But under the ice,
the river flows the same
all the life is there,
unseen, under the ice.

Empty and still, locked in life’s dearth
the day is dark, too deep the night
No progress, no regress, nothing,
only the fear that hope was false

But under the ice,
the grace flows ever on
all the truth is there,
unseen, under the ice.

Sometimes the winter in frozen stillness,
carries on more than I can bear.
I can trust you a little farther
But still, I look for the spring.

under the ice,
the truth flows ever on
all the love is there,
Just under the ice.

(Please do not copy without permission, which is very easy to get. rev.steve@juno.com)

As we deal with an ever more secularized society, we, as those who seek to follow Jesus Christ, will find ourselves increasingly labeled as those who think in nonsensical ways.  For example, popular pundit Bill Maher views us as being irrational people who have electrical fires going off in our heads.  He and other folks believe that they alone use reason and that everyone else is a bit off.  Actually, they think that we are a lot off.

We are accused by the Maher bunch of believing in “fairy tales” like the virgin birth, the resurrection, Noah’s ark and the Nephilim of Genesis 6; events that are non-sense.  Admittedly, there is nothing about these events that we can prove in any way.  How can you look back 2000 years and prove scientifically that Jesus rose from the dead.   Seeing that this sort of event cannot be empirically tested, nor “peer reviewed”, it must be false.  When is the last time that any of us saw someone raised from the dead after being killed by experts and placed mummy-like in a tomb?  Since this event is by nature impossible, unrepeatable and unverifiable, we are told that it must be viewed as mere myth, a fairy tale that you tell to children, like Santa Claus.  At least Santa doesn’t throw you into Hell if you are naughty.

The difficulty in this kind of Maherian rationale is that it allows only one means of knowing about anything: empiricism.  Empiricism, in its current form, holds that knowledge can only be gained through observation, experimentation and reason.  In other words, science is the only way to know anything.  If we cannot experience it with the senses, if we cannot place it in a test-tube or if is it does not make sense to the rationale people, then it is to be rejected outright as nonsense.

There are many difficulties with this epistemology, this exclusionary means of knowing.  Allow me to entertain a few of these difficulties. 

1. You cannot empirically prove that empiricism is the only means of knowledge.  There is no way to step away from the empirical method to test this, seeing that no other means of knowing can be allowed a priori by which to evaluate its validity.  Although the intent of empiricism’s exclusivity is to avoid uncertainty and subjectivity, this exclusivity completely devalues the philosophical branch of metaphysics as a waste of time. It allows no competition.

2. Empiricism demands individual, personal demonstrations of knowledge.  Nothing can be taken on a hearsay basis.  For example, the testimony of the apostle John is written off as lunacy or a lie when he says “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched – this we proclaim concerning the word of life.” (NIV)  Although John has passed on a written record of his empirical findings, his work is scoffed because the content of the testimony fails the reason test of the reasonable elite.  Because what John records here and elsewhere is deemed unreasonable it is condemned as “fairy tale” material.  At the same time, the elite demand that we all take it as indisputable that evolution is happening because some scientists say so.  Very few of us have the time or resources to gather the empirical data ourselves, so we are called upon to trust their conclusions, they being the elite rationalists and all. 

3. Empiricism has often led to erroneous conclusions.  One need only look at the past science, now totally rejected, that labeled those of African descent as being mentally inferior to their Aryan counterparts.  Is coffee good or bad for us?  Java-science on this is in near constant flux, which it should not be if it is science.

 I have confirmed with some empiricists that science is proven to be reliable because it so often proves itself to be in error.  Although this sounds very unreasonable and downright silly, empiricism’s adherents place their full faith that science will eventually get all of the right answers, repudiating and refining today’s scientific dogma with the revised truth of tomorrow which will, in its turn, be sacked by next week’s findings. “We know that such-and-such is completely correct and true! Well, that is until we find out more and revise our ‘truth.” This seems like telling others what a good driver you are because you have had so many accidents, assuring them that tomorrow’s driving will be better.  I have noted that the grand Theory of Evolution is subject to constant and often large scale revision in the light of the latest findings which overthrow the conclusions of yesterday’s findings.  Yet it is held to be true to the point of affecting nearly everything within western culture. 

4. As I have already alluded to, empiricism tends to entrust true knowledge to a small group of mental elites whom we are all supposed to trust simply due to their superior mental prowess.  We are supposed to take as a given that these elites are governed by nothing other than a pure desire for unfettered and uncorrupted knowledge.  If you are not in the elite peer group, then you have no place to question their findings.  To question them is to proclaim your ignorance and intellectual inability.  I always question the elite.

The Empiricists accuse us of being irrational because our epistemology allows for knowledge that is beyond mere science.  We allow for the revelation of God through Scripture and personal experience governed by proper Biblical interpretation/hermeneutics. Biblical interpretation is not a subjective, but rather an objective science.  Texts have one meaning which can be discerned, not personalized meanings to individuals contrary of the writer’s intent.  If someone takes a text to mean other than what the writer intended, they are wrong.  Their interpretation is not valid.

My experience is subjective to you, but objective to me.  I can confirm answered prayer and personal interactions with God that are not subject to scientific investigation, but are subject to Biblical inspection.  (For example, if I hold that Jesus wore Nike water walking shoes, I will not find a Biblical ground for this and it should be dismissed.) I accept these experiences, as well as the Biblically consistent experiences of others.  We have no elites to dispense knowledge to us, but rather we are each accountable to become experiential experts in the Faith.

When you are mocked by the Empirical Elites, remember that they cannot allow themselves to seek or entertain in other’s knowledge that is beyond their current science.  Despite the testimony of those who experienced the flesh and blood Jesus, they refuse to accept this “irrational” belief because their system of knowing, their epistemology, allows them no other option.

We know more.

Addendum:

Can we absolutely prove empirically anything about Jesus to the satisfaction of the devoted skeptic?  No. We must therefore prove demonstratively everything about Christ. Live worthy of the calling you have received.

I am amazed by human anatomy. Recently, I studied nephrons, the functional unit of the kidney, each of which contains millions of these structures. The structures and their functions are too complex to explain here and a Google search on “glomerulus” will suffice to demonstrate the extreme complexity of these arrangements.

It bothers some folks that I can study science, whether it be anatomy, ornithology or physics and end up stronger in my conviction about my belief in the Supreme Being that we call God, who sent his son, Jesus, to begin the process of setting our hearts back on the track for which they were originally intended through his death in our place. I have been told that I deny clear evidence if I can study science and come away with my faith intact, if not stronger.

I would hold that I actually consider the physical realm with deepest regard but see it through a very different lens, which of course will lead to different conclusions. The atheist can look at the micro-structures of kidneys (nephrons) and ponder the wonders of evolutionary genetic modifications over hundreds of millions of years. But as I look at its design, I have to pause and worship. It is amazing in complexity and function and I see a wonderful intentionality to the structure that the atheist must deny. An evolutionary scheme must account for every structure and function of these microscopic networks having developed over millions of years of positive genetic mutations. I see this as an absurdity and that even with infinite time such complexity could not have been shaped by random “survival of the fittest” pressures. We are indeed fearfully and wonderfully made!

I posted on Facebook, “I wonder how kidneys evolved?” Here’s one response: “Apparently, kidneys evolved once we came out of the sea, after we had bladders, as a gill mutation that benefitted filtering seawater for vertebrates.”  I called my friend on this, and he responded that kidneys are soft tissue that does not fossilize well.  They have no idea on this and can cite no evidence at all.  All that they have is bias conjecture because there can be no allowance for design.

So anyway, why does any of this really matter?  It matters because design shows intended function, revealing a “the way it ought to be” mentality.  Once we admit design, we have to understand that “This was meant to function thusly,” which demands a designer who intended the function.  This intent or design goes way beyond mere nephrons to human society on the individual and corporate basis.  we were designed to function in certain ways and not in others.  Change the structure of a nephron and you ruin its function.  Change the base structure of people, and you ruin their function. 

This is what sin has done.  It has changed the nature of our being and hence, our function is ruined and the outcome is ever more dysfunctional.  Society was not supposed to work like it now does with the constant struggle to keep us from succumbing to the law of the jungle.  

It there is a design in our physical structure and a “way it ought to be” pertaining to our social/moral outworkings, then there is a standard, an absolute to by which right and wrong may be understood.  If the loop of Henle (part of the nephron structure) fails to operate correctly, we understand that there is something “wrong” with it because we know how it ought to operate.

When we see the societal decay all around us, from the growth of the number of fatherless children to the increase of single teen pregnancy to the housing collapse, we innately know that something is wrong.  We know this because we have a standard, if only that which is written on our hearts.  Turning from this standard places us into the decay of the second half of Romans 1.   Without a standard, ethics become whatever the biggest thug says they are.  We have seen this before in the Stalinist USSR and the inner city streets of any city.

We are broken and we barely function at all.  There is no solution in sight that will counter the unrestrained will that we desire.  We have no clothes and ridicule those who inform us of our naked display.  We hold our heads high, shaking our corporate fist at the very notion that we are accountable for the nakedness that we deny.

If we are indeed “fearfully and wonderfully made,” then there is a standard, a blueprint  that applies to more than just nephrons and all of the other complex structures of our bodies.  The standard applies to the way we live our lives (our “peripatew,” for you Greekers) and we fall far short.  As a skilled doctor is able to correct defects in our bodies, so Christ can correct the defect of sin in our souls, so long as we submit.  Unless you tell the doctor that he can work on you, he cannot.  Unless you intentionally consent to let Jesus cure your sin caused demise, he will not. 

We often speak of the consequences of sin as being confined to being cast into the Lake of Fire at the end, but we need to understand that sin effects far more than mere eternity.  It affects the quality of your work efforts as well as the rationale for them.  Sin affects the quality of your marriage, your family and all of your relationships.  Turning from it and to Christ brings one back to the standard of our being, which is the base for all relationships.  In Christ, the “fearfully and wonderfully made” aspect can apply to even marriages as husbands and wives learn the secret and habit of co-submission.

When I look at the pattern of veins on the back of my hand or consider the stars or nephrons, I fully understand that there is a design and a purpose to all of this, and that I need to be aligned with it.  I need Christ and his fullness to be the standard of my life.

   For example, suppose that Bell makes the charge that most of us don’t really believe that Hell exists as a place of eternal punishment for those who have refused grace.  If we actually believed in Hell, why are we not far more active in keeping people from going there?  If we really believed that our neighbors were lost and doomed without Christ, would we not seek to find ways to bring them to Christ?  If my co-workers as well as the students who sit before me at this very moment are doomed, what am I doing right now to seek their redemption?  Might not my lack of zeal in communicating the gospel be easily seen as a lack of belief in an actual Hell?

   I have watched a lot of the tsunami footage from the recent earthquake in Japan and find myself in awe of the terrible power of such a horrible disaster, beyond normal human comprehension.  The debris laden water just would not stop. 

   Some of the footage that I saw was taken just as the warning sirens were going off and the waters were already rising.  What if the one assigned to sound the alarm had been silent?  Would we not assume that he did not really think that disaster was on the rise? How terrible it would be if he was just too lazy to push the right button?  What if he had been fearful about peoples reaction to the alarm, that they might be angry with him for sounding it?   I would assume that the “alarmist” would have been acting on second hand information, based upon what he had been told because the alarms began half an hour before the waters began to rise.

   Other footage, filmed from a hillside, showed folks seeking to escape the deluge.  One who sought to escape was almost overtaken (as many were) but was helped by to escape as the flood reached out for her.  Her rescuers actually imperiled themselves as they helped her to get higher than the waters would reach.  They saw death coming and sought to keep others from it.

   Allow me to expand this further: Do we live like we believe in Heaven or Hell.  If we honestly evaluate our lives, would those who observe us conclude that we are assured that wither one exists?

   Colossians 3 begins like this:

 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.  ²Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.  ³For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.  ⁴When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.   

   Are we really living in such a way that our priorities are not ordered by the culture, the life-way that surrounds us?  Is our thinking influenced adequately by a perspective that this is not where life ends?  Would others say of us, “Christ is their life!”?

   If Bell is embracing universalism, then there is no longer any need for him to have any concern for reaching others for Christ, or even to be involved with any social-based outreach at all.  In the end, if universalism is valid, everyone’s eternal destiny is already set, so why should we bother to seek to be of godly influence?

   On one of his shorter videos ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQlDOP49J7Y ), he questions whether or not Ghandi is in Hell or not.  Is his question rhetorical or actual?  As the video progresses, Bell sets up an obvious “straw man” representation of what we need to be saved from.  This leads me to wonder what Bell is actually driving at. 

   Take a few moments and read through this article if you have internet access: http://in.christiantoday.com/articledir/print.htm?id=2837. 

   In understanding Ghandi’s rejection of what was presented to him as “Christianity,” Bell could well reason that Ghandi “accepted” Christ, but rejected “Christianity”.  Is Bell actually confronting what he sees as a complete loss of the centrality of the Christian effort; to actually represent the person and work of Jesus in its totality rather than these cultural dilutions that we profess to be the Truth?  Is he concerned that Hell has become a central theme of what is often proclaimed rather than Jesus and the ultimate love that is found in him.

   Having read Bell’s work, I am not certain where he stands on a number of issues.  He hopes for a near-universalistic outcome but will not state that everyone in the end makes it into the Kingdom of our God and of his Christ.  Even though I believe he holds that most folks, even after death, turn to the love of God, he tirelessly seeks to proclaim the love of God incarnate in Christ.

   I disagree with Bell’s assessment on a number of Biblical fronts and fully believe that wide is the path that leads to destruction and most take that road.  There is also the narrow path that leads to life found only by a relative few. 

   Why is Bell so passionate about telling others about Christ, especially by deed, while I can be so passionless about it?  He seems to hold that God’s love will win almost all in the end, while I hold that they are senseless to God’s passion for them and are lost after this life unless I tell/show them.

   What does the way I live say about my belief regarding other’s eternal estate?

After a few weeks, the washer was again inadequately cleaning the dishes.  The problem seemed to be a faulty float valve switch again.  If I added water manually, the dishes were cleaner.  For some reason, there was a water shortage when the wash cycle started.  Not even the soap was being rinsed out of the door thingy that opens to release the detergent at the proper time.  The company sent two switches this time, and a new intake valve.

After I replaced the switch again, to no effect, the company offered to send a technician to our home at their expense to repair the dishwasher.  The repairman called me before he came by to make sure that the problem was not merely one improper instruction following, because in that case, we would be liable for the service call.  The short conversation assured him that our direction following skills were not at fault for the problem.

He replaced the intake valve that lets the hot water in, but this had as much positive effect as the last float valve switch replacement.  A bit annoyed at the lack of solution, we tested the water supply line.  It does indeed make a great difference if a dishwashing machine has a good water supply, which it did not.  The line shut off valve, for which I am liable, was not allowing enough water into the washer for even minimally effective cleaning.  (I have since repaired the infracting valve with dramatic effect.)

The technician finished filling out the work order and said that in reality, I should be liable for the repair, but not to worry about it, seeing that he did replace a valve on the washer.  It seems that replacing a part that had nothing to do with the lack of performance was enough to justify having the fine manufacturer having to pay $85 for that which it had no real liability.  I questioned this, but he said that it was fine, and that the paperwork was already filled out.  He packed up his tools and went to the next job.

So is it right to rip off a big company for a mere $85, just because some paper work can falsely justify it.  I am not sure why I did not insist on having the bill directed to me.  I would like to think that I was a little confused, but more than likely, I was just seeking to participate in bill duckage.  Convicted, I called the tech the next day to see what it would take to cover the cost myself, to have him redo the paper work.  I got nowhere.  He assured me that only he and I would know and that I should not worry about it.

I think that what I actually accomplished was to compromise what integrity I might have for $85.  Why did I allow theft to occur on my behalf?  Why did I not at the moment demand to be billed for the service call?  Sure I felt uneasy, but I did allow this to happen. 

Scripture is abundantly clear here, starting with commandment number 8, “You shall not steal.”  Pastors are not supposed to steal anything, and yet, in reality, I have participated in the taking of $85 from the manufacturer.  I certainly did not plan this, but I am culpable nonetheless of this transgression.  (“Transgression” is a much nicer word than “sin”, don’t you think?)

If I am to honor Christ in all of my life, I need to find a way to pay this bill that I might be repentant.  Mere feeling bad about it has nothing to do with repentance, but we sometime feel that feeling bad is good enough and therefore is all that we need to do. 

If I call the repair company and explain the situation, I risk having the serviceman get into trouble.  In reality, he was probably just conforming to standard practice: It is alright to rip off the big guy.  Perhaps the service company will simply tell me not to worry about it.  I am not content with either solution.

I will call the company in the morning (they are currently closed) and try to work something out so that I can pay what I owe without getting anyone in hot water.  I am unsure that they will have ever dealt with such a call before, so it should be interesting.

I fully understand that I could take a “no harm, no foul” attitude, but seeking to live for Christ does not allow me to push aside what I can get away with as being acceptable.  Even more, if I do not try to fix this, I am the one who is harmed by the degrading of my honesty as well as my integrity.   It is not that I am putting myself through some major kind of guilt trip in this, but I do believe that I have the Spirit’s conviction. 

If I knowingly get too much change back for what I have purchased, I have become an opportunistic thief.  If I purchase an item that I know is priced mistakenly, am I not taking improper advantage?  If I take credit that I do not deserve, have I not taken what is someone else’s?   

So anyway, in what hopefully is an effort to honor Christ in my life, I can find a way to pay what I rightfully owe.  You will have to ask me about this to know how it turns out!

Stay awesome and maintain integrity.

Acts 20:24

Epilogue: I called the company and graciously explained the situation, keeping any blame away from the tech, and asked to be billed.  They said that they had never had a call like this before, and I explained that I was just trying to honor Christ.  They said that there was no means to correct this error and that I should not worry about it at all.  We sent the money that we should have paid to some amazing missionaries in Thailand who needed an appliance for their kitchen.

  Jennifer Knapp has been one of my favorite Christian singer/songwriters for a number of years, although she has taken a long leave of absence from the Christian music scene.  From her CD, Kansas: 

I come into this place,
burning to receive Your peace      
I come with my own chains
from wars I’ve fought
for my own selfish gain        
Your my God and my Father
I’ve accepted Your Son  
But my soul feels so empty now 
What have I become?

Lord come with Your fire
Burn my desires, refine me      
Lord, my will has deceived me
Please come and free me, refine me            

My heart can’t see,
When I only look at me   
My soul can’t hear
When I only think
of my own fears         
They are gone in a moment
You’re forever the same   
Why did I look away from You?
How can I speak Your name?

 Lord, come with Your fire
Burn my desires, refine me      
Lord, my will has deceived me
Please come and free me
Come rescue this child
For I long to be reconciled to you

It’s all I can do,
to give my heart and soul to you
and pray, and pray, oh I will pray    

Lord, come with Your fire
Burn my desires, refine me      
Lord, my will has deceived me
Please come and free me
Come rescue this child
For I long to be reconciled to you
Refine me, refine me     

 (Refine Me, Jennifer Knapp, c. 1997 Gotee Music/West Hudson Music – BMI)

 Recently, Jennifer has decided to get back into the music scene, but has also let people know that she is a lesbian.  

Knapp is very clear that she is not marketing herself as a Christian artist, a term with which she said she has never been comfortable. She’s no longer on a Christian-based record label, and her new album of folksy rock songs is described as being about “inner-conflicts, spirituality and life lessons.”  (http://edition.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Music/04/16/jennifer.knapp.gay/index.html)

I end up here feeling very sad for Ms. Knapp, that she has fallen into a lifestyle which is contrary to God’s Word.  (That was PC for “sin”.)  I am disappointed that ability to reach folks musically within a Christian context is on an indefinite hold.  I wonder if I will buy her new CD.

I anticipate that the “God hates fags!” force will attend some of her concerts now, just to heckle her in the name of the Jesus that they define.  The press will run some segments on how evil the Christian community is toward those who have “come out.”

I am not disappointed in Jennifer, though.  She fully understands that her choice has consequences and she seems able to accept them without attacking those who feel that they must write her off.  A appreciate her honesty in her confession, and that she withdrew from the scene when she was struggling with a lot of issues in her life.

I hope that all of us who have treasured the music from her former career will pray a lot for her, and her partner, that they will be brought, through the grace of Jesus Christ, into the kind of ‘lifestyle” that they were designed for.  I hope that we, in full obedience to Galatians 6, seek to gather around her that she might be restored, rather than declared to be ‘unclean.’

David fell deeply into sin in the matter of Bathsheba.  He had her righteous husband, Uriah, one of the Mighty Men, killed off even though he had been with David in the early days, as they ran from Saul in the wilderness.  David became a murderer, an adulterer and a deceiver, even bringing others into his sins.  Even though David fell to such a despicable level, no one has tried to throw out the Psalms he wrote, even though his sins were “worse” than Ms. Knapps. 

I wonder how many preachers have preached their best sermons while in the middle of “non-Biblical lifestyle choices” of all sorts.  If the books were opened about any of us, which of us would dare to boast of our worthiness to speak of Christ.  We must be very careful to be as gentle with those whose sin is known as we desire to be dealt with ourselves for those sins which have not been brought to light.  I fear that this is not the track record of the Church in general.

I think that the norm is that those who confess “big” sins are shunned for life, while Scripture speaks of restoring them, being careful that we ourselves are not caught up in the same temptation.  We too often desire to see the sinner punished for their sin, while we understand theologically that the punishment for all sin was laid upon Christ.  Maybe it makes us feel a little more righteous about ourselves to do this.  Perhaps we are just relieved that the light of scrutiny is occupied with others for the time being.

If we are to be like Jesus, then we are required to hang out with all manner of “sinner” that they might see the evidence of Christ in us.  Jesus did this as a lifestyle, not that he affirmed sin in the least.  He just wasn’t grossed out by the sins of the folks that he came to die for.  The “sinners” were already fully aware that they did not meet the standard, and that they needed Jesus to have any hope of meeting it at all.  He accepted them, without condoning their sin, but rather calling them from it to himself.

I saw Jennifer in concert some years ago and she was awesome, although she did not seem comfortable in front of the crowd.  He music was written out of the struggle that we are all in all of the time.  I am glad that she shared her heart and will pray that she returns fully and completely to a Christian context.  I would love to sit down with her and hear her story.  Perhaps it will be on the new CD.

Lord come with Your fire
Burn my desires, refine me      
Lord, my will has deceived me
Please come and free me, refine me

Perhaps the parallels to life in Christ are already obvious:

• Each of us is a unique Creation of God.  No two of us are the same, and there is beauty in each.  In fact, it is the very diversity that allows us to see the variance in the wonder of how God is remaking us.
• Each one of us needs to be connected to the others.  When is the last time you saw a house built out of one 2×4?
• Life without stress doesn’t build strong trees or people.  The most stable, beautiful folks that you know have probably been through a lot of God allowed and/or directed adversity.
• Sometimes, when everything seems dead, deeper beauty is developing. 
• A lot has to be cut away for the beauty to be revealed.
• Most folks won’t bother to stop and see the creation of God in you.

~ Selah

   There were once some pieces of wood that became the most beautiful wood ever “produced”, although they are long gone.  Initially, they really had no special value, and were more than likely some pieces of scrap lumber, or leftovers from a torn down building.   With multiple nail scars and colored with the dried blood of its victims, these beams were used by the Romans to terrorize the unruly into submission via their use in crucifixion.  Were these beams still intact, they would be beyond price, representing the value of every person who has ever or will ever exist.  The grain of the wood here had no meaning, only the life-blood shed for our sins upon it, the stains of the grace of God. 
   To this day, and perhaps now more than ever, folks glance over the crosses that we wear and display without ever considering the savagery committed upon the Original.  To connect the Atrocity with these mere representations is no longer in vogue and would sting the sensibilities of many.  To wear a cross that actually reminds one of the completed work, rather than just being a fashion statement, is not in vogue nor politically correct.  The cross means that all have sinned and need to experience the forgiveness offered there and that without it, there is only terminal depravity to long for.  Those beams would testify that theSavior once hung there, and that he was buried and then on the third day, returned to the living, forever victorious over death.  Those beams declare that there is only one way to the Father, to find the real life that starts in this life and extends into eternity.  This has never been the popular understanding. 
   We must seek to grasp that the One who created trees, from Balsa to the mighty Oak, died willing upon his creation to redeem that aspect of his creation solely responsible for all of its bondage to decay.  That aspect is you and me, and all who have ever sinned.  Whenever you see real wood, rather than particle board imitations, remember its wonderful designer, your redeemer, and life fully according to the grain of his grace to us.

Selah

   Some of the paneling that you can purchase isn’t really wood at all.  It is merely thin sheets of particle board with a thin veneer of paper or colored plastic over it.  It isn’t real, just a pretense of what the reality would seem like.  If you look at it closely, you can see that it is just an image, an artist’s conception of what the reality is.  The fake wood is much cheaper and is produced in factories, without sunlight, soil and time.  It might look good from a distance, but proximity reveals its false nature.  Being real takes time and effort and usually some decent expense, but it is real and has value and a deep, lasting beauty.  The real also holds up much better under the various stresses and adverse conditions that it will encounter.

Matthew 4:18-22
    As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were ca sting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.  “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.”  At once they left their nets and followed him.   

    Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
    There was no opportunity for thinking the command through, just the opportunity at that particular moment to obey to clear command to leave the known for the unknown.  They needed to repent then and there.  Hesitation would only reveal that they did not think that they needed to change, that they were fine just the way that they had always been, that their life direction was adequate.  (This is not to say that their career was sinful in the least, but it would have been sinful to not obey, stating that they did not indeed need to follow Jesus.)

Matthew 8:21
 Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”
But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”

    The disciple’s father was not lying there dead before them, but rather the appeal was that he should follow Jesus after his father passed on.  This could have been a matter of weeks and more likely one of years.  “Jesus, I cannot follow you yet seeing that something more important is going on in my life at the moment.” 
    Levi had it figured out.

Luke 5:27-8
   After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.

    The time to turn to Christ is always now.  To wait is to be an idolater, to place something or someone else in the object-of-personal-pursuit category other than God.  Would you dare to tell your fiancé to wait for marriage because you wanted to date another for a while, and get married when you were through?  It is not that God is narcissistic, but rather that by design, we were meant to be in fellowship with Him as the source of our being.  He had no desire to create and then be uninvolved with his creation.  
    Sin has entered the equation of life and wrecked it.  It must be turned from now, otherwise, there is really no intent to turn from it, but merely an attempt to think better of yourself for the thought of turning.  Thinking has utterly no redemptive value.
    If you need to come to Christ, do it now.  “I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.” (II Corinthians 6:2)  To wait is to decide against Him.
    If you are a believer and are caught in a particular sin, now is the time to turn from it, not in 5 minutes, now!  If you need help in the turning call someone and enlist their aid, but only someone that you can trust.  (We have made the cost of confession far too high, as we are prone to punish the confessor rather than seek his restoration.  That is another article altogether.)
    If we confess that we are followers of Christ, then by all means, let us be on that ever refining path of actually following him beyond the lip service that can sooth our consciences for a moment, but never the Spirit.  Be repenting of anything of the world that keeps you from following Christ with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength.  Violate the self-will and be doing what it takes to actually follow Jesus.

A story  .  .  .

For as far back as I can remember, I always treated Old Man Jones, my neighbor, in the worst ways. Each April 1st, I had the “burning paper bag with dog poop in it” tradition, and although Old Man Jones never fell for it, he still had a mess to clean up each year. He always knew that it was me, and always said, without anger in his voice, “Someday, you’ll be sorry.”

His driveway was next to ours, and in the winter, I always shoveled our snow onto his drive, giving him twice the work. He never did get a snow blower, but when I was 12, just before a blizzard, one appeared in my driveway, left by someone, with a note saying, “You might need this!” I could now delight in blowing all the snow from my driveway, and most of my front yard, onto Old man Jones’s car. I would even cut a wider than needed path for my mom’s beater just to put more snow on the dinosaur’s (as my mom called him) driveway. He always knew that it was me and always said without anger in his voice, “Someday, you’ll be sorry.”

I asked my mom about him once and she didn’t say much other than years ago he had a kid die in a war, and that he was out of date and out of his mind.

I keyed his car more than once. When I discovered the mint 1969 Mustang Mach series car that always stayed under a thick canvas cover, kept for someone, I quickly sought to learn how many pumps of my BB rifle it took to break it’s windows. He knew that it was me and said without anger in his voice, “Someday, you’ll be sorry.”

Between my vandal’s rifle and slingshot, most of his home’s windows had to be replaced at one time or another, not to mention the battered aluminum siding that still bears the myriad of little dents. He never complained about the shattered bird feeder or the constant supply of dead squirrels, sparrows, cardinals and whatever else winged its way into his yard. I can’t recall how many times he had to take his cat to the vet to remove a pellet from an infected wound, but I do remember that he always knew that it was me, and always said, without anger in his voice, “Someday, you’ll be sorry.”

At Christmas-time he used to set up lots of lights around his house that looked like virtual BB magnets, which they were. A plastic manger scene was the prime target one year, and stayed on the relic’s front lawn until I shot the baby’s face off. He always knew that it was me and always said without anger in his voice, “Someday, you’ll be sorry.”

There was this room in his house that I would look into sometimes when the old man was away. It was the kind of room that I would have loved to have, if my mom could ever get a real job. It was just like one of those “Good Housekeeping” kid’s bedroom that everybody is supposed to want. I always figured that Jones was on the loony side, and this “keeping a cool room for a kid he didn’t have” thing was the final proof that I needed of his senility. Maybe he just kept it up in mourning for his dead son.

My family never had a lot of money, but every year, on Christmas, a couple hundred dollars worth of cool stuff was left on my doorstep with “Merry Christmas” and my name written on each carefully wrapped gift. (That’s where the BB gun came from, along with a great target setup, which was never needed with the shooting range next door.) My mom, to hung over each Christmas morning to get me up early enough to meet the Gift Bearer, said that the stuff probably came from my grandfather, whom she hadn’t cared to talk to or see since long before I came around. There had been some long remembered fight over his “interference” in her affairs, of which there were many. I had never seen him and really didn’t even know or care where he lived, so long as the goodies came.

This Christmas, I got up early on my own because I thought that I might want to see what my ancestor looked like, not to mention that I was hoping for BB’s from my benefactor, ’cause Old Man Jones had just gotten a new bird feeder with real glass in it, and my Daisy was calling my name before the sun was up. Of course, he would know that it was me and he would tell me that someday, I would be sorry. Whatever.

I was still rubbing sleep from my eyes, when I heard a shuffling on the porch. As I quietly opened the front door, the rising sun reflected off of an armload of carefully wrapped presents, in silver and gold paper, each with “Merry Christmas” and my name written on it. There were even some for my mom, but she had never mentioned them before. The arms were still holding the gifts, but the face was hidden by a tall package. The obscured gift bearer, aware that I had opened the door, carefully put the gifts down. Old Man Jones stood up slowly, without stiffness, and through moistened eyes and broken voice said, “Merry Christmas.”

“Someday” certainly had come, and Old Man Jones could have never been more right. Grace, mercy, acceptance and love had been next to me for all of my life, but in pathetic ignorance, I had abused them, turning their very blessings against their Source.

It was all about choice now. Do I drink deeply of shame and remorse and brokenly embrace him, or do I simply close the door and load my BB gun. There was a new plastic baby Jesus on his lawn calling my name.

(This is an original story.  Although it is a good description of my treatment of the grace of God (and yours), is not factual.)