Friends: There is a chance I may have been wrong about "no sports" in heaven …God had good reasons for creating us as He did.  Blessings, Bob

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Spirituality Column #915

May 28, 2023

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Sporting Chance

By Bob Walters

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” - Proverbs 3:5-6

A couple months ago in this space I floated an interrogative for consideration, “Are there sports in heaven?” (Link “#907-Sporting Spirit,” 4-2-24).

Though on its surface the question appears rhetorical, it nonetheless speaks to the potential differences of the Kingdom “here” vs. the Kingdom “there.”  My general thought was that heaven – though unknown – will be perfect in ways we cannot imagine and that our humanity will be completed in ways only our full, divine life in Christ can reveal. The mystery will be lifted.

I think that’s what Genesis 1:27 means: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” To me there is some logic in thinking that life in this earthly realm – fallen, prideful, greedy, sinful … you know the list – requires our constant comparison and scoring system with each other. I.e., life as a scorebook, not the book of life.

Love – divine love, agape love – isn’t about worldly comparison, or being better at something than someone else, or winning worldly accolades.  God’s love, in humans is about humility, righteousness, sacrifice and living life in Christ’s image with full faith in Jesus’s identity as Savior, Messiah, Christ, Son of God, fully human, fully God.  It’s living with love for God and others, not jealousy of God and others.

The first depiction is Christlikeness; the second one is Satan.  Satan knows all that we know about Christ – probably more – but Satan lacks love, and there4 is the difference.  God is love, while Satan hates God, undermines humanity, and is jealous of all creation that loves God, and vice versa.

But I digress.  My earlier point was that sports would be unnecessary in heaven, or if we played sports or competed it would be for the joy of human expression of God’s image.  Not “I win!” or “We’re Number One!” but “We are one in Christ, and look at these gifts of expression and talent. Praise God!”

It occurs to me a good church is like that: shared love, creativity, joy, and sacrifice.

So, in a nutshell, God’s image, which humans fully attain in heaven with Christ, doesn’t require competition because that life and our humanity has become perfect.

God’s judgment, righteousness, and love, yes.  Human competition, no. Joy, yes.  Pain, no.

Now, I’m still convinced heaven will be perfect, but I’m not so sure I was right about competition; competition may be part of God’s original design. Enter Edith Stein, and hear me out.

Stein’s is a name that rang a bell when I encountered it last week in a First Things article, but I didn’t remember why or where I had heard it.  Turns out she was an early 20^th century German Jewish philosopher (1891-1942) and her story is fascinating.

Born a German orthodox Jew in an area that is now Poland, Stein as a teenager renounced her faith, became an atheist, and then while studying at Germany’s famed Göttingen University, converted to Catholicism. She became a Carmelite nun, philosopher, and spiritual writer executed in 1942 by the Nazis at Auschwitz because of her Jewish roots. She was later canonized by the Church as a saint and martyr, and is one of the six patron saints of Europe.

That biographical snippet aside, the article I read was (LINK) Masculinity Is Tragic, a relatively brief but highly relevant observation about modern “therapeutic masculinity” that undermines man’s natural, i.e., God-ordained, tendencies (modern feminists will hate the article; Jordan Peterson fans will love it).  Quoting Stein in her 1931 essay/lecture, Separate Vocations for Men and Women:

“Man was called by his original God-given vocation to be master of the created world. Hence, his body and soul are equipped to conquer it.” (KC Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker … call your office.)

Article author James Diddams adds, “Masculinity requires competition, against oneself and others … victory and mastery mean nothing without the risk of defeat.” Diddams calls Christ the “archetype of perfected humanity” – remember what I said about heaven and perfection? – “and presents the fullest model of masculinity.”  

“There will still be men and women in the new heaven and earth with masculine and feminine features,” Diddams adds, “but those natures will be sanctified, transcending even their prelapsarian [before the fall] perfection.”  Sure.  If God created us as heirs in his image, why would the end, I mean, eternity, be different from the beginning? Diddams writes a compelling refutation of “modern” masculinity.

Everyone’s image of heaven is unique, and as I mentioned in my previous column (#907), friend and pastor Dave Faust insists that whatever is out there in eternity with Jesus waiting for us, we won’t be disappointed. As for me I don’t think I’d mind hearing, beyond the pearly gates, a nice rousing, “Play Ball!”

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) highly recommends the FT article (link) and recently ordered a Butker jersey.

Friends:  It’s my birthday week, the last week of school, Indianapolis 500 weekend coming up with family in town, Memorial Day, summer beckons … why not say something outrageous about the Cross of Christ? See the column below. Blessings, Bob

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Spirituality Column #914

May 21, 2024

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Cross Off 70

By Bob Walters

“The days of our years are three-score years and ten ...” – Psalm 90:10

There you have it.  Psalm 90 says we will live 70 years. If I wake up Thursday morning, May 23, I will have proven the Bible correct, celebrating the big Seven-O.

Psalm 90 goes on to say that strength may give us 80 years, but the whole of Psalm 90 is not about the glories of old age but the pitifulness of our overall lives.  God’s been watching us, the psalmist – believed to be Moses – says, and God is not impressed. Our days are “toil and trouble,” Moses prays, “… and they are soon gone.”

Shortly thereafter, he entreats of God, “…teach us to number our days so that we may get a heart of wisdom” (90:14). God delivered that “heart of wisdom” fifteen hundred years later in the living, human and divine person of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Jesus is our “heart of wisdom.”  Living a long life will not give us wisdom; not the kind of wisdom for which the psalmist pleads: the wisdom of God, not the wisdom of man.  It is one of a gazillion Old Testament phrases that speaks directly to man’s only source of relationship with the wisdom of God, and of God Himself: Jesus Christ.

The Old Testament, throughout, sets us up to know and appreciate Christ.

The New Testament reveals the new life and covenant in the wisdom of Christ.

James 1:5 says that if any of us lacks wisdom, to ask God for it, “…who gives generously to all without reproach.”  God gave us Jesus Christ so we would pursue wisdom – in Christ – that transcends this life and bridges into eternity. And we traverse that evil-to-good bridge by the grace of the person of Christ, who actually is the bridge.

And speaking of that bridge, as I wander ever closer to the next bridge from this life to eternity, for my birthday I thought I’d say something true, but maybe outrageous.

Here goes.  Not long ago I was watching a Bible expositor draw that familiar sketch of the Cross spanning a chasm between the world and heaven, death and life, dark and light, evil and good. Condemnation, fear, guilt, sin, lies, and hell on the left; salvation, love, grace, forgiveness, truth, and the Kingdom of God on the right. 

Let me first say: “A wise man’s heart inclines to the right, but the heart of a fool to the left.” says Ecclesiastes 10:2.  But that theological drawing of the left-to-right bridge over the chasm to transcendent God?  That bridge is not the cross of Christ; that bridge is the person of Christ. Our relationship with God – salvation – depends on Christ alone.

Somehow, dependably, most of humanity loves the dark and hates the light, says Jesus (John 3:19).  We go left when the Bible says go right. Our hearts and deeds are evil, Jesus is saying.  And we prefer they remain unknown, in the dark, on the cross.

But … we are not saved by the cross. We are not saved by the Bible.  We are not saved by church. We are not saved by baptism.  We are saved by the person of Jesus Christ: His love, His grace, His obedience, and the blood of His covenant with God.

The other stuff is important: the tools of our knowing. The cross is an example.  The Bible is our guidebook.  The church is His body. Baptism is the gift of signing on to the promises of Jesus – heart, mind, body, and soul.  But salvation.  O! … salvation.

Salvation is a relationship with a real person, Jesus, and comes from no earthly relic, event, idea, or deed. The supremacy and sufficiency of Christ is unchallenged

In the Holy Spirit, we know that our salvation resides in Christ alone. Outrageous!

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) knows his birthdate – “5-23-1954” – better now than at any previous time of his life because of how often healthcare providers ask for it.  Psalm 90, by the way, is considered the oldest Psalm as the Jews wandered Sinai.  P.S. – I have written much about the Cross since beginning this weekly column / blog in November 2006. Here are 12 on the Cross, in order, my blog search button says are the best. Click on the number to see the column. #812 and #640 are my favorites (on PCs it's "control-click" on the link).

650 4-30-19 – Life Beyond the Cross (Preparing for eternity)

651 5-7-19 – Living at the Cross (The Cross is closer than we think)

652 5-14-19 – At the Foot of the Cross (Jesus lives; how do we live?

812 6-5-22 – Person to Person *** (The saving personhood of Jesus)

640 2-19-19 – Cross Purposes *** (Purpose of the Cross)

692 2-17-20 – Close Call (Church)

862 5-23-23 – Just Like That (Lessons of the Cross, and last year’s birthday)

750 3-29-21 – Father, Forgive Them (Jesus on the Cross)

663 7-30-19 – For My Sake (Understanding the Cross)

287 5-15-12 – Sin and God’s Saving’s Plan (My sins on the Cross)

527 12-20-16 – The Cross, Christmas, and Freedom (Strength of the Cross)

393 5-25-14 – Defining Moments (Importance of the Cross, and my 60^th birthday)

 

Friends: Heaven and hell are real, and we've probably seen glimpses of them in this life. See the column below.  Blessings, Bob

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Spirituality Column #913

May 14, 2024

Common Christianity / Uncommon Christianity

Almost Heaven

By Bob Walters

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” – Ephesians 1:3

Heaven isn’t that far away.

Christians see glimpses of it all the time; just like we routinely see glimpses of hell. Seeing heaven is as easy as accepting the saving grace of Jesus Christ; hell is no more distant than the sin nature of humanity.  We think heaven and hell are the exclusive province of the “afterlife.”  I beg to disagree.

Heavenly realms and hellish despair are eternal, and here we are living in the present. The “present” being the place, C.S. Lewis wrote, “where eternity touches time.”

Thanks to Jesus, we do not live – in this life – apart from eternal God.  We can certainly refuse to believe in God, and many ridicule the idea of Jesus Christ dying for our sins to restore fallen humanity’s relationship with its loving Creator God. But neither my faith, nor another’s disbelief, has any effect on the fact and truth of God, or Jesus.

God is Who He is regardless of what any of us think.  The truth that our faith in Jesus opens our lives, spirits, minds, and souls to a Godly, “heavenly” experience in the here and now is perhaps the most overlooked gift a Christian has.

Ephesians 1:3, above, is Paul’s greeting in his letter to Ephesus.  It was the first Bible verse I memorized upon coming to faith a few years back, probably because it spoke in my heart of a constant spiritual lift that faith in Jesus provides. Did it mean spiritual blessings after we die? No … I learned that as an heir in Christ, death no longer is the province of “blessings” but of sonship with God Almighty through the will of Jesus.

Once we get to heaven, I am saying, we no longer discern blessings; only love.

I once read a devotional by Ray Stedman about the verse. It spoke of “heavenly realms” as “… a reference to the invisible realities of our life now … realities that certainly reach into eternity but are something to be experienced in ones inner life, ones thought life, where we feel conflict and pressure; struggle and disaster. Dark spirits can frighten us, but the ‘heavenlies’ are not only a realm of conflict but also where God reaches us at the seat of our intellect, emotions, and our will.”

I’d venture that most Christians have had these deep-seated experiences, even if they weren’t sure what to make of them.  I wasn’t sure, but then as faith grew and life wrapped securely around Jesus, another of Paul’s great lines clicked: “Pray continually” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).  When we live life as a prayer – as a constant relationship with and faith in Jesus – we live each day, in grace, touching blessed heavenly realms.

Knowing these realms is the experiential bedrock of my faith.  It is an experience I assume of, and share with, other Christians.  Yet they are realms impossible to explain to a nonbeliever.  This living part of our faith is so personal in Christ, and so convincing.

“How do you know?” is, I believe, among Satan’s favorite questions.  The hell and doubt we discern amid our mortality can dependably be laid at the fiery altar of sin.  The peace, strength, and comfort we know in Christ are real, often invisible, and loving.

Never read “heavenly realms” as something out in space somewhere, beyond the grasp of our daily, living faith. These blessings are ours now in our inner experience.

And they come to us, Stedman assures, “in one great package in Christ.”

“Be not afraid,” Jesus constantly advises. Heaven is as close as our love.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) deeply appreciates the “thin spaces” communion meditation Ed Simcox did a few years ago; places where heaven and earth nearly meet. His new book, He Leadeth Me, includes that meditation (p. 224) and is available at the E91 Church bookstore, Indianapolis. BTW, the song bouncing around in your head because of this column’s title is “Take Me Home, Country Roads” by John Denver (1971).

Friends: No prisoner of shyness or doubt, the dependable advice and leadership of Ed Simcox has been a blessing to nearly 50 years of Indiana Christians. And now, he’s written a book, He Leadeth Me. See the column below. Blessings, Bob

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Spirituality Column #912

May 7, 2024

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Led by Faith

By Bob Walters

“Do you play golf?” “No, I visit prisons.” – Ed Simcox, from his new book, He Leadeth Me

A few years ago, a friend of mine – a Christian – was serving a federal prison sentence for business fraud complicity, and I had no idea how to encourage him.

Hence, I did the most normal thing I could think of: ask Ed Simcox for advice.

Ed’s advice – as a longtime board member of Prison Fellowship Ministries – was heartfelt, immediate, and simple: write letters to your friend.  Mail “on the inside” is treasured, Ed said.  So, for nearly two years I wrote weekly personal letters to my friend, and sent along a copy of my weekly column until his early parole – thank you, Covid.  Amid few positives of the pandemic, my friend’s early return home was one of them.

“Ed Simcox” is one of those Indiana names that rings a bell with most, let’s say, more mature Hoosiers, even if they can’t quite place specifics or where they heard it.  Ed, an attorney and perennial state Republican Party organizer and leader, was Indiana’s 55^th Secretary of State (elected, not appointed) from 1978-1986.

I know Ed from church, East 91^st Street Christian Church here in Indianapolis, where he has served multiple terms as an elder, elder chairman, fundraiser, Sunday school teacher, and frequent presenter of the church’s weekly communion meditation. Each meditation Ed presents is a master class on the body and blood of Christ.

But that’s local stuff. Ed has served in the big game of state, national, and international Christian issues.  He was a 29-year executive board member of Chuck Colson’s international Prison Fellowship Ministries, the longest serving board member in the organization’s history. I was thankful to lean on his counsel with my friend in trouble.

Ed, given his years of service, understandably affords Prison Fellowship Ministries top billing in the compilation of his life’s work, but there is so much more.  

He was the long-time chair of the annual Indiana Leadership Prayer Breakfast. He also chaired the 1999 Indianapolis Billy Graham Crusade, and was one of only a handful of Hoosiers, along with Vice President and Mrs. Mike Pence, who attended Graham’s North Carolina funeral, March 2, 2018.

Ed is a humble guy with a humbling CV.  Political, Christian, career, and legal entries abound. He was president of the Indiana Energy Association from 1986-2010, has been bestowed by Indiana governors eight – eight! – elite Sagamore of the Wabash citations for various leadership accomplishments. Ed was on Pence’s personal prayer team during his 2016 presidential election and subsequent term as vice president. 

Ed’s just-out book, He Leadeth Me – the title an obvious nod to Psalm 23:3, “He leadeth me beside still waters…” (KJV) – more-or-less chronicles Ed’s enormous leadership talents.  But the book isn’t about that.  It is a loving offering of his gifts for writing deeply perceptive Christian devotionals, meditations, and speeches.

The book is a gold mine of quotes and stories – highly relatable, often famous, and always intriguing – through the Kingdom lens of one of Christ’s front line soldiers.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) is among the E91 communion meditation presenters (so is his wife Pam), but Ed is one of the guys they save for special occasions (Easter, Christmas, etc.), along with Ken Nelson, Rick Justice, and John Samples.  When any of them speak, Walters takes notes.

Friends: The test of a Christian isn’t being forgiven; we already are.  The test is in forgiving others.  Here’s one for the books.

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Spirituality Column #911

April 30, 2024

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Five Crowns

By Bob Walters

“To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.” – C.S. Lewis

We’re going to hit many bases today and it all begins with the fact that twice in the past week I’ve stumbled onto accounts of WWII holocaust survivor Corrie ten Boom.

Corrie’s is a familiar name in evangelical circles, though I must admit until this week I only knew her name, not of her family’s – and her own – heroics and courage defending Jews in the face of Nazi extermination. They hid Jews in their Christian home in Haarlem, Netherlands, and her father, mother, and sister died in Nazi death camps.

Corrie survived, preached Christ the rest of her life, and wrote The Hiding Place.

After the war ten Boom traveled Europe – including post-war Germany – and the world, including several appearances with Billy Graham Crusades in America and elsewhere, with a Christian witness of hope, peace, survival, fortitude, and forgiveness. 

Once, after Corrie spoke at a church in post-war Germany, a man approached her with glowing admiration and a confession of deep contrition in his new life now ablaze in Christ.  Corrie froze; she recognized him as a death camp guard, a Nazi charged with observing the women’s showers where Corrie had been held captive.

In that moment of paralyzing non-forgiveness, she called on Christ to release her from her hate. Upon finally grasping the man’s hand extended in apology, Corrie felt the Spirit travel through her body and arm when she clasped the man’s hand, giving her peace … and forgiveness she thought she’d never bestow. Such is the power of Christ.

Her “forgiveness” story is one for all time. She became great friends with Cliff Barrows, Billy’s trusted friend and companion on countless Crusades for Jesus. Upon her death in 1983, Barrows wrote a devotional tribute to her on …

“… the five crowns this little woman wore in her life and ministry:

·      The crown of righteousness from 1 Timothy 4 given to those who love His appearing.

·      The crown of exultation from 1 Thessalonians 2, the soul winner’s crown.

·      The crown of life from James 1:2, reserved for those in great trials of faith.

·      The martyr’s crown for those who died for Christ.

·      And the crown of glory from 1 Peter 5 reserved for the under shepherds of the flock who lead and teach what the Bible has to say.

“Five magnificent crowns worn by prisoner #66730 who Christ forgave and to whom He gave a limitless capacity to forgive others.

“C.S. Lewis got it right. ‘To be Christian,’ he said, ‘means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.’”

This quote comes from my friend Ed Simcox’s new book, He Leadeth Me, a truly remarkable collection of devotions, meditations, prayers, and stories of his Christian life steeped in service, reflection, and leadership.  I’ll talk more about Ed’s book next week.

Also, First Things magazine last week posted a review (FT link) of a new biography about ten Boom, The Watchmaker's Daughter: The True Story of World War II Heroine Corrie ten Boom by Larry Loftis. Two “ten Boom” sightings in one week.

Unlike many of you who know the story, I had previously known little about ten Boom. But those “five crowns” were assuredly well placed in the soul of this saint.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) notes another Netherlands’ WWII heroine, Anne Frank.

Friends: Dave Faust’s new book Not Too Old has a lively message for everyone. Here’s what it said to me. See the column below. The book is available at (links) Amazon and CollegePress+audio or at E91’s bookstore (a better deal, $20).

Have a great read … I mean, a great week! 

Blessings, Bob

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Spirituality Column #910

April 23, 2024

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Living on Purpose

By Bob Walters

“Your soul gets a do-over when you accept Christ.” – Dave Faust, in his new book, Not Too Old.

Dave Faust’s new book, Not Too Old (Turning Your Later Years into Greater Years), is different: it is the first book on aging I have ever wanted to read.

Let me start by saying the above “soul” quote is cherry picked from one of Dave’s many informative sidebars (page 261) and is reflective of the book’s great information, advice, wisdom, memorable phrasing, and scriptural and human citations. You see, Dave – then senior minister at East 91^st Street Christian Church in Indianapolis – performed my baptism in 2001, when I was 47, and so was he. We are only a month apart in birthdays.

Anyway, Dave’s construct of a soul “do-over” resonates with me. I live it, with thanks, daily.

While that line struck a personal chord, the book is far more than merely an exercise in “Do you know Jesus?” It is a gold-mine of Christian, biblical, and this-world perspective on living long and living well, in faith and with purpose, on grief and compassion, on funerals, changes, and challenges.

The “senior citizen” basics – retirement, health, finance, wills, funeral planning, etc. – are addressed with Christian wisdom, but those topics are also available everywhere.  Call your HR department, doctor, financial advisor, lawyer, or funeral director. The marketplace info is the same.

But I’m telling you, this book on life’s later years is different because Dave is different.

After my baptism, I asked Dave to help me get involved at our church.  A month or so later I was invited to join the new “Facilities and Land Use Committee” to assess a church growth need.  The committee – Dave wasn’t on it – turned out to be mostly elders and other lions of the church who were burdened to figure out how E91 could accommodate 10,000 or more weekly attendees because Dave’s excellence as a preacher of Gospel Truth drew multitudes; he was different. The faithful flocked in. I was awed, and learned much about the church. Music, btw, wasn’t mentioned.

That was early 2002, and late spring Dave was called to become president of Cincinnati Christian University, his alma mater, and the committee’s work went fallow.  

Nonetheless, I stayed in touch with Dave as a friend, preacher, educator, and kindred fellow-writer over the decades which now gave me an enthused push to see what new he had to say on my heretofore discounted subject of “aging” about which I generally had been unenthused. Here’s why.  

I figure I already know how to get old – I’m scheduled to turn 70 in May (Dave in June) – and “aging,” previously in life, was not something on which I wanted to get ahead of myself.  Just like you (possibly), I believe I have become my own sovereign expert on the subject of “I am getting old.”

What Dave is an expert on, and so richly blesses us with in this 287 page book, is scriptural perspective and life stories and interviews that have made him a beloved preacher and pastor over 50 years.  Scripture abounds, interviews (Bill Gaither!) fascinate, and personal testimonies resonate.  The anecdote on E91’s now-departed Russ and Marian Blowers (page 258) made me sob fondly.

Dave and his wife Candy returned to the E91 family in 2014, when Dave felt his time at CCU had been fulfilled and E91 was in need of a friendly, familiar, calm, and steady assist in a turbulent time. At age 60, Dave returned as – and approaching 70 remains – E91’s Senior Associate Minister.

Dave says it was his journey into his 60s that sparked inspiration for the book.  His kindness-infused personality joins his writing gift for the “turn-of-a-phrase” fashioning a warmly enjoyable read.  There is scripture for virtually every paragraph, a study guide after each chapter, and familiar anecdotes about folks we know.  Not Too Old is not the same old thing about the same “old” thing.

Life and aging are intensely personal, and no two lives age in precisely the same way: surprises abound.  Not Too Old is a treasure chest of faith, what to say and how to say it, and what scripture says and doesn’t say about the final leg of life’s journey as our time heads into eternity.

God’s purpose pursues us to the end, and that is an encouraging message for any age.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) notes that E91 is hosting a church book signing with Dave this Sunday near the Resource Room (bookstore). At church the books are $20 (cash, card, or check, including tax and eliminating shipping). But in this case, it’s about the message, not the money. 

Friends: Understanding God’s love is perhaps life’s greatest mystery and humanity’s greatest gift. The Bible tells us so.  See the column below.  Have a great week!  Blessings, Bob

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Spirituality Column #909

April 16, 2024

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Love is the Greatest

By Bob Walters

“And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.” – 1 Corinthians 13:13

This verse, 1 Cointhians 13:13, is the one that hooked me my first day in church.

Russ Blowers was preaching – September 2, 2001 – on his 50^th anniversary of tending the flock at East 91^st Street Christian Church in Indianapolis. I was an unbeliever somehow in church (sitting in the back row), and Russ said, approximately:

“We learn faith from the past, we have hope in the future, but we have love in the present.”  Learning later that C.S. Lewis wrote, “… the present is where eternity touches time” (The Screwtape Letters), the idea, well, the reality, that God is Love, God is eternal, and God stepped into the present in the form of his Son Jesus Christ, solved Russ’s words and put my esteem of love’s stature in theology at the head of the line.

There are dozens of personal, corollary stories (rabbit trails, my wife calls them) that could stretch the above three paragraphs into days of self-reflection, but I recently learned something new – a brilliant perspective – on all that 1 Corinthians 13 says about love with a nearly perfect blending of Paul’s “fruits of the Spirit” in Galatians 5:22-23.

First Corinthians 13:4-8 says “Love is patient, kind, does not envy, does not boast, is not proud, does not dishonor others, is not self-seeking, not easily angered, keeps no records of wrong, does not delight in evil, rejoices in truth, and always protects, trusts, hopes, and perseveres.”

Galatians 5:22-23 says, “the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”

My friend Craig Streett, at a recent E91 Mustard Seed Bible class, shared the following handwritten card stuffed in his Bible from a lesson long ago.  Its precis was this: Love is the chief and true fruit of the Spirit, and all other fruits flow from love.

Note: this doesn’t divide the fruits, but we must never divide love, because God is love and we mustn’t divide God.  But what about Father, Son, Spirit?”  My advice is to consider the math problem of the Holy Trinity – 3 in 1, 1 in 3 – as multiplication, i.e., 1x1x1=1, that gives us a loving community of one, not a divided crowd of three. 

So, without division, notice how these two “truth” and “fruit” passages of Paul’s sync up pretty well when love takes the lead over all fruits of the Spirit. Here’s the note:

         “The fruit of the Spirit is love …

1.    Joy is love’s strength.

2.    Peace is love’s security.

3.    Longsuffering is love’s patience.

4.    Kindness is love’s conduct.

5.    Goodness is love’s character.

6.    Faithfulness is love’s confidence.

7.    Gentleness is love’s humility.

8.    Self-control is love’s victory.

Against such as these there is no law.”

When we see love’s fruits in our lives, we have love’s gifts in our hearts.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) believes this list originated with BibleProject.com. And ... next week we'll review Dave Faust's new book "Not Too Old, Turning your Later Years into Greater Years." Available at Amazon and CollegePress. E91 has planned a book signing session with Dave Sunday, April 28, where books will also be available.