Monday, October 31, 2016

520 - 'How Do You Know?'

Spirituality Column No. 520
November 1, 2016
Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

How Do You Know?
By Bob Walters

It is Satan’s favorite question.

It is post-modern society’s perpetual challenge.

It is, sneakily, the intellectual antithesis of open-mindedness.

When a believer preaches Godly good, Christian love, Spiritual wholeness and biblical truth; or maybe asserts that “this is right and this is wrong according to God’s word,” the secular world’s default, go-to response of dismissiveness, derision, and, sadly, despair is, “How do you know?”

Doubt is the world’s prevailing response to Godly faith.  Why?  Because Satan is lord of the world, is God’s enemy and his mission is the removal of faith, hope and love.  Satan makes stumbling blocks for humans out of these “image of God” components built into our humanity.  That we know, trust and love God, and love each other, honors God.  Our doubts amuse Satan because he works against God’s glory and our love.

This is Satan’s game, and he’s skilled at it.  Consider the Garden of Eden.  Satan insulted God’s sovereignty; tricked mankind into disobedience; set Adam against Eve; shamed both of them before God and each other; and did it by using against Adam and Eve humanity’s best Godly attribute: freedom.  Not a bad day’s “worldly” work.

Satan’s game in the Garden was, essentially, “How do you know?”

In our post-modern world broad swaths of society deride the very notion of God as being illusion, folly or a sign of feeble-mindedness.  Since God plainly tells mankind throughout the Bible that we will not see or understand much of what He does, Satan has taught us to ridicule faith and demand proof, tickling our doubts with the inadequacy of worldly evidence. By challenging our trust, Satan encourages us to reject God.

“How do you know?”  Game and set to Satan.

You may have noticed that open-mindedness is the intellectual coin and relativistic moral true north of the post-modern realm.  But open-mindedness that believes the absolute truth of God?  Never!  What a conundrum.  God’s greatest gift to humanity is freedom because only in freedom can we discover the divine love that glorifies God, and glorifying God is the entire point of life.  Whatever you may be feeling, if is coerced, self-centered and not free, it is not love.  So the world – Satan – declares morality to be relative thus requiring the Christian be open-minded about secular ways when in truth, doubting secularists would be better off being open-minded about God.

I, personally, don’t see any future in being open-minded about Satan.

And the world says: “How do you know?”  I’m glad they asked.

Because I don’t doubt Christ.

Game, set and match to God.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com), who did in fact (long ago) play small college varsity tennis, here marks 10 years – 520 consecutive weeks – publishing this column. His next book, Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary, Volume II, is in the works.
Monday, October 24, 2016

519 - Jesus and the Curve Ball

Spirituality Column No. 519
October 25, 2016
Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Jesus and the Curve Ball
By Bob Walters

”’You tryin’ to say Jesus Christ can’t hit a curve ball?” – Chelcie Ross as mythical Cleveland Indians pitcher Eddie Harris in the 1989 movie, “Major League”
 
For my money it’s one of the funniest yet subtle movie lines ever.
 
Voodoo-practicing baseball slugger Pedro Cerrano crushes fast balls but can’t hit a curve ball.  Meditating at the incense-burning altar in his baseball locker, Pedro offers voodoo spirit Jobu cigars and rum to take the fear out of his bats.  “Straight ball I hit it very much,” Pedro says to his teammates.  “Curve ball, bats are afraid.”
 
Eddie the pitcher sticks his head into the scene and piously, derisively suggests, “Y’know you might think about taking Jesus Christ as your savior instead of messing around with all this stuff.”  Pedro smiles, nods and says, “Ah, ‘Haysoose’ (Jesus).  I like him very much, but he no help hit curve ball.”  And Eddie, offended, delivers the line:
 
“You tryin’ to say Jesus Christ can’t hit a curve ball?”
 
Well, lo and behold.  In 2016 those once woeful Cleveland Indians are in the World Series for real (against the Cubs, no less), and America euphemistically is trying to hit one of the biggest curve balls in its history: this year’s presidential election.
 
I doubt our American civic bats – our voting responsibilities – have been this “afraid” since the Civil War, or maybe ever.  Can anyone say, “Strike three”?
 
This all popped into my head recently after reading a Facebook post saying Jesus was a political rebel who wanted universal health care so there is no way Jesus would vote conservative.  Another meme asserted liberals will hasten the end times.
 
Let’s be careful with Jesus.  Jesus was a rebel, yes, but in religion, not politics.  He didn’t challenge Rome or argue with Pontius Pilate.   And the Pharisees’ accusatory religious curve balls never fooled him.  Jesus’s “Render unto Caesar” line (Matthew 22:21, Mark 12:17, Luke 20:25) leaves politics to mankind. And what he was trying to heal was sin, not bad health insurance.  While we focus temporally on baseball and presidential polemics, Jesus focuses eternally on God’s glory and our salvation.
 
C.S. Lewis has a great paragraph in Mere Christianity about Satan tricking us into faith errors against either end of an extreme.  Our extra dislike of the one sin error, Lewis observes, draws us gradually into the opposing sin error.  That’s what’s happening now.  We become so politically disconcerted that suddenly we’re telling one another for whom Jesus would not vote.
 
My guess is Jesus would neither vote nor be drawn into the debate. He warns Satan “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test” (Matthew 4:7) and constantly tells the Pharisees devastating parables of their faith errors and God’s spiritual truth.
 
And we smugly predict God’s vote while Satan is taunting us to hit a curve ball.
 
I doubt many folks truly are ready for Jesus to come to bat.
 
Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) feels better when he reads the Bible than when he watches the news, and also is thankful for the Indians vs. Cubs World Series diversion.
Saturday, October 15, 2016

518 - 'As Real as it Gets'

Spirituality Column No. 518
October 18, 2016
Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

‘As Real as it Gets’
By Bob Walters

The multiple, halting, emotional speeches hung so very, very thickly over Baby Willow’s funeral Saturday.

Born at home healthy, vibrant and hungry early October 6, Willow stopped breathing some four hours later.  No warning, no explanation … and no amount of emergency care could bring her back.  Willow’s ashes rested in a polished wooden box as parents, family and friends gathered to say we love you and good-bye.

Praise God, Willow insisted we do much more.  She insisted that we in our heartbreak encounter Jesus in all His power, promise, trust and truth.  Willow allowed no other gaze than for us to fix our eyes on the healing love of Jesus Christ.

In this season of crushing grief, Willow’s parents Michael and Maggie and all four grandparents courageously, tearfully spoke words of healing and encouragement and witnessed profoundly to the unlimited faithfulness and tender mercy of Jesus.  When so many might wonder, errantly, “How could God do such a thing?” as take young Willow, Willow’s family stood faithfully and said, “How could we survive such a thing without Jesus?”

Maggie told the funeral gathering that the day following Willow’s death she experienced a vision of Jesus.  He stepped between her and Michael, comforted them and in a voice Maggie clearly discerned said of Willow, “I have to take her now.”  Numerous other signs, works of Christian love and even rainbows appeared through the week.  When one is in the faith, such signs are unmistakable evidence of God’s nearness, relationship and compassion.  Jesus is there.

Pastor Dave Rodriguez at Grace Church (Westfield, IN) looked at the funeral gathering and noted, gently, that he understood there likely were people there who didn’t “get” the Jesus thing and more likely would be on the page of, “How could God …etc.”  Dave noted that the hurt and the love and the healing and the faith permeating that particular room, not to mention the faith witness of Maggie and Michael’s entire lives, would appear to some unbelievable; certainly not real.

Dave spoke a measured, earnest, caring truth: “This is as real as it gets.”

Willow didn’t let anyone out of the church without facing the reality that is the truth of Jesus Christ.  These are the times, the pastor noted, that God shows up and is not subtle.  Times like these are why we were created in the image of God, or else where is our comfort?  In times like these words may fail us but God doesn’t.

Like Dave, I pray someone curious about Jesus asks Michael and Maggie about this God they know.

They know Him very well.

Walters’ (rlwcom@aol.com) son Eric was roommates with Michael in college.  They grew up in faith together at East 91st Street Christian Church, Indianapolis.  By the way, Michael and Maggie have a son Rhett whom they adopted a few months before learning of her pregnancy. 
Monday, October 10, 2016

517 - Fear of Commitment

Spirituality Column No. 517
October 11, 2016
Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Fear of Commitment
By Bob Walters

“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” – last words of dying Jesus on the cross, Luke 23:46
 
All of us know, or at least we should know, that God’s forgiveness and grace are part of a package deal: the divine treasure trove known as the “free gift of salvation.”
 
This gift is billed, rightly for the most part, as being “ours for the asking.”  We are not commanded to accept the gift nor is the gift forced upon us.  It is clearly laid out in the Bible that faith in Christ which is from the Holy Spirit unwraps this gift of salvation, and that good works are the worldly fruit of it having been accepted and put to use.
 
It’s a good deal.  Peace, patience and mercy; faith, hope and love; perseverance, kindness and joy … all in the long list of humanity-deepening fruits we can enjoy in this life by accepting the loving embrace of God by trusting Jesus Christ.
 
And "Yes, Jesus loves me, the Bible tells me so."
 
There.  Wasn’t that easy?  No worries!
 
So why cite this Bible verse from humanity’s darkest day, the day Jesus died?
 
Because it communicates a key truth of a key component of our salvation.  To truly own the gift it’s not enough merely to accept it; I have to do what Jesus did on the cross.  I must commit my spirit into the hands of God; but in this life, not in my death.
 
This is key because it is the difference between accepting Jesus as Savior and accepting Jesus as Lord.  Jesus as Savior is what He does for me; the happy face of forgiveness and eternal life.
 
Conversely, Jesus as Lord is what I do for Him.  And you know what?  I can’t do much for Him.  None of us can; because He can do anything.  The hard part of “Lord” isn’t shouldering a load; it is defeating our pride, accepting humility and trusting faith.
 
It’s a game-changing mistake to miss the “Lord” part, where we put our lives, our love and our industry into His hands.  It’s where we discern God’s calling, attend to God’s purpose, love God, love others and trust God’s Lordship even unto death.  You ask, “What would Jesus do?”  Well, that’s what He did.
 
To review:
 
“Salvation is a free gift?”  Absolutely.
 
“Jesus loves me?” There’s not a truer idea in the Bible.
 
- “All I have to do is accept it?”  That answer is “Yes, but …”
 
Here is the "But" - accepting the gift only starts the journey; committing to the gift and living a life of faith actually is the journey.  Savior is the start and Lord is the path.
 
God’s glory is the goal.
 
Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) notes that while the four Gospels report three different “last words of Jesus” (Matthew 27:46, Mark 15:37, Luke 23:46 and John 19:30), “commitment” is the last word in most strong relationships. 
Monday, October 3, 2016

516 - Forgiving Nature

Spirituality Column No. 516
October 4, 2016
Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary
 
Forgiving Nature
By Bob Walters
 
“For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” – Jeremiah 31:34, quoted in Hebrews 8:12 and 10:17
 
God has it right.  The act of forgiving is far more freeing, beneficial, therapeutic and righteous – to all parties - than holding a grudge.
 
Forgiveness - not in the sense that “we are forgiven” but that “we forgive others” – would be on anyone’s biblical top ten list of evident, virtuous fruits of a human soul connected to the Holy Spirit, blessed by Jesus and dedicated to God.  Who doesn’t look at a forgiving person and think better of him or her, or even call that person Godly?
 
Our forgiveness of others brings peace to us and harkens mercy for others.  Forgiveness is the most effectively self-medicating of all Godly-inspired virtues: we can ordain it, control it, offer it, deliver it, live it and rest in it.
 
Funny thing, though: forgiveness only works if we forget it.  And sins – yours, mine, ours – are hard to forget.  I’ll remember something I’ve forgiven and mentally catalogue that sporadic virtue as a salvational hedge against what I know is my personal litany of past sins, missteps, embarrassments, offenses, annoyances and general wickedness.  Then I notice I haven’t truly forgotten and start over.
 
Thankfully there are many folks who, far better than I, control their pride, anger, fear and appetites. Thankfully, I happen to be married to one.
 
But, as much as any one of us may occasionally keep track of Kingdom-sanctifying virtues – “good works” as they say – the problem with cataloguing our forgiveness of others is that it requires remembering the sins we forgave.  Most likely and perilously, remembrance undoes the blessing of forgiveness in the first place.
 
God’s forgiveness is different from ours because God is perfect and sinless.  God’s character is the ultimate righteousness and glory.  His love is divine.  Good is defined in all His being.  His Kingdom has pearly gates and golden streets.  God sacrificed to the point of death and then defeated death to forgive you and me.
 
Mankind, on the other hand, lives in fallenness, duplicity, chaos and has intermittently good intentions and recurring devious designs.  When we do forgive we don’t typically have sacred skin in the game; we just let go of anger.  God didn’t “just let it go”; Jesus died to cover our sins and was resurrected to give us hope.
 
The fact is humans can’t adequately forgive; we aren’t equipped for it. Only God can forgive, and only through our faith in Jesus can we gain the peace and love true forgiveness brings.  God’s forgiveness is eternal and final; ours is temporal and fragile.
 
Want to truly forgive?  Remember Jesus and forget the offense.
 
Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) notes the surprising number of people who deny Christ and declare some variation of “I can’t forgive God.”  That’s really, really backwards.

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