“UNLIMITED CEILING”

Frank Lloyd Wright, speaking of the big gray Metropolitan Museum said, “Public rooms should be only about twelve feet high, so people will not feel insignificant.”
This seems to be the trend of our times.  Everything must be keyed and toned down to man’s understanding, lest he get an ‘inferiority complex’.  Books must be written in the language of the gutter, motion pictures must not appeal above a mental age of eleven years.  The height of inspiration must not exceed 12 feet, twice the measure of a tall man,  A person must not be expected to lift his eyes beyond double his own stature.  No person dares to be outstanding lest he make others feel inferior.

But, do you see what this limited ceiling, no matter where you set its limits, does for living?  It robs us of our struggle, our initiative, because it limits goals and challenges.  Avoid struggle and life becomes sterile and meaningless.  No person is ever greater than the difficulties he overcomes.  Great difficulties, great people. Small difficulties, small people. From struggle and conflict comes physical strength and mental and spiritual health.

Ulysses S. Grant was at one time nicknamed, ‘Useless’ Grant. A total failure at age 35.  He resigned his commission from the United States Army because of public intoxication. Ten years later, he was commander-in-chief of the Union Army with the faith and hope of millions centered on him.   Unconditional surrender of himself to the cause of the Union strengthened his inner self.
Abraham Lincoln at 45 years of age was a disappointed politician, so depressed that melancholy dripped from him as he walked and his close friends feared he might commit suicide. Then something happened, he became interested in the slavery question.  Lincoln who had been as inwardly divided as states of the Union, was now possessed by a cause greater than himself which pulled him together to become a powerful servant of God and all mankind.

Jesus taught, “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”   Matthew 10:39
When ever we lose our self to a greater cause than self, we will find success.  Successful living comes from within. In Christ, you have a power greater than your own.  You can master your world, not by what you can master, but by what masters you.  Permit Jesus to master you and His cause of righteousness to be your purpose for living. Let Him work in and through you to accomplish His will.

There is no limit as to what God can do with a person dedicated and consecrated to Him.

NEVER GROW OLD

Is it possible to “never grow old?”  Edward Tuck said this about age:  “Age is a quality of the mind.  If you have left your dreams behind, if hope is cold, if you no longer look ahead, if your ambition’s fires are dead, then you are old.  But if from life you take the best and if in life you keep the past, if love you hold, no matter how the years go by, no matter how the birthdays fly, you are not old.”  My favorite saying about age is:  “Age is a matter of the mind, if you don’t mind it doesn’t matter.”

When Jesus’ friend, Lazarus died, Jesus told his sisters,  “I am the resurrection and he life.   He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”  John 11:25  What a staggering  statement.  What an enormous claim. That’s what we want to believe.  It is what we need, LIFE now and forever more. Now Jesus is not talking about life in the ‘sweet by and by’ but about life in the nasty here and now. Eternal life, God’s kind of life begins when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior.  Meaningful, purposeful life is ours as we come alive in Christ.  He changes us inside out with newness of life. Isn’t that the teaching of Romans 6:4 “We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”  If that resurrection does not take place in the here and now, there is no promise for life with God in the hereafter.  Too much our faith is ‘pie in sky by and by’. Now I believe in ‘pie in the sky by and by’ but God’s blessing of Life is NOW.

Listen to God’s Word:  “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.” 
2 Corinthians 4:16   This scripture acknowledges that we grow older, that physically we are wasting away.  We know that these old bodies groan and wear out.
There is no renewable fountain of youth.  What I am concerned about is that we do not grow old, INWARDLY, SPIRITUALLY.  The real age is not chronological but spiritual.  Of course, we deteriorate physically.  All that happens to us in this world are temporary except for that which happens to the soul.

We can be overcomers of the hurts and heartaches of this world by fixing our eyes on the eternal.  The flesh bogs us down, limit us here in the body but it will not be forever.  WE MUST FOCUS ON ETERNITY.   Life is on down the road and the best, for the Christian, is yet to come.

“THE TOUCH OF THE MASTER’S HAND”

“The Touch of the  Master’s Hand”

‘Twas battered and scarred, and the auctioneer thought it scarcely worth his while
To waste much time on the old violin, but he held it up with a smile.

“What am I bidden, good folks?” he cried.  “Who’ll start the bidding for me?
A dollar, a dollar, now two, only two…Two dollars, and who’ll make it three?

Three dollars once, three dollars twice, Going for three” – but no.
From the room far back  a grey-haired man came forward and picked up the bow;

Then wiping the dust from the old violin, and tightening up all the strings.
He played a melody pure and sweet, as sweet as an angel sings.

The music ceased, and the auctioneer, with a voice that was quiet and low,
said; “What am I bid for the old violin?” and he held it up with the bow.

“A thousand dollars – and who’ll make it two? two thousand and who’ll make it three?
Three thousand once – three thousand twice – and going and gone.” said he.

The people cheered, but some of them cried, “We do not quite understand –
What changed its worth?”  And the man replied: “The touch of the master’s hand.”

And many a man with life out of tune, and battered and torn with sin,
Is auctioned cheap to a thoughtless crowd, much like the old violin.

A mess of pottage, a glass of wine, a game and he travels on.
He’s going once – and going twice, He’s going and almost gone.

But the Master comes, and the foolish crowd never can quite understand
The worth of a soul and the change that’s wrought by the touch of the Master’s hand.”

How in the world will the world ever know the love of God if they do not see it and feel it expressed to them though those of us who claim God’s love?
How in the world will the world ever know the forgiveness of God it they do not see it and feel it expressed to them through those of us who claim God’s forgiveness?
How will the world ever know what Life is all about if they do not see it and feel it as they see us live that Christ-like life?
The answer is scattering, the world can’t  know God and see Jesus unless they do through us.  What a responsibility is ours to show Christ. But what a privilege to live Christ’s kind of life, that is to be working at it.

None of us can do this unless Christ has touched our lives.  Touch people with concern, care, respect, acceptance, forgiveness, love – all in the name of Jesus.

 

“HUMBLING EXPERIENCE”

Being a Christian demands a humbling experience, by acknowledging who we are and who God is.  We yield, surrender to Him, doing whatever He asks just because of who He is that asks it.  How foolish to need healing and not go to a physician to be made well.  Even more ridiculous to go to the doctor, be told what to do and refuse to take the remedy.  These people cannot expect to be healthy so they live in their sickness.

Now what was it that brought about the healing of Naaman?  Read about it in 2 Kings the 5th chapter.  He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy.  When he was told that the prophet Elisha could heal him.  He went to Elisha’s house and inquired of the man of God.  A messenger was sent to him telling him what to do, Go wash yourself seven times in the Jordan and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed. But, Naaman was angry and thought there must be an easier way to be made whole then dipping seven times in the dirty river Jordan.  So, he left in a rage.  An unknown servant told Naaman how foolish his refusal was that he should wash and be cleansed.  So, Naaman went and dipped himself seven times in the river Jordan.  His flesh was restored.  Naaman was healed by his humble obedience.

What was it that made Saul of Tarsus a follower of Jesus?  It was the vision that blinded him on his way from Jerusalem to Damascus.  What must have gone through his mind in the darkness concerning what he had been doing to this Jesus whom he sincerely persecuted?  He realized how wrong he was and yielded his life to the Lord.  Paul summed it up when he said, “I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.”  Acts 26:19     Paul’s surrender to Jesus enabled him to be the influential Apostle for Christ.

The test of Abraham in the sacrifice of his son, Isaac was the greatest obedience of all.   God told Abraham when he was willing to kill his own son, “NOW I KNOW THAT YOU FEAR GOD.”  Genesis 22: 12  Didn’t God know before when Abraham left home to go to a city he knew not where?  Didn’t God know when Abraham build altars of faith?  I  only know that in this supreme act  of obedience that God said, “Now I know.”

Healing salvation comes from bowing humbly at the foot of the Cross of Jesus saying sincerely, “God be merciful to me a sinner.”  Calvary is the only cure for sin.

“There is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Emmanuel’s veins.  And sinners plunge beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains.”

“THE QUESTION THAT NEVER GOES AWAY”

This title, “The Question That Never Goes Away” is a book written by Philip Yancey.  He is a very insightful writer.  I recommend this book and others that he has written.  I want to share some thoughts from this book concerning suffering, evil.

Like Job, we repeat the question, “Why do the righteous suffer?”  Why such things as the killing in Charleston, South Carolina? What is wrong with us?  What kind of society have we helped create that such evil happens too often?  We join the blame game: blaming guns, media, movies, video games, judges, banning of Bible reading and prayer from public places and on and on.  One thing I believe for sure is that this is none of God’s doings.  God does not cause but allows such wickedness.  He allows it because we, or others, choose it  God took the risk and has given us free will, choice.  We are free and therefore responsible for both the beauty and the suffering we help make.  We help fashion the nature of our world with the choices we make.

We seek answers to what in our culture that must change and the answer comes thundering back, “PEOPLE MUST CHANGE.”   The only antidote to the wickedness around us is to live differently from this moment on.  To live like God taught us and showed us through His Son, Jesus.
God shared in our suffering as He gave His Son to forgive us and to heal us. We live in hope that one day everything will be changed.  Until then, we cling to the promise that the God of all comfort has not abandoned us but continues a slow and steady work to restore what evil and death have spoiled.

We trust God in His promise to give us a new home; a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness.  We live by faith and not by sight.
Romans 8:32 “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all–how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”

We must stay in the Redemption Story, only then will we live happily ever after.