Spirituality Column #345
June 25, 2013
Current in Carmel – Westfield – Noblesville – Fishers – Zionsville
 
The Bible’s Grasp of Touchy Subjects
By Bob Walters

Spirituality Column #344
June 18, 2013
Current in Carmel-Westfield-Noblesville-Fishers-Zionsville

By Bob Walters
 
Perspicacity means “discernment; clarity of vision or intellect which provides a deep understanding and insight.”

Relevant to the topic at hand, it refers to “praying smart.”  Perspicacity is a good thing to have when approaching the Lord in prayer or petition.

Too often we pray solely because we want stuff.  Or we pray because we want stuff for other people.  And it may be good, legitimate stuff: healing for the sick, food for the hungry, peace for the distraught, success for the discouraged, a job for the unemployed, or God’s wisdom and comfort in dealing with a no-easy-out challenge.    Or even better than any of these, perhaps in our prayer we are asking Jesus to shine His light into a life and help us or others to accept Him as Lord and Savior.

Strictly by the book, these requests are more petition than prayer.  And petition is a fine thing, ordained by Jesus himself in John 14:14: “You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”  Paul reassures us of this often, as in Philippians 4:6: “by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”  I can’t think of a more important petition than to ask for Jesus to come into our lives.

Understand, if John 3:16 is right and you can be assured it is, Jesus is already with us whether or not we ask for it, recognize it, or even believe it.  Praying to accept the gift of God’s grace and salvation in and through Jesus Christ is something better done today than tomorrow, without worrying about definitions of prayers or petitions.  When the spiritual lights come on and faith begins to illuminate our life, definitions become less important than quickening the hope and love of Christ we already possess.

As believers it is worth the time to examine our prayer life and discern whether it is mostly about asking God for stuff, i.e. petition, or mostly about recognizing God’s glory, sovereignty and goodness: that’s prayer, that’s praise, and that’s worship.

In “The Believer’s Prayer” (Acts 4:23-31) the disciples and believers pray to “speak the Lord’s word with great boldness.”  They are praying to God to be enabled to tell others about the majesty, truth and glory of Jesus Christ.  That’s a discerning prayer.

With perspicacity, we learn that prayer should be less about telling God what I need (He already knows) or how great I am (we aren’t), but recognizing what Jesus has done, how great God is, and praying that we can effectively pass the Word.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) apologizes, but “perspicacity” was the most precise and alliterative “P” word he could think of that fit this train of thought.

Spirituality Column #343
June 11, 2013
Current in Carmel–Westfield–Noblesville–Fishers–Zionsville

By Bob Walters

Faith in Christ may arrive in one’s heart suddenly and unexpectedly, and the impatience of addressing an immediate temporal human physical or spiritual need is often the hallmark of Christian action.

But considered patience, not unthinking rashness, is the key to Christian life, understanding and joy.

That’s because Christ is complete and we are not.

Christ offers us the lifelong continuum of an ever growing relationship that eclipses the inconveniences of the moment (see “light and momentary troubles,” 2 Corinthians 4:17) and stretches into the joyful, restful peace of eternity.  We can come upon our faith in a moment, spring into action the moment after that, and always know there is more Kingdom work to do and more about Christ to learn.  Anyone can “be a Christian” right now, but no one can live a Christian life all at once.  Would anyone ever say, “I’m a complete Christian”?  No.   We are, in this life, unfinished business.

The very end of the Gospel of John (21:25) says that if everything Jesus did was written down “the whole world would not have room for the books.”  That tells me not only that Jesus did a lot of stuff but that there is a lot more stuff – infinite and eternal stuff; stuff like loving God, loving others, and witnessing for Christ – for us to do as well.

So much to do and learn, in fact, that patience isn’t likely to be the first thing a Christian learns.

Lifelong Christians may or may not have the same frantic pacing as late-to-the-party believers like me, but they have the same sense of urgency of their faith.  It’s not the urgency of work for work’s sake, but the urgency of love for love’s sake.  And it is patience that ultimately provides the proper Christian perspective and witness of love.

The Bible plainly tells us that love is patient (1 Corinthians 13:4) and that love is a fruit of the spirit, along with peace, patience, kindness, etc. (Galatians 5:22).  Jesus’ love is seen not only in his sacrifice but in his relentless patience: he keeps coming after us.  The best way to demonstrate our Christ-like love is to exhibit patience instead of frustrations with the people, circumstance and things around us.

This is one of those lessons that, as a Christian, I am constantly learning and constantly failing at (see Romans 7:16-20; re: “doing what we know we shouldn’t”).  But when I do occasionally get it right, peace, joy and understanding come into focus.

That’s something worth growing toward.

Even if we never completely succeed, we can trust that Christ already has.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) has patience for, say, Christmas shopping but not for stop lights.  Go figure.

Spirituality Column #342
June 4, 2013
Current in Carmel–Westfield–Noblesville–Fishers–Zionsville

By Bob Walters


Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) recommends friend and preacher Brent Riggs’ awesome and succinct article on Judging (link), or Google “Brent Riggs Don’t Judge.”

Spirituality Column #341
May 28, 2013
Current in Carmel–Westfield–Noblesville–Fishers–Zionsville

By Bob Walters

My maternal grandfather Dr. Alexander R. McKinney (1885-1964) was a kindly, good-humored ophthalmologist – an eye doctor – in Saginaw, Mich.

He was also a field surgeon with the U.S. Army in Europe during World War I.  Among the personal effects my family received after his death was a duffle bag containing various army artifacts – gas mask, dough-boy helmet, knapsack, a cartridge belt and a physician’s “black bag” imprinted with “Capt. A.R. McKinney.”

In 1964 I was 10 years old and the “real army gear” served as coveted playthings for my younger brother Joe and me.  But the most special item showed up years later in the mail from my older sister Linda, who had sorted through my mother’s things after she died in 2003.  It was “Grandpa Doc’s” 1917 army field version of The Gospel of St. John, a shirt-pocket-sized inspirational booklet distributed to millions of soldiers around the globe during “The Great War.”

This particular, apparently well-used artifact has “Dr. A.R. McKinney, MD” written inside the cover, in pencil, in a doctor’s scrawl, just below what appears to be a blood stain at the top of the page.

The small booklet, “Dedicated to Our Soldier Boys,” was British in origin but distributed by The Free Tract Society of “Los Angeles, Calif.  U. S. A.”  On the cover is printed, “Send for samples of literature and as you go, PREACH.”

This “Special Features Edition” contains the fourth Gospel, the 23^rd Psalm, a four-point Plan of Salvation, the Lord’s Prayer (“debts” not “trespasses,” if you’re wondering), hymn lyrics (“Just as I Am,” “Onward Christian Soldiers,” “Rock of Ages” and others), and “Testaments on the Battlefield”: some words of both courage and encouragement meant for soldiers, sailors, and mothers.

“Seventeen millions” Khaki (army) and blue Navy editions, plus other books, were distributed worldwide.  The tract’s stated purpose was to encourage others “to accept not only these Gospels but Jesus Himself as their personal Savior.”

What I don’t know exactly is how this tract book got into my grandfather’s hands, but I have a strong hunch – in fact I have no doubt – that the United States Army was enthusiastically complicit in the books’ arrival into Grandpa Doc’s possession.

With groups today trying to make any witness of Jesus Christ within the US military a court martial offense, I have this thought:

On Memorial Day, we honor those who died for our freedom.  At the top of that list, for all of mankind, is Jesus Christ.  As long as America trusts in God, its defenders must be allowed, if they so choose, to trust in Jesus Christ.

That’s what freedom is all about.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) notes that Grandpa Doc was a devout, teetotaling (non-drinking) Presbyterian.

Spirituality Column #340
May 21, 2013
Current in Carmel–Westfield–Noblesville–Fishers–Zionsville

By Bob Walters


The unsatisfying answer is … there is no way to “know,” at least not like that.

Not if we are demanding answers from God.  Not if we are focused on our own needs.  Not if we are measuring our estimable good works against God’s perfect grace.  Not if we imagine that our salvation in Christ is some sort of transaction, trade, or competitive status symbol.  Not if we think God owes us an explanation.  Not if we are challenging God to hold up His end of the “deal.”  Not if we insist on an answer right this minute or else accuse God of fraud.

That’s the wrong entry to the topic; it’s the worldly door of me-first, off-point, give-me-something-in-return religion.  It amounts to defining God in our image and tantamount to imagining that we carry managerial status in the Kingdom of God.

Salvation doesn’t come from God answering our questions; salvation comes from our having faith in God.  It’s a point the Bible makes repeatedly:

“Jesus said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you, go in peace” (Luke 7:50),

“For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved” (Paul in Romans 10:10),

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Paul in Ephesians 2:8),

“But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved” (Hebrews 10:39).

Faith, you’ll notice, provides the answer to the question, “Am I saved?”  If I trust God that I am, and have faith that I am, then I am, because that’s what the Bible says.

And really, the question should not be, “Am I saved?”  The question should be, “Do I trust God’s faithfulness?”  If we put Jesus first, and if we put our neighbor first – truly, truly put them first (Luke 10:27) – then we won’t have the time, the inclination, or the need to check on our soteriological status.  We’ll already be living the Kingdom life.

Remember, it’s not enough to merely “believe” – even Satan believes in Jesus (Matthew 4), but Satan is out for his own glory, not God’s.  We must love, worship, glorify, trust, and as best we can, obey God.  This is where our joy in the Lord resides.

On the cross, Jesus did the heavy lifting of salvation.  For His sake, He did His job well.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) notes that many people who argue about salvation don’t really believe in salvation.

Spirituality Column #339
May 14, 2013
Current in Carmel–Westfield–Noblesville–Fishers–Zionsville

By Bob Walters

An intelligent but dependably maddening uber-liberal Facebook friend recently posted a thought on “traditional marriage.”

Ordinarily not one to quote the Bible, he nonetheless cited 1 Kings 11:3: “(Solomon) had seven hundred wives …and three hundred concubines.”  My friend expresses “a lot more of a problem with that” (Solomon’s nuptials) than with modern “marriage equality.”  Why shouldn’t two people of the same gender marry, he reasons, since it won’t affect “anyone else’s life, let alone heterosexual marriage”?

On the one hand, my friend is in complete agreement with God, who also had a problem with Solomon’s multiple wives and concubines.  But the Bible’s lesson about Solomon’s wives doesn’t center on marriage; it centers ultimately on the sin of turning away from God and worshipping pagan idols.  Solomon’s wives were no blessing from God; they were the forbidden fruit of Solomon’s earthly wealth.  In reading the entire verse, we learn that Solomon’s foreign “wives led him astray.”



Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) understands there are diverse social and political views, but doesn’t understand why so many folks consistently resist the Bible’s authority but persistently insist on quoting from it.