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July 22, 2013

Peace... Be STILL!

[Image: Beach, 2005, JA Van Devender]

Location: Ocean City, MD.

Luke 8:24

²⁴ .....Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water. And they ceased, and there was a calm.

It's an interesting fact that a raging sea is terrifying but the rythmic sounds of gentle waves caressing the beach are among the most soothing on earth.

I can only imagine the effect that Jesus' rebuke of the storm and the resulting calm must have had on the disciples. The Scriptures tell us that when He did so they were amazed and "very afraid." To stand in the presence of a man who can command the wind and the seas and have them instantly obey would in fact terrify the strongest human heart. But the metaphor, the acted out parable of this event, is not contained by that image. What lies behind this story is the way it represents the very creative, reconciling character of our Triune God Himself.

"In the beginning..." God's Holy Spirit "hovered" over the face of the deep, in the midst of black darkness, and into that terrifying reality God "spoke"... He commanded... and light burst forth. God is the God who breaks the power of darkness and replaces it with light and life. It was through the same power that Moses spoke and the waves parted and the pathway of salvation stretched out before the children of Israel. God is the God who saves from the powers of sin and death and opens up hope in the face of hopelessness.

When Jesus spoke to the wind and waves He spoke from out of a context of God speaking into chaos and bringing forth order, peace, calm and comfort.

In the speaking, in the command, we also may be confronted with the awesome reality of this Man who is our Lord and God. Our lives may be "out of control" and being swamped by the breaking waves that may indeed threaten to sink us and bring us down. It may very well be that we cry out to the Lord God of Heaven and Earth and turn to His Son in the midst of our fears. And it may very well be that, at what may be long last, He answers... and He speaks... and with relative suddenness we are confronted with a whole new reality.

He IS... what had seemed so strange and impossible before is now apparent to our renewed vision. There IS a God of heaven and earth, and He IS vitally interested in the affairs of men... and He DOES act to demonstrate His power and leave men and women without excuse before Him. And the strangest and most terrifying aspect of it all, when first encountered, is how He brings peace where previously was only chaos and confusion. More than one fallen sinner has entered into a state of confusion... amazement... disorientation by this revelation at the moment. More than one has required a period of adjustment... of getting used to the strange new world that now glimmers before their eyes. More than one has likened it to being "born again" from the dead.

A calm beach may seem normal but it is the expression of the power of God to order the waves and release them only in due season. It is a profitable thing to ponder.

Posted by Gadfly on July 22, 2013 at 09:09 AM in Devotional Meditation | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

July 21, 2013

Preparation for Worship... Stayed Upon Jehovah...

[Image: Like A River Glorious, 2013, JA Van Devender]

Isaiah 26:3 (KJV)

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee.

Hymn: Like a River Glorious...

"Like a river glorious, Is God's perfect peace, Over all victorious In its bright increase; Perfect, yet it floweth Fuller ev'ry day, Perfect, yet it groweth Deeper all the way."

What a beautiful metaphor for God's perfect peace... a river flowing victoriously down the path God has laid out for it. How many times have I sat by a river, on a rock one time that I particularly remember, and had the gentle sounds of flowing water, calmly gurgling by, impart its peace to my own soul. How universal that experience must be to have it so readily adopted by Francis Havergal in her beloved hymn. And then to have those words of Isaiah steal slowly into my consciousness.

"Thou" will keep him in perfect peace.... The river of peace flows from God and is an expression of His very Person. He is peace as He is love as He is faithfulness itself. All good things come from Him (James 1:17) and flow from Him in delightful effusion. We receive these gifts, in a manner of speaking, by "staying" upon Him... by acknowledging Him for Who and What He is. To "stay" is to fix securely, to situate immovably, to center upon fixedly. To "stay" on Jehovah is to fix Him securely in our hearts and our minds, diligently making Him the center of our thoughts, and then discovering, in due proportion, that those good things... especially peace... flow blessedly from Him and for us.

And this "Keeps" us in peace. To meet the Sabbath morning with this thought. To know that God goes not only before me, but with me and behind me, in all that lies ahead. To understand that His peace will surround me through that focused "staying" on Him and that the essential assurance that nothing can separate me from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus will impart its settled, humble, confidence to my soul. I often say that my job is "just to show up." Such it is when, if stayed upon Jehovah, I know that it is His work that is being done, His fruit that is being harvested, and His providence that is being served.

That is perfect peace... and it flows like a mighty river, victoriously unstoppable, over, around and through all that is in its path.

Today we celebrate reception of 3 new families, one an adult profession of faith by a new convert and baptism, and the covenant baptism of three infants. "Perfect yet it floweth, fuller every day, perfect yet it groweth, deeper all the way."

Praise be to God for His wonderful works to the children of men. (Ps. 107)

Posted by Gadfly on July 21, 2013 at 06:48 AM in Worship | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

July 20, 2013

Good Morning, Miss Paige, Welcome into the Family of God.

[Image: Miles & Miles, 2013, JA Van Devender]

Genesis 32:10 (NKJV)

¹⁰ I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which You have shown Your servant; for I crossed over this Jordan with my staff, and now I have become two companies.

Our newest grand-daughter was born this morning bringing the total to seven (5g & 2b). In many respects Paige will encounter a far different world than I had before me when I opened my eyes to the light for the first time almost 67 years ago, though the fundamentals of human nature will remain the same. She is born into a nation where hope, as it was present in the late 1940's, is no longer the prevailing tone. She starts off with many advantages absent from my birth circumstances. Both financially and socially she is already far better situated. God has brought her into a loving home with solid spiritual values and two committed parents and a base network of extended family, on both sides, that will exert great influence on her throughout her formative years.

What she doesn't know yet, but I pray that she learns early on, is that she, herself, is proof of God's faithfulness and that she is also heiress to the same promise and hope that her own very life represents.

When Jacob previously had crossed the Jordan/Jabbok river confluence, fleeing from his brother Esau's somewhat justified wrath, many years earlier, he had nothing, literally, but the shirt on his back and the staff in his hand. He was heir to all the promises of God but the land that stretched out before him was somewhat desolate and forbidding. Walking under that hot sun through a baked landscape, beneath that "big sky" which so intimidates our souls when we encounter it, he must have felt his own insignificance in a very deep and personal manner. Life stretching out before him presented the prospect of great difficulties, challenges, temptations (in the face of which he had shown a decided propensity to fall) and struggles. He was alone in many ways.

Sure he had "family" to seek out but he was the "poor cousin" who was at his uncle Laban's mercy. In fact he was begging and would be treated with only a bit greater respect than a servant.

What Jacob had... perhaps all that he had... was a promise. For some reason, certainly not based on his own merit, God had extended His promised intention to bless to Jacob. This was all he had and the story of Jacob's life demonstrates that this was ultimately, all he needed.

Jacob now faced the prospects of Esau's abiding resentment and anger but he was no longer alone and he was no longer "worthless." Where he had nothing before, now he was able to send immense treasures ahead of him as presents to his brother... offerings to demonstrate his repentance and desire for reconciliation. Now he had a family... a tribe if you will... of his own. He had wives and children, servants, extensive property and a reputation for being a man of substance and wise stewardship. He still faced issues of his own character... in this life they never go completely away. He had yet to face the Angel of the Lord in a curious wrestling match that invites, even demands, long pondering thought and precludes any simplistic explanation. He had yet to undergo that specific test of his own faith such as that his grandfather Abraham had faced when commanded to sacrifice Jacob's own father Isaac so many years ago. Every covenant child, though heir to all the promises of God, will find that there are turning points in their lives, sometimes one specific one that stands above all others, that cannot be understood any other way than as a time to "wrestle with God." That was still in front of him... though he didn't know it when he muttered the words above.

But those very words demonstrate the providence and wisdom of God. They prove that Jacob was ready for that test. His faith was now registered in that essential humility that comes when a man or a woman knows... beyond a shadow of a doubt... that they have been blessed far beyond measure by a God whose love they do not deserve but Who remains faithful to His promise even when our own stupidity well justifies other treatment.

He had crossed "this Jordan" previouly with only his staff... now... praise God... he was "two companies."

Young Miss Paige, this is the God whose covenant you are born into and the blessings of which you, yourself, along with your cousins, your parents, your aunts and uncles, represent: the continuing faithfulness He shows to those whom He has called unto Himself through the Gospel of His Son, Jesus, the Christ of God. You will have to face, in whatever way it presents itself, the forbidding aspect of life in a fallen world. You will have to learn what it means, at some point, to feel as if you have nothing but the promise of God to sustain you. In God's providence, it is my hope and faith, that what He will show you is that this is entirely sufficient. The great advantages you have, physically far more abundant than I had at first, are both blessings and potential pitfalls. As God leads you in the path that He has set out before you from before the beginning of time, like Jacob before you, He will do whatever is necessary to humble you in the face of the great riches of His blessing. And at some point, I trust, that He will remind you, as He has done me this morning... that the promise is to you and to your children... even unto the third and fourth generation. May His care and faithfulness, so abundantly clear to me on this your birth day, stretch out to beckon you onward as you walk with Him, like the cool prospect of a towering mountain standing tall in the distance.

Posted by Gadfly on July 20, 2013 at 08:04 AM in Devotional Meditation, Human Interest | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

July 19, 2013

Friendship...

[Bittersweet, 2005, JA Van Devender]

Location: Hattiesburg, MS.

2 Samuel 1:19 (NKJV)

¹⁹ “The beauty of Israel is slain on your high places!

How the mighty have fallen!

From Montaigne, Essays, On Friendship...

The ancient Menander declared him to be happy that had had the good fortune to meet with but the shadow of a friend....

There is perhaps not other word in the English language that has suffered such degradation in meaning and importance as the word "friend." I don't particularly intend to furnish a detailed examination of all the words that have undergone such deterioration and prove the uniqueness or extent to which this particular word has suffered, I shall just simply state it and let the "nit-pickers" have their fun.

From the so-called "social networks" through modern colloquial conversation, the idea of "friend" has so merged with "acquaintance" to the point that both are essentially meaningless.

I met a very charming young lady yesterday. She was just turning six and she was waiting in the dentist office as was I. I engaged her in conversation and she was most happy to talk about things. In her fire-hose manner she gushed about this and that, her plans for the summer, her swimming lessons and how much she loved them, and how she loved to spend time with her "BFF." Being ancient and entirely at a loss, I asked her what a "BFF" was. She looked at me with that moderate astonishment that rises in us when we encounter an alien life form and said "Best Friend Forever, of course." Duly chastened I said "of course" and she gaily rambled on to other subjects.

It occurs to me, that taken on face value, the general appreciation this young lady had for her "BFF" pretty much sums up that which really is, or should be, our understanding of "friendship" itself.

David's lament over the death of his friend Jonathan and to a lesser extent, Saul, borders on the feminine. I think it difficult these days to form an adequate conception of what "friendship" really meant in Classical & Biblical antiquity. In Philippians 1:27 Paul writes of how those Christians should strive to be "one spirit, one mind" with each other. The word translated "mind" is most often translated "soul" and there are those, among whom I am one, who think that might be the better translation.

To be a "friend" with another is to be of "one soul" with that person and it is among the rarest jewels that can be possessed in human society. "Friends" in this sense, as recognized by Montaigne and celebrated by Aristotle, Cicero and countless others, are treasures of the soul. Their companionship, when present, is as natural as breath itself. There is no particular imperative to entertain each other... there is no sense of obligation to do something... they simply "are" as part of life itself. When absent there is no romantic pining, nor jealous suspicions regarding their affections, in the interval. There is simply the sense of something missing that one wishes to have restored. Life is complete when our friend is present.

Today "friends" are thought about in terms of having someone to "talk to" but this is not essential to the relation. It is entirely possible for "friends" to spend hours in each other's company with very few words being exchanged. This is virtually incomprehensible in the "Valley Girl" age, accentuated as it is with the omnipresent cell phones, text messaging and vacuous communication. Between "friends" though the need for spoken words is diminished because their mutual understanding is such that they often know what the other is thinking before it is said.

All this is to say that having a "friend" transforms our lives, cements its value, and is, in many cases, that which constitutes its most compelling endorsement. I really can't imagine how someone with a "friend" could commit suicide though I can readily understand how someone who had lost such a "friend" would.

I think we Christians need to reclaim this word and, more than the word, what it represents. We need to reclaim it with respect to our relation to the Lord Jesus Christ first and foremost. He said "no longer do I call you servants... but I have called you friends." (John 15:15). If we don't have at least one (and there is a definite limit to the number that it is possible to have) friend, then how can we really understand what this means? If there is not someone in our life, whose very life is so integrated in our hearts and souls that the quality of our lives is directly enhanced in fundamentally inexpressible ways by them, how can we really understand and appreciate what it means to have Jesus as our friend?

Secondly, we need to reclaim it with respect to how we view our church family. God has given us to them and them to us such that "friendship" is to bind us together. There are levels of friendship. James Aubrey called Stephen Maturin his "special friend." (If you haven't read Patrick O'Brian's nautical series with these two men as the main characters you should!) God doesn't expect us to have intimacy with every one of our Christian brothers and sisters at the same level as that of David and Jonathan. However it is to be a matter of "degree" rather than "essence" in our relations. To be of "one spirit, one soul" with our brothers and sisters is to understand their combined value and integrated gifting as an essential aspect of our individual lives. To be apart from them is to have a sense of "missing" something and longing for it to be restored.

This is nothing less than to say that we, as Christians, are to pursue building a community of "friends." The old Quakers were on the right track even if they fell short in other areas.

We Christians should lead the way in demonstrating to the world about us that superficiality in life, relations and thought, does not really constitute human behavior. It is sub-human at best and bestial at worst. True humanity lies in relation, in having friends, and is not so much built as discovered.

Posted by Gadfly on July 19, 2013 at 12:17 PM in Christian Apologetics, Commentary, Human Interest | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

July 18, 2013

To Touch The Face of God...

[Slipping TheSurlyBonds, 2004, JA Van Devender]

Location: Oatmeal, Texas - Subject: Radio Control Model Airplane

(Gen 1:21 NKJ)

"And God saw that it was good."

This image evokes warm memories of my days as a Naval Aviator. I have mentioned before the poem "High Flight" (read it HERE) which, to my mind, expresses the exuberance of flight better than any other statement I know.

Two phrases in the poem are especially meaningful to my mind. First, the idea of dancing the "skies on laughter-silvered wings." That is just so..... right.

There is nothing quite to compare with rumbling down a runway on a still, otherwise quiet, early morning take off. The aircraft rattles around a bit as the wheels shake under the increasing speed and the surging power of the engine. Outside the noise is deafening but inside the cockpit, ears encased in tight-fitting cupped helmet, the sound is more energizing than anything else. And then there comes that magic moment when the airplane, responding to the pressure on the stick, raises its nose obediently to the skies, the wheels break contact with the "surly ground" and you slide into the air as if falling into a warm bed. The vibration ceases and the aircraft "laughs" its way into its natural element. You lose the sense of personal movement. Rather it is as if, as you bank upwards toward the morning sun, something like in this photo, the earth simply slides away from you. No pilot I know, especially in single piloted aircraft, has ever failed to appreciate this experience, no matter how many thousands of times it has happened.

The other phrase I find so especially true is that of touching "the face of God."

This poem was originally written after the poet had flown a Spitfire on a training mission, spiralling upward to the, then, incredible altitude of 33,000 ft. At nearly 7 miles of altitude, sitting alone in an aircraft beneath a bubble canopy, there is a sense of "other-worldliness" that settles over the soul. If no thunderstorms are menacing, then the earth beneath presents a mosaic of colors and geometric patterns but very little human crafted details. Intervening are the sometimes puffy clouds that cast pleasing shadows on the ground, or else the wispy cirrus clouds that give the sight a three dimensional feel. Above the canopy the sky is darker blue than is ever seen at sea level and the sun, if present, is startlingly bright.

At this altitude the engine noise is almost not noticeable. It's rythmic monotone is comforting for otherwise there would be no time for aesthetic appreciation. But what impresses itself upon you is the "quiet." You are all alone... peering out on a "God's eye view" of the whole sphere of man's activity. In such a mind and with a moment in which to allow yourself to be immersed, there is a certain peace which steals over your soul and more than one pilot has simply expressed praise - "God, this is beautiful." ( I heard someone say that once over the radio on a dark, moonless but star filled night. I never found out who he was but it expressed the sense of all of us at the time.)

That is "touching the face of God" and I think that God Himself delights when one of His children gets to see a bit of what He sees and delights just a little in the way He delights.

That's all the time I have today for this. It's not much more than just some passing thoughts. But I thought maybe someone might be drawn to think today where they have had a similar "God" type moment in their life and, in doing so, relive a very tender moment of worship - touching the face of God.

Posted by Gadfly on July 18, 2013 at 10:39 AM in Worship | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

July 17, 2013

Twisting In the Wind: Stand Your Ground & Reasonable Doubt

[Image: Twisting In The Wind, 2004, JA Van Devender]

Deuteronomy 19:15 (NKJV)

¹⁵ “One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established.

The current cause celebre continues to feed the insatiable demands of both the pundits and opportunistic politicians. Nothing delights those bed-fellows more than outrage. It sells so easily.

The Martin/Zimmerman tragedy (see previous post) is spinning through its third act. People are on the streets protesting and Eric Holder, amplifying earlier remarks by President O'Bama, is calling for review and (presumably) Federal challenge of the "Stand Your Ground" laws [ see HERE] passed, in various forms, by 24 states.

Holder's premise, shared by many, is that in cases where a weapon, especially a gun, is used in "self-defense" that the burden of proof must shift to the defendent to prove that he or she did not avail themselves of means of escape (with some caveats allowed such as being in one's home) when life or serious bodily harm is threatened. Such a position I think demonstrates just how far we have come, as a society, in losing sight of the fundamentals of true justice and legal recourse.

At issue here is not really the specific instance of "Stand Your Ground." What is really being debated, whether recognized or not, is the idea of "reasonable doubt" and who has the responsibility of meeting that criterion.

Holder and others would not be pushing for a "re-examination" of laws such as "Stand Your Ground" if the Zimmerman trial jurors had found him guilty of manslaughter or murder. In that specific case the "not guilty" verdict did not actually address the "Stand Your Ground" issue... it hinged on the fact that there was not sufficient evidence to establish "beyond a reasonable doubt" that Zimmerman did not act in self-defense as it is understood in any Federal or State jurisdiction in the United States and therefore he was declared "not guilty". Though some states, unconstitutionally in my mind, would not have legally allowed him to carry a concealed weapon at all yet the right to take whatever steps are necessary and available to protect one's own life and body, is recognized by all states. Even Maryland, whose gun laws are among the most stringent in the nation, does not deny that a person's actions in self-defense, in proportion to the threat, does not constitute a crime.

Therefore, in cases where self-defense is being claimed, the burden of proof is on the prosecutor to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the person was not justified in that claim or that self-defense was not actually the motive. That's a very high standard to attain when there are no other witnesses to the act and the two parties had not previously known each other.

A person against whom a prosecutor fails to establish this level of evidence is not guilty of the crime. ... period... at least as far as legal status is concerned.

The Scriptures are very clear in this regard. Theoretically, if a person claimed self-defense in inflicting wounds on another person but short of deadly effect, then that person might actually testify in the trial. It would then be a case of one party's word against the other. Barring other external evidence of a compelling nature (establishing prior intent, motive, etc.) that would not rise to the level of "reasonable doubt." It takes two or three witnesses to establish such a warrant for criminal prosecution.

I think, as a nation, we need to be very cautious about where these current demonstrations and the politicians' responses to them are headed. It was not too long ago that a denunciation of a person for "witch-craft" could lead to deadly consequences for the accused. Often these denunciations were based on hysterical or malicious grounds and reflected more of an emotional reflex than reasoned incentives. Tyrannies, past and modern, rely on "accusers" who prey on the prejudices and paranoia of those in power to condemn and persecute others based solely on their own word. When some pigs are more important than others then the outcome of trials depend more on who is speaking than what is being proved. God, in establishing the "two or three witnesses" rule, recognizes the perversity that dwells in human hearts. His own Son was the object of false testimony by witnesses recruited for this very end. It is interesting that in the Jewish court that met to decide His fate, it was found that none of these witnesses ever agreed with each other sufficiently to establish His guilt. Even the hypocritical Sanhedrin had to abide by the "reasonable doubt" criterion. This rule is essential to any hope of justice in any social order and it must be diligently protected by those of us who still have hope for some return to common sense in our dealings with such things.

In this current conversation, as Christian citizens in this country, we must diligently seek to clarify the issues. "Stand Your Ground" laws, unless the burden of proof shifts, in whatever form they take, will ultimately be subject to the same criterion: is it established, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the person not only should have, but must have, used some other way to remove themselves from danger. Since that will come down to having eye-witnesses or other corroborating evidence to prove "beyond a reasonable doubt" that such was the case then the grounds for criminal charges will not be any different. As long as the burden of proof rests on the prosecutor, the person must be declared "innocent."

So, what is really at stake here is the shifting of the burden of proof. If the burden is not shifted to the accused, as I have demonstrated above, the prosecutor cannot convict. Therefore, what is being sought in the current initiatives directed at SYG is to require that the defendant demonstrate that he had no other alternatives to his use of force in self-defense. This would have devastating effects far beyond the SYG issue.

See the "Slate" article below for explicit statement of the opposing position.

Posted by Gadfly on July 17, 2013 at 11:47 AM in Commentary, Culture, Movies, etc. | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

July 16, 2013

Food For The Soul....

[Image: Lack of Nourishment, 2003, JA Van Devender]

Matthew 13:5–6 (NKJV)

⁵ Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. ⁶ But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away.

Death is never pretty. It may be noble, dignified, or even romantically bitter-sweet, but it is never pretty.

Pondering this tree carcass, for that is really all it was, I could not help but think of it in the glory of its first vibrant youth. It was able, even in its diminished circumstances, to shoot up, put out limbs, add some substance to its trunk, and even give a semblance of permanance and health. Sooner or later though its ill founding produced its deadly effect. Energy, once pulsing and vibrant, declined. Disease set in and in due season, death.

Such, I think, can be said of human life in general.

In many cases, especially when young, our lives are concerned with physical vibrancy and growth. We "shoot up" in stature before we ground ourselves in wisdom. The pulsing emotions, desires and hormones do their work and we are focused on the physical world and our relation to it. Life can be grand or challenging, but in this phase of our life, it is life as it presents itself to us, that is all that concerns us. We are nourished by it and by virtually nothing else. For a time it is enough. For a time we may even prosper. But it does not last.

Sooner or later the barrenness of life focused primarily and essentially with the world about us begins to lose its ability to sustain our growth as human beings. That which thrilled us in newness becomes stale with familiarity. Those answers that were sufficient in our naivete leave us unsettled, unsatisfied and unnourished in our further experience. We begin to starve. Spiritual disease, long dormant, begins to spread. Something inside us begins to die.

Too often we know it is happening but our roots in the world do not allow us to deal with it. All too often the dread malaise of cynicism cuts us off from hope. From our vantage on the rocky hill we may see other trees, even a forest, in the haze but we do not ascribe to them any other possible situation than something comparable to our own. What is true for us must be true for all. And so the creeping numbness in our spiritual life continues to spread and all too soon... we die.

Man is not just a physical animal. Man's soul has to be nourished along with his body or else there shall be suffering to face and weakness to overcome. This is not a new idea. In its various forms it has been acknowledged for as long as man has been pondering his own condition. The question is not whether man needs to be spiritually nourished but rather, from whence is that nourishment to come?

There are those who seek this nourishment in the arts... in the elevation of the soul through gaining noble appreciation of the "finer" elements of human achievement. This can bring relief... the arts do provide some nourishment... but sooner or later art is sucked dry of its life sustaining merit. It becomes "old hat" and moves from life itself to pantomine.

Others seek the thrill of challenges, vocation, newness of occupation and relations. Always these are recognized, sooner or later, as nostalgic longings for that earlier stage of life when youth was embracing the unknown and seeking to master it. The dull progress of time however saps the vitality and the thrill begins to dim in the face of diminished capacity.

Man recognizes that he needs spiritual nourishment but nothing in the sphere of humanistic endeavor brings life back to the soul. It has to come from outside that sphere.

It is when man at last recognizes the sterility of mere human achievement that he starts seeking refreshment from the wells of religion. There are many such offerings and they all promise similar things but sooner or later, all but one proves to be a fraud. Claiming to be beyond the sphere of human endeavor, those frauds ultimately prove that they originate and perpetuate solely from within it. These are products of man's fancy, the fruit of his own will and imagination, as he seeks to devise for himself a well spring of living water for his soul. This is idolatry and it is not now nor never has been concerned only with and restricted only to, physical statues and their worship. Idolatry is man seeking to furnish for himself what only God can provide.

The only source of hope and life must come from outside of ourselves and it must be demonstrably available. In other words, the soil in which will find the nourishment we need, must be demarcated and identified in such a way that man knows where to look for it. This is why true religion is an historical religion... it must be rooted in the recognizable event of the Spiritual World breaking into the Physical World in such a manner as to say "here is where it is to be found." As a sign which points to a water fountain clearly distinguishes the path one must take to cool one's thirst, so the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ distinguish the path one must take to find the ever increasing, ever satisfying source of life for our souls.

No other religion has any such historical claim to make as Christianity. The central themes and characters in other such offerings fall far short in such historical certainty and claims. Where is a Mecca compared to Golgotha? How can the philosophy of Buddha stand in the face of an empty tomb? It is not a question of one "faith" compared to another "faith." It is a question of what has happened!

Here, these facts proclaim, is where you will find food, and water and rest... for your souls. Nothing else will satisfy. Nothing else will stand.

Posted by Gadfly on July 16, 2013 at 12:34 PM in Devotional Meditation, Discipleship | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

July 15, 2013

Trayvon & George: Reflections on Tragedy...

[image: Milkweed, 2013, JA Van Devender]

2 Corinthians 5:18 (NKJV)

¹⁸ Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,

Well, the Zimmerman criminal proceedings are done but the story is not finished. Who knows what will happen next. All that can be said at this point is that a young man is dead and another man's life is, for all practical purposes, ruined. Tragedy is written large across the face of the entire episode and there will never truly be any way to know objectively what happened. The jurors did their job and Zimmerman is legally innocent of the charges. What moral responsibility he bears for not controlling the situation better only he knows. Neither do we know for certain why Trayvon did not simply walk away rather than engage Zimmerman.

What we do know for certain is this: This was a tragedy that did not have to happen.

What I think this episode most clearly demonstrates is the heightened levels of fear, anger, resentment, suspicion and passion that are beginning to boil over in this society. The previous burglaries that had transpired in that community are examples of the predatory actions that engender such emotional states. When the general population recognizes that they, their families and their possessions are "at risk" then all types of reactions occur. Some will "hunker down" and hide. Some will start looking for scapegoats on whom to place the blame. Some will scream for the government to protect them and then discover that protection is not in the cards.

What is certain is that precipitous actions rather than restraint will begin to dominate.

There are those who will exploit this situation for their own selfish gains. Demagogues will inflame the situation. The lawless element will see opportunities for extortion and intimidation. Spiritual forces will push the situation more toward the brink.

And yet there is a way forward.

Imagine if you will, just as a mind experiment, what might have happened if Trayvon and George had belonged to the same church. Think of how the initial tension in their confrontation might have been overcome through mutual recognition. What if George had helped out with the youth group and, after recognizing Trayvon he had inquired as to why he had not been attending recently? It is even possible that they might have talked for a while, shared a cup of coffee, and perhaps said that they would get together in the future. If such had been the case, there would have been no national news made that night. Two lives would have been saved from tragedy.

The Church of Jesus Christ is the only institution present on this planet that has the spiritual resources, mandate and potential to dramatically influence the current social instability in a more positive direction. There ought to be one on every street corner. The members ought to be actively involved in each other's lives. There needs to be concern for the "at risk" elements in the group and in the community. Someone needs to care about those who are out walking the streets at night who are prey both to the temptations of the darkness and at risk from those who are living in fear. Someone, somewhere, needs to know who they are.

The government cannot fix the problem... it can punish wrong doing and seek to offset some of the more egregious institutional conditions that are accentuating the trends toward violence. But the only real hope is community... and community of a specific type.

We Christians hold the key that has in the past and can again unlock the door for significant positive cultural change. As Paul says that "we have been given the ministry of reconciliation." His call to ministry extends to us also. Our goal should be nothing less than seeing tragedy averted as lives are influenced in a positive direction, sometimes dramatically and sometimes with just a well-timed gentle nudge.

There will always be criminal behavior... there will always be sin and war and rumors of war. But there does not have to be a prevailing disposition toward those things and the general population does not have to live in fear. Jesus Christ is in the world reconciling the world to Himself. Not everyone who hears the gospel will be reconciled to God but those who hear it and see it working within those who are so reconciled to God, are influenced by that experience and some hedge against the depravity in their own hearts can be put in place.

Every great spiritual awakening, across the globe, has had significant social effects. The tragedies are statistically recorded and emblazoned on the front pages of the news. The number of tragedies avoided is unheralded but is where the truly important events transpire. The Gospel works invisibly, like leaven in a loaf, but affecting the whole. This is where the real hope lies and it is only here.

We Christians should grieve over this and other things that are going on in our society. But that very grief should stir us up from our slumbers... call us out from our fortresses ... and set us on the path of being as large a force for good in this world as the powers and principalities that produced this tragedy are for evil.

Posted by Gadfly on July 15, 2013 at 09:54 AM in Current Affairs, Human Interest | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

July 14, 2013

We Are Family... The Family of God

[image: Laborers Together, 2013, JA Van Devender]

Location: Colonial Williamsburg, Va.

Matthew 12:49–50 (NKJV)

⁴⁹ And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! ⁵⁰ For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.”

Today I am focused on the astonishing thing that our Lord has done... He has made us family...

Think about it! Out of all the tribes and peoples of the earth, He has reached down in time and space and connected with a few... and He has arranged heaven and earth and all the events that transpire between them, so that these few are gathered together... and become acquainted with each other... and bound together to each other though Him.

Nothing is by chance. It is not a roll of the die that one person has black parents and another white ones... or that one has the name Smith and the other Rockefeller... or that this one has a PhD but that one barely finished elementary school. Those differences are the whole point... that is the grand design... He has arranged it that way so that the fact that we are one family is not because we are linked together by any other common trait other than that of our relation to Christ... each of us.

We are brothers and sisters together with each other because we are first and foremost a brother or sister of Jesus. Because we have a "family" relation with Him then we are bound, with bonds "stronger than blood", to each other.

"Who ever does the will of my Father in heaven, is my brother, and sister, and mother". That is what Jesus Himself declared. And if it is true for HIm, as it most certainly is, then it is... it must be... true for me also. I am not alone, I belong.... to a family... the family of God.

What an world changing thought that is.

Posted by Gadfly on July 14, 2013 at 06:17 AM in Devotional Meditation | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

July 13, 2013

From Strength to Strength: Perseverance, Character and Ripple Effects

[Image: Valley, 2013, JA Van Devender]

Location: Roadside Stop, Wyoming.

Psalm 84:5–7 (NKJV)

⁵ Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, Whose heart is set on pilgrimage.

⁶ As they pass through the Valley of Baca, They make it a spring; The rain also covers it with pools.

⁷ They go from strength to strength; Each one appears before God in Zion.

I haven't any firm data to back up my idea, but I think this image is somewhat akin to what an ancient Israelite pilgrim would have encountered walking through the valley of Baca. The meaning of "Baca" and why the valley was named that, is not absolutely clear. Variously interpreted, it is most commonly thought to mean "weeping" such that "valley of tears" or "valley of the weeper" is the intent. There were tombs dotting the hillside and thus wails of grief would echo from the surrounding walls. It is also possible that it meant "valley of the mulberry trees" which, significantly indicates an arid environment since those trees are associated with a dry landscape. "Thirsty valley" conveys this idea (from New Bible Dict.) and the Psalmist's picture of making it a "spring" and having the rain fill it with pools would be a beautiful poetic metaphor for the effect that holy and pious pilgrims would bring about as they resolutely pursued their arduous and painful journey.

Which prompts me to think about perseverance in a noble goal. Sometimes what it takes is stubborn determination.

"Blessed is the man whose .... heart is set on pilgrimage." To set out on a journey from, say, Gaza or Beersheba to Jerusalem in order to worship at the temple, the house of the Lord, was no trivial thing. Today it would probably take an hour at highway speeds and another three hours to find a parking place. But 3000 years ago it would have taken days on foot. It would have been hot, dusty, difficult travel and there would have been great dangers to face along the way. Poor pilgrims would have to travel in bands so as to have the strength, possibly, to fight off predatory bands of outlaws. It would be easy to break a leg or ankle as one traversed the rocky terrain or scaled the steep cliffs. To undertake and then complete the journey required that a man's heart be "set on pilgrimage"... it had to mean something to him to undertake it.. it had to mean a lot to him to complete it. This was not a journey for timid and indecisive souls.

But what a "blessing" accrues from having those who are inspired to the journey.

First: They are blessed in that they receive the desires of their hearts, "Each one appears before God in Zion." That is what they wanted... that's what the Psalmist himself longed for with the passion that is so characteristic of the Semitic soul. 'He who endures (perseveres) to the end shall be saved" our Lord taught (Mat. 24:13).

Second: They are a blessing. Their very presence, their journey through the valley, is used by God to transform that valley. Where life was dry and filled with weeping, not only for the pilgrim, but for those who dwelt in the valley through which he passed, these passing pilgrims are honored by God with healing and refreshing effects. The "ripples" in the pool of time which they stirred up are caused by God to work together for good (Rom. 8:28) such that even those who know not God have no excuse for not blessing His name.

Third: They are strengthened in their journey. In my days in the military we were often told: "What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger." It's a saying that shouldn't be analyzed too precisely but it does have a measure of truth. Pursuing noble goals, setting one's heart on living as one of God's pilgrims in a dry and dangerous world, will require steadfast determination but it makes us stronger. It requires starting with "strength" and then traveling "from strength to strength." The body and soul will be challenged and sometimes our conviction will waver in the face of those challenges, but God is faithful, and for those who perservere in His strength, what they will discover is new depths of resources, heightened quality of supportive relationships, and the unexpected joy that often comes through tears.

Hiking through country such as pictured above is not easy even today. One must "want to do it" pretty bad and then one has to prepare for the journey. But along the way, amidst the rattlesnakes and prickly pears, a hiker grows in patience, physical and spiritual power and perspective. There may be times when he wonders if this was such a good idea after all and whether it is really worth it to keep going. But the sense of accomplishment and the memories and the visions he saw along the way do prove its value.

Life may often be through a valley of tears... they come in their season. But for the dedicated pilgrim, the blessings that lie ahead, the invaluable witness he or she performs, and the strength which is supplied will be the grounds of praise.

Posted by Gadfly on July 13, 2013 at 09:38 AM in Commentary, Devotional Meditation, Discipleship | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

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