Praise the Lord for this wonderful
Wednesday. Snow, sleet, and freezing rain of yesterday
has ushered a warmer day. Thank you Jesus. Our Church
will be hosting a community wide dinner today starting at 4:30 PM. Praise
the Lord that He is Lord in all seasons and the Lord of all seasons.
My wife celebrates her birthday today. I praise the Lord for
my wife. She is gifted and multitalented. We will celebrating
our 42nd wedding anniversary this year. As I pause and
ponder it feels like we were mere teenagers when got married in
1975. I have preached the Gospel. Alice has lived the
Gospel. Praise the Lord for the way He infuses us with His new mercies
and loving kindness. All we have needed some how He has provided..
and by His wonderful grace and mercy He will continue to provide
and undergird. It is a wonderful pilgrimage and adventure living and
serving Christ. There is nothing compared to the joy of serving Him and
there is nothing compared to the promises we have in Him.
The
poet Percy Bysshe Shelly tells of meeting a traveler from an
"antique" land who describes the ruins of a great statue in the
desert. The head, half sunk in the sand, lies apart from great stone legs
still standing on their pedestal. The shattered face portrays a
sneer of royal arrogance. Words on the nearby pedestal reflect the look
on the statue's face:
My name is Ozymandias,
King of Kings;
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!
But
beyond these words and relics the poet relates,
Nothing beside
remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
Time
and circumstance erode all the accomplishments of men, making pride
absurd. When most of us consider the fragility of our abilities and the
limitations of our wisdom, our response is to do what we can to "beat the
odds". Since nothing is secure forever, we do what we can while
we can to prepare for hard times. Only that which we have in and through Christ
is secure. In my understanding in the light of the light of the Word of the
Lord, Grace lies not only behind material accomplishments but behind
spiritual attainments as well. This truth of God's unmerited mercy to one
who possesses no apparent good is the wonderful and glorious Good News.
Even on our bad days, we need to depend upon His grace.
One
of the Gospel hymns I love is" To God be the
Glory": The second verse of "To God Be the
Glory" is this:
O perfect redemption,
the purchase of blood!
To every believer the promise of God;
The vilest offender who truly believes,
That moment from Jesus forgiveness receives.
To every believer the promise of God;
The vilest offender who truly believes,
That moment from Jesus forgiveness receives.
I
love a story that I read about a young pastor, for I was once a young pastor.
Fresh out of seminary, the young man was asked to visit a dying man in a
Washington, DC hospital. An aggressive bone cancer was eating away the
life of the man, who was not a Christian. On the few occasions when the
pastor presented the gospel there was no spiritual response, but a friendship
formed nonetheless. Through a number of visits, the pastor learned that
this dying patient was a remarkable, self-made man. He had
been raised in Spain by a loving mother who diligently taught her son the
truths of faith. He only listened a little. The Franco regime
killed his father, and because Spain's official church supported Franco, the
boy spurned Christianity. He fled his country as a young teenager and
came to America knowing no English. He worked hard and studied
hard. He eventually went to college, med school, and then began a highly
successful medical career. Despite his early disadvantages, he became
skilled, wealthy, and a respected leader in our nation's most prestigious hospitals.
He also became more convinced of his atheism. Then came the cancer.
In
just a few months the cancer destroyed the accomplishments of a lifetime.
His body, once kept in top shape by miles of daily swimming, was
devastated. His skills also began to deteriorate with the advances of
cancer. With his spirit broken and his body wracked with pain, the man
ran out of pride and finally tired of his own answers. When the young
pastor next visited, the despairing doctor confronted him: "I have treated
depression all my life, but I have no answers for what I'm going through.
If your God really has some answers, then you help me with the hell I am
going through now. Give me some peace, if you can." The young
pastor could hardly begin to think of what to say. He hesitated, grasped
for the right words, and then stumbled forward:
"You've
gained everything a man could gain in every avenue of life. You have
wealth, respect, achievement. These all may have to be put aside before
you gain this last thing you want. In every sphere of life you have
succeeded, except the spiritual sphere, and to succeed there you must not
follow any of the rules you have used before. You cannot conquer the
spiritual world by your efforts. To gain spiritual success you must admit
your helplessness and inability. You must confess you have nothing to
stand on. To enter God's kingdom and know his peace, you must not come as
a self-sufficient man but as a helpless child—you must not come as a lion but
as a lamb."
Still
there was no spiritual response. Little else was said that night.
The man talked no more. A few days later the bone cancer progressed to
the extent that the man's leg broke spontaneously as he lay in bed. The
doctors had to operate to repair the damage despite their patient's weakened
condition. On the eve of that operation, unbeknownst to his family, he
wrote a note to the young pastor. In a labored scrawl he wrote in Spanish
the words which he had memorized years ago at his mother's knee: "I
believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus
Christ, his only Son, our Lord … "—the words of the Apostles' Creed.
The note concluded in English with these words: "Jesus, I hate all my
sins. I have not served or worshiped you. Father, I know the only way to
come into your kingdom is by the precious blood of Jesus. I know you
stand at the door and will answer those who knock. I now want to be your
lamb."
The
man who wrote those words never regained consciousness after his
operation. He died and woke up in the presence of Jesus. God can
change the hardest hearts and wipe away the darkest sin. When we call to
him, without trying to stand on our accomplishments or goodness, but humbled by
his mercy for sinners like us, he responds. His voice is gentle and
loving. His words echo our desires. He says, "Forever you are
mine. The kingdom of heaven is for humble ones such as you."
In
Christ,
Brown,
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