Author: terry.a.lindsey@charter.net

In an earlier post labeled “Two” sent out on July 28^th, 2018, I wrote, “One is a lonely number. Two is not much better, but when coupled as one, becomes so much stronger”. I wrote about Saint Patrick who single handedly converted his home country of Ireland from paganism into Christianity. Did he really act as one?

To become one in the secular world means we don’t withdraw sex or anything else in a relationship in order to punish or control. You can search the web yourself as there are a lot of marriage relation discussions available. I would like to focus on a more biblical relation. John 10:30 says, “I (Jesus) and the Father are one.” Is that a marriage situation? Well, if you search further, you discover that Jesus presents himself as the Good Shepherd to the Jewish leaders. By saying he was one with God, put him equal to God. This enraged the leaders as they did not believe him so would never become one of his sheep. What are the characteristics of sheep?

Sheep cannot defend themselves, have an endless amount of wool, do not eat junk food, and hear only their shepherd’s voice. When sheep die, they seem to go in peace. (Source: Bishop Edir Macedo blogs.universal.org) If you look at these characteristics, we may see no comparison. We can be defiant in our comparison argument. Yes, we can defend ourselves, but where does defense become offense? Can we really defend ourselves without divine intervention? Something to consider. No, we cannot produce an endless amount of wool, but we can provide an endless amount of our gifts and talents. Yes, most of us eat junk food. Should we learn how to curb our craving to stay healthy? Finally, can we control our ability to hear our shepherd’s voice? Yes, we can, with much practice and determination, hear what others will not.

The Sheep and Shepherd relationship is a fascinating concept. It is hard to grasp this concept. Just like a good marriage is hard to maintain, we also need a good spiritual relationship. A good marriage is when two become one. A bad marriage is when one controls another. A good spiritual relationship is when we, though many, become one. A bad relationship is when we try to control the situation on our own. Sheep who get lost can be found if they stop to listen. They remain lost if unwilling to listen. The Jewish leaders of Jesus’ time refused to listen and believe. They considered Jesus as a test of their patience. (John 10:24) All too often we are guilty of hearing noise around us instead of listening for the master’s voice. May we listen to only his voice and follow him.

T

Note: To read other blogs and excerpts of my sermon audios, go to www.alookintot.com

Have you ever heard anyone say, “Don’t be so childlike!”. Probably not using the word childlike. Yes, using the word childish. There is a huge difference. To be childish has a negative meaning relating to our immature behavior where childlike implies good qualities like innocence, trusting, and pure in thought or actions. Until a child has actually experienced a more mature life, they are free to act with innocence and trust. It makes me sick to my stomach to hear on the news about abuse of a child. Yet, abuse happens every day whether broadcasted to the public or in a private hell on earth. If we see or hear of abuse, we believe it. Under the cover of darkness, perhaps we are non-believers in the truth. A parent or grandparent, loves their child and most would sacrifice their own selves to protect them. Hopefully, none of us will have to pay that steep a price. Nevertheless, we want to protect our children from the unseen dangers of this world. If a stove or oven is hot, how does a child know it is hot? They cannot see the danger or understand the element of heat. It is up to us adults to tell our children that it is hot. Stay away. Do they? Some do but many learn the hard way. They get burnt. Once burnt, chances are much greater that they will not repeat. Their memory is now related to pain so they may trust their guardians more. They cannot see the heat but now they believe it is present.

A child who believes in his parents, without seeing the danger, has faith. Childlike faith is not strange for any of us to comprehend. As parents, we should know better. We should try to teach our children based on our lessons in life. If we are successful, our child grows up relatively unharmed to carry on the teaching to their children. Even our best efforts cannot always save our child from harm. Some parents blame themselves for events happening to their child which is beyond their control. Situations beyond our control, are sad indeed, but we should not beat ourselves up. Some children are destined to grow into adults losing all abilities to have childlike faith. They fall into the world of darkness never to return to the light. Some of us see the light and begin our journey back to faith. We may have hope prior to turning from darkness, but are still selfish in nature until we become childlike again. If we keep steadfast to our hope, we become a new creation. If we can believe in the heat of a stove even though we cannot see heat, then we can believe in the resurrection of Jesus even though we did not see him coming up from the grave.

Thomas in the story told in John 20:19-31, was like that child who had to touch the hot stove before he could believe. He was childish in his actions. We are not given that opportunity to question. We are only given grace to have childlike faith to believe in the unseen. Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Look forward to seeing more and more of the light of truth as we learn to serve others. Consider yourself as a parent looking after your children when you serve. God is like the ultimate parent trying to prevent his children from being burnt. If only we will believe in Him with childlike faith.

T

It is the seventh day or a day of rest or Saturday for the Jewish people. It is a day to refrain from work. Most Christians consider Sunday Sabbath for similar reasons. It is a tradition, I am afraid gone from our society as many people are working through days of rest. I wish we could get back to those days but unfortunately Saturday or Sunday are days many of us go shopping for groceries. Someone has to serve us at the check out lines. They have no time to rest. When we get home, we settle down to watch others work at baseball, football, golf, news, etc. My point here is that we have lost the purpose of a Sabbath. O yeah, some of us go to church but are anxious to leave after service to make use of our limited time with families. Perhaps, it is a product of so-called progress. We always have Holy Week to remind us of the important days of the week. Yeah right!

Holy Saturday is the day when all of us rested while Jesus laid in the tomb or did he? Perhaps, this Saturday was the busiest time for Jesus. While we rested, perhaps Jesus was dealing with our sins in the very depths of hell telling Satin our sins are paid in full. After his busy day paying for our sins, perhaps he met with our heavenly father to lay out plans for missions to be performed by believers in the mystery of faith. I am not reading from scripture but imaging the busy Saturday for Jesus.

Have you ever wandered why Good Friday is called good? How about Maundy Thursday? What about Saturday during Holy Week? Maundy means commandment which was given to us during the Last Supper to love each other just as he loved us. Though we may think Holy Friday was terrible, it is called “Good” because it led to the second step in the mystery of faith. First Christ died, second he was resurrected defeating death and sin. Maybe we should consider Holy Saturday good as well. In fact every day after Saturday should be consider Easter celebrating his resurrection. O yeah, do not forget the third step in the mystery that will occur someday when he returns. What day will that be? A glorious Sabbath for sure!

Happy Easter!

T

Exertion of enough physical force to change something’s shape. A device for applying pressure can be called a press. In ancient times there were press gangs who forced people into service. Don’t drink from a mug of beer unless you can see the bottom. Otherwise, you may be pressed into the military for accepting a coin dropped in your drink. I do not believe that tradition to press you into service is still practiced but who knows? Maybe, we should all take precautions. Press is also a whole industry of people who work for the media like news reporters. A press release was issued for my new book “Sticks and Stones” which you can find by a few key strokes on Google. The word press has many meanings as you can see but have you ever considered being pressed toward a higher prize?

Paul considered all his attributes in his past a failure, loss or sewer trash compared to his discovery of his higher calling. He discovered righteousness not by his own but by forces that were applied to him that changed his shape. He was pressed into a new shape or creation. The transformative powers that changed him into a new creation can also change us. We never really reach our full potential, but we can stretch to reach new goals, with this power. Some may believe pressure to be shaped into something new is stressful. I believe it is only stressful, if we fail to let go of the things we see with our own eyes. It becomes a relief if we look to the unseen. That is faith! Norman Vincent Peale said in his booklet called “Thought Conditioners”, “Every person, if he is to have mental health and live successfully, must move away from past failures and mistakes and go forward without letting them be a weight upon him.” I say that even past successes can hold us back from future accomplishments in life. We should never give up on the goal which is the prize of God’s upward call in Christ Jesus. One bible version reads, “The one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth into those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians3:13,14) Please read more to see how success according to the world, may prevent us from greater success according to the world to come.

T

Past tense of reconcile. It is to restore missed opportunities between friends and relations. I believe we all need to coexist as much as possible in harmony with one another and to try to get along. What can’t we? “Why can’t we be friends” is a song by War. It is a catchy tune and makes a lot of sense. Here’s a few sentences in the lyrics. “The color of your skin don’t matter to me as long as we can live in harmony. Why can’t we be friends. (repeated three more times) I’d kinda like to be the president so I could show you how your money’s spent. Why can’t we be friends.” In this day of dog eat dog, it seems to me we are determined to avoid reconciliation as much as possible. It is unhealthy to continue to hold grudges and pretend all is okay. Pride gets in the way.

We should not hold people by human standards as we would all fail the test. All of us are weak and subject to actions that we may regret soon after the act. All you have to do is turn on the idiot box called a TV and find an channel that conforms to your opinions. They make it easy to watch and listen according to your perspective on current affairs. It does not matter what the other side is saying because they are wrong, in you not so humble opinion. This non-reconcilable phenomena is a symptom of our illness. What is our illness? Resistance to spiritual guidance at all cost. An alcoholic is only able to recover after acknowledgement of their affliction. An angry human unwilling to be reconciled is like that alcoholic. Until they acknowledge their faults, they will not be able to move forward. Many humans consider it a weakness to submit to spiritual guidance. That is what holds most people back from living a better more peaceful life. We hold ourselves to human standards instead of higher standards. “If anyone is in Christ, that person is part of the new creation…All these new things are from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ who gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” God does not count our sins against us if we become part of the message of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:17-19)

How do we become part of the message? We look beyond ourselves and become a new creation in Christ. I see politicians all of the time standing before an audience apologizing for what they have done in the past. Is the apology a true effort to be reconciled or is it just a ploy to get sympathetic votes? Even worse than an insincere apology, is someone standing in front of an audience trying to justify their selfish actions. I believe in forgiveness, if the person being forgiven has truly repented. A son goes away and ruins his life and his father’s inheritance is spent like water. He realizes he has really messed up his life. Instead of asking for another handout, he humbles himself to admit he is not worthy to be called a son. He returns to his father only to ask for a job. What happens to the son who came truly repenting? The father celebrates the reconciled son as once lost but now found. (Luke 15:11-32)

T