the easels. I’ve long ago forgotten what assignment Miss Bradley gave us. But, at the end of the day, she noticed that someone, who had worked at the fourth easel from the end, had splattered paint all over the radiator next to that easel.

“Who made this mess?” Miss Bradley demanded in a stern voice. “Come on!” she sputtered with anger. “Who made this mess?”

Sheepishly and trembling from fright, I raised my hand.

“Come over here and clean up this mess!” Miss Bradley ordered.

I walked over to where she held a damp rag. I took the rag from her hand and began to wipe the paint off the radiators. As I did so, I began to cry quietly.

“Why are you crying?” Miss Bradley asked sharply. “First graders don’t cry! I think you should go back to Kindergarten!”

The next thing I knew, Miss Bradley was escorting me down the hall and down the stairs to the basement Kindergarten room.

“This student belongs in Kindergarten,” Miss Bradley told the Kindergarten teacher. “He hasn’t learned yet that first graders don’t cry!”

I spent the rest of the afternoon sitting in the corner of the Kindergarten room. At the end of the day, Miss Bradley came to collect me. She had already dismissed the other children. As we walked back into the first grade classroom, Miss Bradley ordered, “Sit!”

“Now,” she began, “why were you crying?”

“I didn’t know whether or not I made the mess.” I explained. “I did work at that easel. But, I don’t know whether or not I spilled the paint on the radiator. I don’t remember doing it. I suppose it could have been me.”

“Then, why did you raise your hand?” Miss Bradley asked, a slight softness creeping into her voice.

“I worked at the easel. So, I suppose I could have done it. None of the other children were admitting they did it. I guess I thought if no one else took credit, it must have been me.”

“Well, in the future,” Miss Bradley instructed, “don’t be so quick to admit you’ve done something wrong unless you know for sure.”

I tell you this story, from over 67 years ago, because I’m not so certain that Miss Bradley had it right. I’m not sure we should resist admitting we’ve done something wrong. In fact, I’m quite certain we should rather be very quick to admit whenever we might have made a mistake.

In the Scripture passage at the beginning of this blog post, the Prophet Nathan has confronted King David with the sin that David had committed with Bathsheba, the wife of David’s faithful warrior, Uriah. This Psalm characterizes David’s response to Nathan’s call for a confession.

We can learn from David. Once he understood the sin he had committed, he obediently asked God to forgive him. In fact, David shows us a pattern that we should follow whenever we become aware of sin in our own lives: confession, repentance, restitution (if possible), and restoration.

Examine your own life. Have you sinned against God or against one of your fellow human beings? If so, ask God to forgive you. And, ask the one you have sinned against to forgive you. You must do so in order to keep your account clear. Do not let pride, or arrogance, or any other human trait keep you from quickly acknowledging your sin through confession. Then, repent of that sin—turn your back on the sin and walk in the other direction. Next, seek to provide restitution for the wrong you have done. Lastly, receive the warm welcome of restoration to fellowship with God and with the one you have harmed.

Be slow to sin and quick to confess. That’s an excellent watchword to follow in your life. Don’t let the “Miss Bradleys” of your pride or arrogance keep you from settling your account with God and with your brothers and sisters in Christ.

 

_{Copyright © 2020 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Waiting

 

I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.

—Psalm 27:13-14

Do you have something you hope will happen in your life for which you have waited a long, long time? I ask, because most people yearn for an answer to some great need, the realization of some great hope, or the fulfillment of some great dream for which they have waited an extended period of time.

Maybe you have suffered with a long-term health problem. Perhaps you have a son or daughter who seems to have strayed far away from the principles you lovingly taught him or her during the early childhood years. Possibly you have always wanted to gain success or recognition or a promotion for your hard work and faithful service.

Whatever your particular need, hope, or dream, as you look back over the days, weeks, months, or even years, it just seems to you that you’ve waited a long time for something satisfactory to happen. It’s possible that you’ve even fervently prayed every day and asked God to intervene in your behalf. But sometimes, it seems as if He has stopped listening to your entreaties.

If what I’ve described applies in your life, let me offer you a word of encouragement from none other than King David. If you carefully read the Scripture passage at the beginning of this blog post, you will hear King David’s voice speaking words of encouragement to himself. That’s right! David talks to himself in this Psalm. He has known great blessing in his life. But, David has also known periods of almost unbelievable persecution and despair.

Fortunately, King David—the one known as “A man after God’s own heart”—has learned that the greatest comfort and assurance he can obtain comes directly from the very God he so ardently serves. When David speaks words like these, and he does this quite often throughout the Psalms attributed to him, he reminds himself of the faithfulness and goodness of God. David knows that whatever God may plan to do in his behalf, it will prove very much worth the wait.

So, dear one, I encourage you to follow David’s example and wait for the Lord. I promise you, on the very authority of God’s written Word, that He will not disappoint you.

 

_{Copyright © 2020 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Worth Remembering

 

Pay attention and listen to the sayings of the wise; apply your heart to what I teach, for it is pleasing when you keep them in your heart and have all of them ready on your lips;

—Proverbs 22:17-19

Do you take notes during the sermon in church? No, I didn’t ask if you wrote notes to the person sitting next to you while you’re supposed to be listening to the sermon. I asked if you take notes during the sermon preached as a part of the church service you attend? Well, do you?

When I was a teenager, back in the early 1960s, we had two outward signs of the depth of our new-found “spirituality”: every day in school, we carried our bright red Youth for Christ Bibles on top of our school books and we always, and I mean always, took notes during the sermon in church.

Now this may seem very foreign to you. In fact, you may well be one of the countless thousands, if not tens of thousands, of believers who attend church each week and never bring your own Bible to church with you. Instead, you gladly use the Bible provided in the pew rack in front of you, or in the book rack beneath your chair. You may reason:

“Why bother to carry my own Bible when I can easily use the one provided?”

I applaud your economy regarding what you carry with you to church. But, I could never do it. I have to have my own Bible. Why? Well, it has all my notes in it. Notes I have taken with great care over almost seven decades of sermon listening.

You see, old habits die hard. Having learned as a kid that taking notes helps focus my attention on what the preacher says in his or her sermon, I simply can’t discard the practice.

But, in the last twenty-five years or so, I’ve come up with a new note-taking procedure. I now take notes after the service. That’s right. About two o’clock on a Sunday afternoon, I spend a few moments jotting down the answer to five questions about the morning’s sermon.

1. Subject?
2. Response?
3. How-To?
4. How Long?

And, then, just for good measure, I ask one more question:

5. Key Sentence?

Let me explain a bit. A few hours after hearing a sermon, I ask myself this first question:

What subject did the preacher preach about today?

Let me be clear. I’m not asking, “What Bible text did he or she preach about?” No. I’m asking what subject, topic, main thrust the preacher spoke about in his or her sermon today.

I then ask myself this second question:

“What response did the preacher ask me to make as a result of hearing his or her sermon?”

In other words, what did the preacher suggest that I am supposed to do in response to the subject he or she preached about today?

I next ask myself this third question:

What suggestions did the preacher give me as to how to respond to his or her sermon?

Having already asked, in Question No. 2, what response the preacher was asking me to make, I now ask what concrete suggestions the preacher gave me as to how I am to respond to the sermon. The second question asks: “What response should I make?” The third question asks: “How do I respond?” This third question is looking for some tried and true suggestions.

For example: if the subject of the sermon was “Showing God’s love to others,” did the pastor give me some concrete steps to take in the week ahead that would prompt me to show love to others. You might call these instructions the “How-Tos.”

For my fourth question, I ask the following:

How long did the preacher suggest it might take before I begin to see results from following his or her advice in today’s sermon?

In other words, as I reflect on the sermon that I heard in church this morning, I am asking myself if I do what the preacher suggested that I do, will I see immediate results? Will I see results in one week, one month, within a year? The answer to this question will help me know what to expect from my obedient response to the teaching I heard in today’s sermon.

Then, just for good measure, I ask this fifth question:

Can I write, in a single key sentence, the main thrust of today’s sermon?

Said another way, can I extract and put into a sentence what the preacher tried to teach me today? I believe that if I can create such a sentence, then I must have truly heard and understood what the preacher was trying to share with me.

You may wonder what difference my five questions may make to me. Well, I decided long ago that, if I’m going to spend time in church listening to someone share from God’s written Word, I had better remember what the preacher said. In order to remember, I have to have some “hooks” to hang that memory on during the week ahead. Without those “hooks,” I most likely won’t remember what he or she preached about.

You see, I realize that most pastors spend a great deal of time meditating on Scripture, praying, and then writing their sermons. They put a significant effort into crafting a sermon that will communicate the truth of God’s written Word. Since they have spent so much time in my behalf, it behooves me to make certain I listen carefully, understand, and then remember what the pastor said in his or her sermon.

The Psalmist wrote in Psalm 119:11:

I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.

Reading this verse makes it seem important that I remember God’s written Word and the teaching and preaching from God’s written Word.

Let me make a suggestion. A few hours after you have listened to the next sermon that you hear, take a few moments to see if you can answer those five questions. Let me review them for you:

1. Subject?
2. Response?
3. How-To?
4. How Long?
5. Key Sentence?

If you can answer these five questions, then you will have gone a long way toward remembering what your preacher preached about this weekend. If you can’t answer those questions, give serious thought as to whether you didn’t pay close enough attention to what your pastor said. Or, maybe—just maybe—he or she did not even share with you the answer to these five questions in his or her sermon.

If the latter seems to be the case—and if your pastor is open to some help and you can offer that help without embarrassing him or her—suggest that he or she pay a visit to the “Sermon-Coach Podcast” available by clicking here. By listening to this Podcast, your pastor will find help to create effective, life-transforming sermons that answer those five questions.

Whether you share this tip with your pastor or not, please keep asking the five questions each week. And, more importantly, as the end of the week draws near, please take some time to pray for your pastor. Ask God to give your pastor liberty in preaching the truth that God has laid on your pastor’s heart. That, my friend, is one of the very best things you can do to help your pastor help you.

 

_{Copyright © 2020 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Infinitely Valued

 

God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.

—Hebrews 6:10

“Why should I continue to go out of my way doing kind deeds for others? Nobody recognizes the sacrifice involved on my part. They just take what I do for granted!” declares one very frustrated child of God.

Ever feel that way? Or, how about this?

“Week after week, I go to choir practice and show up on Sunday morning to sing. Why I haven’t missed a rehearsal or service in over five years. That’s like 520 times I’ve arrived on time and ready to serve. I doubt if anyone would even miss me if I was gone.”

Or, perhaps you feel like this person:

“I guess I’m foolish to continue giving money the way I do. Because the business has done well, others ask for help as though I owed it to them. Why if I added up all I’ve given as a Christian during my lifetime, the total would stagger people. No, on second thought, it probably wouldn’t mean a thing to anybody, except me!”

Do any of these heart-cries resonate with you? Or perhaps, you have a situation where you’ve given service that is quite different than the ones used as examples in this blog post, but that situation evokes a heartbreaking sob within the depths of your being.

“Some of the best years of my life I gave to those people. But now that I’m older, they act as though I never existed. When I was younger, I think we respected age more than they do now-a-days. I guess I feel as though the contribution I made in my time should entitle me to at least a sense of dignity during these, my closing years.”

Or, if you’ve ever volunteered in Christian Education, maybe you will identify with this person’s lament:

“Because I do a good job teaching Sunday School, people just assume it comes easy for me. I wonder if they realize how many Saturday nights I’ve stayed up making sure my words would be clearly understood the next morning, or the numerous times my family has not gone somewhere on Saturdays to protect my lesson preparation, or the hours I’ve invested in prayer? But lately, I have a feeling the class is getting a lot more from me than I am from them, and their response makes me wonder if it’s really worth all the effort I put into it!”

Do you identify at all with the kind of things these dear folks are saying? Having invested a great deal in ministry of one kind or another, you’re now wondering if anyone even notices what you do.

Many years ago, in October of 1978, when I lived in a suburb of Hartford, Connecticut, I attended a banquet sponsored by the local Christian radio station, where I worked as the Saturday morning on-air host. The speaker for that event was Rev. Dr. David R. Mains, the host of a daily radio broadcast, The Chapel of the Air. That evening, Dr. Mains preached a sermon based on the passage of Scripture you will find at the beginning of this blog post. He gave example after example from Scripture of occasions when God reminded His people that He remained fully aware of all they did on His behalf.

I came away from that night greatly encouraged. I also came away from that night with the beginnings of a new friendship that, I am grateful to say, has continued over these intervening 42 years. In fact, for the three years prior to that night, I had faithfully prayed, asking God to please bring someone into my life who could serve as a trusted spiritual mentor for me. I had met many prominent Christian leaders through my work with various Evangelical organizations and especially through my work in radio broadcasting. But, I often found these individuals to have so many obvious flaws that I did not feel they could help me in my own spiritual formation.

That night in October of 1978, God answered my prayers. The more that I got to know Dr. Mains, the more I realized that he was a genuine individual who was totally sold out to God. Yes, like all humans, he was not perfect. But, his flaws were quite minor compared to my own, and compared with those of most religious leaders I had met. The genuineness of Dr. Mains’ commitment to Christ and His Kingdom was inspiring. Plus, Dr. Mains seemed willing to invest in me in a way that others had not been willing.

Over the intervening 42 years, I have learned much from Dr. Mains. Eleven years ago, in my retirement from a full-time career, Dr. Mains welcomed me to become a part of his ministry, where I continue to serve today. The genuiness that I detected 42 years ago has only strengthened, as I have observed Dr. Mains face many life challenges over the years. But, the first lesson I learned from him on that chilly October night in 1978 has remained as one of the most profound and life-enhancing truths.

During his sermon that long-ago night, Dr. Mains told this short story as an illustration for his sermon. This illustration certainly mirrored my own experience:

Twice now, I’ve read through J.R.R. Tolkien’s massive three-volume set, The Lord of the Rings. And, each time I’ve made it all right through the thousand-plus pages of excitement and adventure as little Frodo Baggins and his company perform superhuman exploits while saving Middle Earth from the dark cloud of the evil Lord Sauron. But, when Frodo returns home to the simple shire from which he came, and none of his fellow Hobbits appreciate, or are even aware of, his heroics, I have to confess, both times, tears came to my eyes as I tried to read.

“Frodo dropped quietly out of all the doings of the Shire, and Sam Gamgee was pained to notice how little honor his master had in his own country. Few people knew or wanted to know about his deeds and adventures,” writes Tolkien.

And, in those words, I’m afraid the author describes the experience of too many faithful, but unsung, Christian warriors.

So, dear friend, if you, like me, can identify with those who feel that no one even notices what they do for Christ and His Kingdom, I encourage you to join me in memorizing Hebrews 6:10:

God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.

By memorizing this verse, we will plant a seed in our minds and hearts that God, through the power of the Holy Spirit, can bring to our awareness whenever we’re tempted to feel unappreciated.

If I re-state in my own words what the writer of Hebrews has penned, it comes out like this: “Be reminded that God is aware of all your efforts on His behalf.” I hope those words will encourage you today, as much as they have encouraged me over the last 42 years.

 

_{Copyright © 2020 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

What's Inside?

 

Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness—the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.

—Colossians 1:24-29

I hear lots of talk about “hope” these days. I imagine that’s because it seems as if we live in somewhat hopeless times. Quite often, hope seems very elusive. It’s almost as if hope has become a great mystery.

In the Scripture passage at the beginning of this blog post, the Apostle Paul talks about “the glorious riches of this mystery.” I’ve noticed that Paul writes a lot about “mystery” in his letters to the fledgling churches of the first century A.D. In fact, one electronic search through the text of the New Testament discloses no less than 15 references to the word “mystery” in Paul’s letters.

Notice, in the passage above, that the Apostle makes a clear explanation of the particular “mystery” he writes about to the church at Colosse. He describes the mystery as “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” In other words, our hope of spending eternity with God rests on the Presence of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, dwelling within us by the power of the Holy Spirit. That means the source of our hope, which seems like a great mystery, really isn’t so mysterious after all.

Every once in a while, some filmmaker captures an idea more succinctly than a writer could present in pages and pages of prose. A friend sent me a link to this video. As I watched it, I thought, “Here’s an example of one such case, where an audio-visual image portrays the ‘hard-to-describe’ with great clarity.” Please click below to watch this video clip.

Pretty neat. Don’t you agree? So, what’s inside of you?

 

_{Copyright © 2020 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Comforting, as God Comforts Us

 

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.

—2 Corinthians 1:3-7

Does Louis Armstrong’s rendition of “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen’ resonate with you? Please watch this video clip and think about how you react to it.

Unless you are quite unusual, you’ve known some trouble in your life. Maybe you have suffered through the death of a spouse, or a child, or some other loved one. Maybe you have experienced a debilitating disease. Maybe your life’s partner has abandoned you for someone else. Maybe people you counted on and thought were your friends have turned their backs on you. Maybe you have seen your career tumble into shambles because someone at work decided to treat you unfairly. Maybe you have watched your financial security evaporate in a falling stock market, or a bad investment scheme of some kind. Maybe you’ve allowed some pattern of addiction to take you down.

I just don’t know what you have experienced in your life. But, I know this for sure: we’ve all had afflictions in our lives and we’ve had trials in our lives. For what purpose does God allow troubles to come into our lives? Have we ever considered that He may allow these trials in order to teach us that we can rely on His grace to see us through?

Even more startling, have we considered that God may allow difficulties in our lives so that we can receive His comfort and, thus, learn how to extend His comfort to others?

In the Scripture passage at the beginning of this blog post, it seems as if the Apostle Paul shares this very concept with the Christians at Corinth. He writes,

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.

Imagine that! When God comforts us in our trouble, He also teaches us how to extend His comfort to the people who cross the pathway of our lives and who need His comfort, too. This puts all kinds of difficulties into an entirely different perspective.

No one wants to have troubles assail his or her life. But, to experience the comfort from God, and to learn how to pass that comfort on to others, seems like something we should consider the next time we find some troubles busting into our lives.

 

_{Copyright © 2020 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Reconcile with Your Enemies

 

“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell. “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. “Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.”

—Matthew 5:21-26

“How does a believer handle a situation where he or she has become an adversary of another brother or sister in Christ?”

Mostly we ignore this question. It’s just too painful, or too embarrassing, or too annoying. And, most of us think this question doesn’t really apply to us.

But, hold on for a moment. Think about the span of your own life. How many enemies do you have?

“Now wait just a minute,” you may respond. “I don’t have any enemies! I get along with everybody!”

If you really believe that, you’re just kidding yourself. Everybody has enemies.

Oh, I will grant you that you may not choose to use a term as harsh as the word “enemy.” But, over the course of your life as a Christian, you have certainly had run-ins with particular other Christians. You may describe your relationship with them in terms like:

“I don’t really get along with ______________.”

Or, you may say:

“____________ does things I don’t particularly like, so I avoid (him or her).”

No matter how genteel your language, let’s face it, you have enemies. And, if you don’t acknowledge that you have enemies, I imagine that out there in the Christian world there exists at least one person who thinks of you as his or her enemy.

Now, I grant you that you may have taken a tact similar to the one I have held to tightly for many years. I assert, with some precision, that I have never chosen to make someone my enemy. In other words, I consciously choose to not hold enmity in my heart toward someone. I refuse to allow myselt to “hate” someone. I do so because I learned long ago that if I hold hatred in my heart toward someone, the only person who becomes damaged by that hatred is me.

However, I acknowledge that there are numerous people who have crossed the pathway of my life who—judged by the way that they talk about me to others, or treat me directly or indirectly—have apparently chosen to label me as their enemy. It was their choice, not mine. They have chosen to make me their enemy.

So, I declare again, no matter how genteel the language you may use when you talk about other people in your life, let’s face it, you have enemies—whether you have chosen to make them your enemies or not. And, if you don’t acknowledge that you have enemies, I imagine that out there in the Christian world there exists some people who think of you as their enemy.

No longer can the body of believers—the church—ignore the fact that virtually every person who claims to belong to Jesus has at least one person that he or she can label as an “enemy.” Instead, it’s time to choose to become obedient to what Jesus has instructed His followers to do when they find themselves at odds with fellow Christians.

In the Scripture passage at the beginning of this blog post, Jesus tells His disciples—in those marvelous three chapters that Bible scholars call “The Sermon on the Mount”—to always work toward reconciliation. Let me state that again, so you have no chance of misunderstanding my point: Jesus expects His followers to always work toward reconciliation. Please allow me to illustrate from a personal example:

Back in 2011, I sat on the sidelines watching the church I had attended for ten years destroy itself. I won’t presume to waste your time with a long recitation of what took place because I know that somewhere, in the sphere of your own world at one time or another, you are quite likely having—or have had—to deal with a similar, if not exact, issue in your life. Let me simply say that the seeds of a significant church split were planted, watered, and bloomed into a horrific disaster. The lives of hundreds of individuals were significantly damaged, especially the lives of the young people in the church. Only one process could have turned the tide: complete and absolute obedience to the instruction of Jesus to reconcile.

Now, most naturally, I have my own very strong opinion on what had brought about the conditions that led to this disaster. And, I take no comfort in the fact that, repeatedly over the three years prior to the split, I issued warnings of what would happen if no one took early and decisive action. Nevertheless, the solution for that situation, and for all similar disagreements within a church, remains: obedient reconciliation.

To effect reconciliation, both parties would have to have come humbly to the foot of the cross and lay every issue at Jesus’ feet. Individuals would have to have acknowledged and confessed their sins, asked for forgiveness, repented of their sins, provided restitution, and began the process of reconciliation.

While this did not happen in this particular case, I wonder if this will happen when other such situations arise? Frankly, I don’t know. Looking at the track record across the horizon of God’s people in most churches today, I would say that the chance for reconciliation seems slim. Fortunately, God remains the “God of the Great Surprise.” He has the power, through the intervention of the Holy Spirit, to bring about reconciliation. He, and He alone, can melt hardened hearts. He alone can convict of sin and promote forgiveness. He alone can move those who have sinned to make restitution. He alone can bring about reconciliation.

A very significant reason for church discipline is to promote reconciliation. That’s right. Church and denominational judicial processes do not exist to punish. To the contrary, they exist to bring parties together, expose all the hidden facts in a situation, help identify where some may have committed sins, and provide a structured forum for confession, forgiveness, repentance, restitution, and reconciliation. In the situation at that church where I attended, a judicial process began to move toward that end, but the leadership of the denomination ultimately did not have the courage and fortitude to see the process through to its proper conclusion.

Truthfully, it remains far better to head off such sinful disagreements by following the process that Jesus outlines in Matthew 18:15-17. Over the years that I have posted on this blog, I have written about these verses many times. In those blog posts, I have shared, in great detail, the importance of this far-too-often-neglected portion of Jesus’s teaching.

So, what about you? Do you have someone in your life with whom you need to begin the process of reconciliation? If so, please, do so. You will reap tremendous benefit in your own spiritual life if you do. And, most importantly, God will make it clear to you how very pleased He is with what you have chosen to do.

Just one more time, here’s the key sentence for this blog post: Jesus expects His followers to always work toward reconciliation.

 

_{Copyright © 2020 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

The Power of Hope

 

His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of a man; the Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.

—Psalm 147:10-11

In the midst of chaos on every side, one quality helps keep people on track. That quality? Hope!

If you peruse the pages of various professional journals devoted to Applied Psychology, you will find that, over the past decade or two, a new interest has arisen in what creates and sustains motivation. Quite a large number of studies have sought to ascertain the elements that will help individuals become motivated to complete defined tasks. The studies also examined the elements that will help sustain the motivation, so that people will actually succeed.

In virtually every study the quality of “hope” has emerged as one of the most important sustainers of motivation.

Think about the last time you started a project around your home or place of work. Maybe the task was one you had put off for some time. You dreaded even beginning this loathesome pursuit. But, you knew that you eventually had to complete the job. So, you decided, “Why put it off any longer?”

With no small amount of determination, you began the task. As you had suspected—based on your past experience with such matters—once begun, the task grew harder than you had wished. Soon, you felt mired in the work. You felt surrounded by nearly insurmountable barriers. You questioned your wisdom at ever starting. You wanted to quit. But, something grabbed you and kept you striving to complete the job at hand.

Perhaps that “something” that helped you sustain your motivation was “hope.”

Hope is often the light at the end of the tunnel that we can almost see. Hope is the recognition that we are making progress toward the goal of completing the job. Hope allows us to look backward for a moment and see how much progress we’ve made. Hope gives us the nudge of knowing that, if we stop, to get going again will take far more energy than the effort needed to complete the task, now.

Every day, in many ways, job after job, task after task, hope gently nudges us forward. Hope helps us sustain the motivation we need to do what has to be done. Yet, the question remains: “In what do you put your hope?”

For those who belong to God—that is, for believers in God through the resurrection power of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ—the Psalmist has given us a very clear statement of the source of our hope. In the Scripture passage at the beginning of this blog post, the ancient songwriter insists that:

“the Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.”

How wise, indeed. God’s love never fails.

All throughout Scripture, we read about the depth of God’s love for us. The most magnificent example of His love comes from His willingness to send His one and only Son to die on the cross of Calvary to pay the penalty for our sins. And, to raise Jesus from the dead that we may know we will spend eternity with Him.

God has clearly proven His love for us. He stands ready every moment of every day to have us put the entirety of our faith, trust, and hope in His unfailing, undying, matchless, magnificent, protective, and enduring love.

So, when we need hope to sustain our motivation, look to God’s love. He will, most assuredly, not disappoint us.

 

_{Copyright © 2020 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}