Opus 2015-43: A Not-Hole in My Life

I will not miss Brian or John.

But then I never watched or listened to them anyway.  And I am not assuming either one is really gone.  Brian’s only fault was he got caught at a bad time.  As I overheard a young man sweet-talking a young lady say, “Everyone is doing it.”  Think of all the liars that keep on prevaricating and speaking truth to power.  Think of the New York Times, the President, the IRS, global warming scientists, environmentalists and, well, the list is too long to try to be complete.

John is probably just holding out for more money.

So get a good book and a cup of coffee and get on with your life.

homo unius libri

Opus 2011-222, Christian Cliches: Why Me, Lord,? Part IV

Notice that earlier I said we have often brought calamity upon ourselves, not always, not even most of the time.  It is really easy for us to be arrogant towards those experiencing calamity.  We are happy to judge in cases like that.  There is an assumption built into the hearts of men that success and failure are tied to our personal worth and character.  Remember when Jesus said that it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into heaven.  The listeners were amazed.  Rich people were supposed to get the first ticket.  Remember when Jesus was asked why the man was born blind and the implication was sin in the lives of him or his parents.

(John 9:2 KJV)  And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?

I just realized it was the disciples asking this, not the Pharisees.  That is too close to home for the way we often think.  Have you ever had someone make the case for this in regard to autism or birth defects?  Jesus was having none of it.  His answer blows away that arrogance.

(John 9:3 KJV)  Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

I have some friends that lost a baby.  It died just before it was due.  They were devastated but they continued to trust and obey.  Another couple watched them as they went through the tragedy and today that second couple is walking with the Lord because of the way in which my friends dealt with their tragedy.

Look at this well known verse.

(Romans 8:28 KJV)  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

This does not say that we rejoice in tragedy.  It does not say we should seek failure.  It does not say all things are good.  What it promises is that God can take any ugliness that touches us and sanctify it so that good results.

Consider this reminder:

(2 Corinthians 1:3-4 KJV)  Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

The tribulation that God helps us through prepares us to be spiritual medicine for others going through deep water.

I could go on.  We are not taken out of the world.  We live in a fallen creation with all of the kinks and cracks that effect it.  We will be the butt end of life’s jokes.  But we get to deliver the punch line.

(2 Corinthians 4:8-9 KJV)  We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;

I don’t want calamity in my life.  I hope to avoid tragedy.  I don’t like pain and suffering.  But I have the promise of a God who will see me through.

To be continued...

homo unius libri

Opus 2011-214, Christian Cliches: Why Me, Lord?, Part I

I was recently working through I Kings because the church we were visiting for a few weeks was featuring a sermon series based in that book.  When I do this I read, record my thoughts and responses and create my own personal commentary on the book.  Over the years I have built up quite a few files.  I love word processors.  I hope I am never so poor that I can’t afford a working computer.

I was reading in Chapter 8 of I Kings and I realized I was reading a list of reasons for calamity.  At first I thought it started in verse 33,

(1 Kings 8:33 KJV)  When thy people Israel be smitten down before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee, and shall turn again to thee, and confess thy name, and pray, and make supplication unto thee in this house:

As I followed the reasoning down to verse 40, I found quite a list of problems that individuals and nations face in our world.  Verse 33 dealt with defeat in war.  Verse 35 mentioned drought.  Verse 37 had quite a list:

(1 Kings 8:37 KJV)  If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, blasting, mildew, locust, or if there be caterpiller; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities; whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be;

I looked at the list again and realized in actually began in verse 31 where it talks about sinning against your neighbor.

We see a pattern:  Sin, calamity, repentance, restoration.

I remember studying Israel in Sunday School.  One of the patterns we saw was exactly this.  God would move in a mighty way.  The people would rejoice.  Life would be good.  They would become complacent and turn their backs on God.  Tragedy would occur.  They would repent.  God would move in a mighty way....  The pattern was so clear I always wondered why they could not see it.

The pattern is there in our modern world too.  Wars, famine, neighbor turning on neighbor.  We read about it or hear about it every day.  What is the cause?  Why can’t we see it?

To be continued...

homo unius libri

Opus 2011-123, Alistair Begg: Dealing with Grief

I was listening to an Alistair Begg sermon on a podcast.  He talked about the burden he carried for his family after his mother died.  He related the moment he knelt and cast all his cares on Jesus.  We all know about that kind of experience.  We also know that the pain doesn’t disappear and we still struggle.  This is where Begg’s words became really helpful.  He said he had to learn a 60 second a minute discipline of not taking that burden back.  That is the part we overlook.

Being more than intelligent animals we have greater struggles than our pets.  I remember when my father died.  I did okay but I could not stop those unexpected moments of grief that would come on me.  They would be triggered by unexpected events.  The heaviness would descend.  This is where the “60 second a minute discipline” comes in.  We need to work at not picking up burdens we have put down.  That may involve a repeated letting go until the new habit is ingrained in our being. 

May your life be full of blessings.  We know however that death happens.  Illness strikes.  Banks fail.  But God is faithful 60 seconds a minute. 

homo unius libri