SOMEWHERE IN TIME

We are a few hours into another year now, and enter it with a sense both of endings and beginnings.  We lay to rest and we take up at the same time. 

Life is lived one moment at a time, isn't it?  Yet moments don't come out of a vacuum.  Moments bridge the past to the future.  They are the hinges, tiny hinges in time in which we are invited to comprehend the world we leave and the world into which we move.  A moment is where we connect mind, emotion, and will. It is the so-called, now where we choose what we will do with past, present, and future.  We are always in the moment but so often we don't understand the moment until it has become the past.  Also, the clock is always ticking, stopping for no one.  Therefore moments are always moving and so are those who live them.

In Psalm 31 we learn that for those of us who believe in and live for God our times are in God's hands.  Our past, present, and future, our moments in time, are caught up into the life of the One who called time into existence.  We are not alone.  Time marches on but in the hands of God.  God is in our moments and in Him we live and move and have our being.

How does this speak to our lives?  What does it mean for our times to be in God's hands?  Whatever the answers to these two questions are, somewhere in the mix the matter of faith comes to play a profound part.

Faith isn't only a belief.  Faith is trust. To believe in is to trust. To trust is to act. To act is to subject one's self to the trustworthiness of the object of one's faith.

Faith is rooted in relationship—relationship with God whom faith believes in trustworthy.  Faith, therefore, is not a visible issue so much as the evidence of things not seen; this and the integrity of God.

Because of the faithfulness of God one is free to live as a person of faith.  Immediate outcomes don't matter when everything is of faith in the faithfulness of God who keeps His Word.  Faith changes the inner life of a person, and tethers that person to God. 

In this relationship a faith-commitment emerges that becomes a crucial matter for people of the Living God. That commitment says, "What I want for my life is what God wants for me."   In that relationship context, for those of us who are seeking to be faithful to Jesus, a profound prayer accompanies that commitment.  It is the prayer Jesus taught us to pray to His and our Father, "Your will be done."  It's nothing to the left and nothing to the right.  What God want for us is the consuming passion. 

If we perceive that our times are in God's hands and if our passion is to want what He wants for us, then certain questions become important to us.

1. Is this what God wants for me?
2. How can God use this to get what He wants for me?
3. How do I pay attention to God?
4. How can I best listen for the voice of God?
5. How do I live as a servant of the Servant-King
6. What is my part in the relationship with God that God is providing for me?
7. How can I be present with the God who is present with me?

I think of several things Jesus called His disciples to embrace.  He said things to them like, "Deny yourself, Become like a child, Follow me, Obey me, Trust me."  Taking these things seriously require careful attention.  They require that we really show up in our relationship with Jesus.  They require a careful self-evaluation from time to time where we give ourselves to God in the spirit of the prayer, "Search me, O God, and know my heart" (Psalm 139:23-24). 

To love Jesus this way reveals that we really are in a relationship with God.  Our moments in time are not without meaning.  Our times are in the hand of God, and we treat them with upmost respect and dignity.  Our lives are not defined by the moments in time that have been given to us but by the God who has given the moments in time to us.  Since these moments are given to us, we take them as gifts, and seek to live as stewards of the gifts.

At this late date in my life, time has become a very important issue for me.  Perhaps it should have been more important to me all the time; but at least it is important now.  I think the wise Mr. Seuss speaks for me when he said, "How did it get so late so soon? It’s night before it’s afternoon. December is here before it’s June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?"

Truth is it got late so soon one moment at a time.  C. S. Lewis said, "The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of sixty minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is."  Benjamin Franklin, "You may delay, but time will not."  And, I would be remiss if I did not add this thought from Eric Roth in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button screenplay. He says,  

For what it’s worth: it’s never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you’re proud of. If you find that you’re not, I hope you have the courage to start all over again. 

Albert Einstein said, "Time is an illusion."  I suppose that in a physics sort of way he might right.  However, this does not explain the wrinkles forming on my face, and the soreness in my bones, and the graying of what is left of the hair on my head.  Something is, in fact, going on, around me and in me; moving on is perhaps the best way to describe it.   Time is on the march with our without my attention. 

I am in no intellectual position to challenge Albert Einstein, but because of what I see in what is going on all around and in me, I'm going with the God of Scripture on this.  The Psalmist prayed to God, "I trust in you, Lord; I say, 'You are my God.'  My times are in your hands" (Psalm 31:14-15).

In this New Year in time may we take seriously what has been given us, and may we, time and time again, draw near to the God who has dared draw near to us.  Let's not follow Sam Levenson's counsel, "I'm going to stop putting things off, starting tomorrow!" 

           

           

Peace! Really?

            Jesus said to His confused and bewildered disciples, "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).  Love Him, believe in Him, live for Him, or not, we have to agree with the first part of His statement, "In this world you will have trouble." We've had two thousand years to prove Him wrong, but all history has done is reinforce the reality of a troubled and troubling world, where persons as persons face trouble of a thousand kinds. 

            Also true is the fact that many people and countries and movements and governments and ideologies have chosen not to come to the One who has "overcome the world."  We'll leave their reasons to another day.  Today, however, we live in a world so filled with conflicting troubles that it is virtually impossible to imagine a world where peace is the order of the day.  Add to this the fact that just about every religion and faith-movement in the world describes themselves as people of peace. Yet, there is no peace.

            In Advent we followers of Jesus confess our belief that God has come into the world on a mission of peace.  At the heart of that mission is the self-giving heart of God who is providing for the restoration and redemption of all creation.  This provision comes to us in person of the Lord Jesus Christ.  He is the One of whom it was said,       

For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders;
And His name will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6, NASB)

            It is intriguing that God's entrance into human history as one of us rests in the life of a baby, Immanuel.  The location was a manger in a small farming town in the Middle East.  The day of His birth was like the day of the birth of a baby anywhere in the world—joy, celebration, music, laughter, hope. Maybe that's one of the reasons we have to celebrate Jesus' birth.  Sometimes we can't be still.  We've just got to sing and rejoice.  In fact, once in while we just need to worship as we listen to angels sing, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased" (Luke 2:14, HASB).   

            But babies don't stay babies.  They grow.  So St. Luke says, "Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men" (Luke 2:52, NASB).  Jesus' destiny wasn't Bethlehem but the redemption and restoration of a world, all of it.  After all He was the "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6).

As the Wonderful Counselor, the supernatural Counselor, none can rank with Him.   At Montrose church some of us do a lot of counseling, but none of us can work wonders, especially wonders comparable to the supernatural Counselor, Jesus.  Sometimes we recommend professional counselors to people but even they can't work the wonders of Jesus.

As the Mighty God Jesus doesn't only counsel us with His eternal and truthful Word, He has the power to pull off what He speaks into our lives and what most needs to be done.  

As the Eternal Father Jesus brings to us the heart of God.  We see the soft side of God, if you would.  We see God embracing us and holding us to His heart and covering us with His grace and drawing us into His very life.   In a rude and crude world where a lot of fathers are absent, the fact that God is a Father may not speak to you.  It may prompt hurtful memories that leave you empty, and maybe angry.  God is not an absentee father.  He doesn't make promises He doesn't keep.  If you ever wonder about what God is really like, take a long, long look at Jesus.  See Him hanging on a cross of His own volition because He loved you so much that He would take a bullet for you

Then it is we see that Jesus is the Prince of Peace.  Jesus said, "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful" (John 14:27, NASB).  The Bible says, "having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1. NASB).  Peace is on God's mind.  Peace is in God's heart.  Peace is in God's plan.  The Wonderful Counselor, who is the Mighty God and the Everlasting Father, comes to us as the Prince of peace. In Jesus we get all that it means for God to be God. 

In my faith journey I have come to believe that of all the things Jesus' cross means, one of them is that He took the evil of man's inhumanity to man upon His own life.  He took the hatred, the anger, the hostility, the blame, the rage, and even the death that these attitudes and actions bring.  As a follower of this crucified Savior I have no ground upon which to stand except the ground sanctified by the death and resurrection of the Prince of Peace. 

All the ground is level at the foot of the cross and every one of us stands on that ground.  Every enemy who would destroy us stands beneath the cross of Jesus.  Every ideology that seeks our demise stands beneath the cross of Jesus.  We stand beneath the cross and as we experience the blood-stained earth beneath our feet, smell the aroma of sweat, blood and tears, feel the atmosphere of rage and anger, and then hear unbelievable words that stun us into silence, "Father, forgive them" we know we stand in the presence of absolute humility.  We stand on holy ground, speechless, bewildered, stunned. Our standing turns to kneeling, our kneeling turns to submission, and our submission turns to mission.

When we hear His voice, we understand our mission.  We are here to share with a world the unbelievable love of an incredible God.  We are here to be His Presence in the world, allowing Him to live through us, so that all He is might infiltrate our troubled world.  We are here to be "Peacemakers," the kind of whom Jesus said, "Blessed are they…" (Matthew. 5:9). 

It is unthinkable that we should be part of the problem.  Ours is not to draw lines and erect barriers.  Ours is to take hold of the hand of Jesus and live out the meaning of a God who "emptied Himself of all but love and bled for Adam's helpless race" (Charles Welsey, "And Can It Be," 1738)

            It is a high and noble calling to be a Peacemaker, but when your Savior is the Prince of peace, it is a calling worth pursuing. 

            God help us.  It is a calling worth pursuing.

I LONG

In 1875 Fanny Crosby published a song she called, "I am Thine, O Lord."   It was a song of surrender and a longing to be drawn more fully into the life of Jesus.  In her song she said,

I am Thine, O Lord, I have heard Thy voice,

And it told Thy love to me;

But I long to rise in the arms of faith

And be closer drawn to Thee.

Draw me nearer, nearer blessed Lord,

To the cross where Thou hast died;

Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessed Lord,

To Thy precious, bleeding side.

            Jesus said, "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent me draws him" (John 6:44, NASB).  As followers of Jesus who are caught up in the amazing grace of God, it makes sense that everyday our longing for God would grow deeper and deeper.  He has called us to Jesus, and that calling has shaken the very foundation of our lives. A W. Tozer prayed, "O God, I have tasted Your goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more" (The Pursuit of God).

            That seems to be the deal when it comes to knowing God.  The more we know Him the more we thirst to know Him more.  So we pray, "I have heard Thy voice…I long to rise in the arms of faith and be closer drawn to Thee" (Crosby).  God has lavished His grace on us and has drawn us into His very life, where we discover God's unmerited favor, His unconditional love, and just how far He will go to redeem His creation back to Himself.

           

In chapter eighteen of book one, of his The Imitation Of Christ, Thomas á Kempis writes of those whom he called, "holy Fathers."  He says that they

[S]aw themselves as nothing and the world despised them, but in the sight of God they were priceless and beloved.  They possessed true humility, lived in simple obedience, and walked in charity and patience, and thus they daily progressed in spirit and found great favor with God.  (Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ (Vintage Spiritual Classics, translated by Joseph N. Tylenda, S.J. Revised edition, 1998,) Random House, Inc., 22, 23)

There is something in á Kempis' description of these early men of Christ that resonates in my spirit.  There has been a deep hunger in my life from the age of twelve to live for Christ.  On this journey, however, I have soared and plummeted, experienced victories and defeats, lived in success and failure, embraced God with all my heart at times, and questioned God in certain moments about the harsh realities of life.  I am a very human man, seeking to find my way in the journey of faith in Christ.  Without sounding overly dramatic I really do want to live in what á Kempis calls true humility, simple obedience, charity and patience. 

            "Want too," however, hasn't gone too far in my experience.  "Want to" rises and falls.  The truth is, I do desperately need God in my life.  Outside of God's grace and mercy and patience and power, I find myself caught up in a mess of my own making.  I'm way past even blaming the devil for what I am like when I drift.  I could write a book about how to fall short of the glory of God.

            At the same time, I realize that many times I am too hard on myself.  This  has something to do with the way I was raised in the church.  At least, it has something to do with my perception of how I was raised in the church.  I grew up thinking that I would never be enough, that I needed to hate myself and yield everything to God.  That's what good Christians did. Self was evil, God was good.  No matter how hard I tried I could never measure up to the good I saw in God.  The "want to" was there but the "know how" wasn't.           

            Then, one day, I bumped into a prayer from Thomas Merton that rocked my inner world.  It still does.  He prayed,

My Lord God,I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.           (Thoughts In Solitude)       

Merton helps me to see that uncertainty is okay, that it can actually be the condition that drives me into the arms of God.  "Want to" is extremely important and creates a hunger, a desire. Perhaps God is so overwhelmingly gracious that the desire to please Him does in fact please Him. Perhaps the desire of which á Kempis speaks pleases God in and of itself.  Perhaps my hunger to live in true humility, simple obedience, charity and patience in and of themselves pleases God.   

In another place Merton gives even greater clarity to this thought.  He writes,

“In one sense we are always traveling, and traveling as if we did not know where we were going. In another sense we have already arrived. We cannot arrive at the perfect possession of God in this life, and that is why we are traveling and in darkness. But we already possess Him by grace, and therefore, in that sense, we have arrived and are dwelling in the light. But oh! How far have I to go to find You in Whom I have already arrived!”

-- The Seven Story Mountain

Isn't that a setting free thought for those of us who claim Jesus as our Lord and Savior?  "We already possess Him by grace, and therefore, in that sense, we have arrived and are dwelling in the light.  But oh!  How far have I to go to find You in Whom I have already arrived."  Fanny Crosby said it this way, "I am Thine, O Lord…but I long to rise in the arms of faith and be closer drawn to Thee."

"We already possess Him by grace and…we have already arrived but I long to be closer drawn to Thee."

Let us all, regardless of where we are on the journey hear the Words of Jesus that call us home to life in His grace.

“Come to me, all you who are weary

and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you 
and learn from me,

for I am gentle and humble in heart, 
and you will find rest for your souls. 
For my yoke is easy

and my burden is light.” 

-- Matthew 11:28-30