August 15, 1995
A salesman trying to sell a refrigerator to a couple said, “Look, you can save enough on your food bill to pay for it.”
The husband answered, “We’re paying for a car on the bus fare we save, we’re paying for a washing machine on the coin laundry bill we save, we’re paying for a television set on the cost of movies we don’t see anymore. It looks as if we can’t afford to save more money right now.”
Sometimes spending money does save money. The cost of doing laundry for a large family in coin-operated machines can soon add up to the price of a washing machine. However, “savings” do not always materialize. If I left the house only once a week and paid a taxi fare of $10 each time, it would not be economical to buy a car and pay for insurance, gasoline and repairs just to save on taxi fare.
We can be too easily influenced by a sales presentation. There are occasions when it might be wiser to sit down with a calculator and count the cost. How does the hidden costs associated with the purchase compare to any savings? Will I wind up with black or red ink on the ledgers?
Counting the cost is a familiar principle in many activities. I sometimes ask myself, is it worth losing sleep to stay up for the late show? A handyman considers the cost of a trip to the store for a few nails when there might be enough odd nails in his workshop to finish the job. A stressed out employee might even weigh the cost of working with stress against the price of a vacation. Everyone would rather come out ahead, not wind up short.
Jesus talked about counting the cost too. He said God rewards kindness paid to people who cannot return the favor. He illustrated with a story about a man who invited people to come to his banquet but they all made excuses. He told his servant to go out into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame instead.
The implication was that these people who made excuses are like the people God invites into His kingdom. Sometimes they say they cannot because of family pressures or financial concerns. He said those people needed to count the cost. He added, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters — yes, even his own life — he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”
Unlike refrigerators, washing machines, television sets and cars, eternal life is a free gift. There is nothing we can do to pay for it, earn or deserve it. God offers it to anyone who is willing to accept it as He offers it. However, eternal life is not cheap — it cost Jesus His very life and whenever anyone accepts this gift, their own lives begin to change and others may react negatively. For instance, family members may think it weird that one of their own all of a sudden wants to go to church or read a Bible. Others may persecute or even kill dedicated Christians.
Following Christ does have a cost. That is why Jesus said “Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.” While giving up everything does not pay for eternal life, but having eternal life requires turning everything over to Christ. That is why it is important to count the cost. Is living forever in heaven with God worth it?
Monday, September 5, 2016
Friday, September 2, 2016
Singing with real joy .......... Parables 479
August 8, 1995
My mother’s German Roller canary sings a lovely, rolling melody from his cage hanging in our kitchen. Before he arrived, someone gave mom a small ceramic bird that makes chirping noises whenever anyone bumps or shakes it. Obviously, it is an imitation — anyone can see the difference between it and the one in the cage.
I’ve noticed church goers can be like either kind of bird. Some are happy, even bubbling over in joyful song. They are different, full of life. They make you feel happy. If asked about their joy, they might say “Christ has given it to me. Once I was dead to God and dead in my sin, but now I am alive in Him.”
Other church goers are like the ceramic variety. They attend worship services, even talk about their church or religious experiences (only when bumped?) but something is missing. They might sing with their voices but there is no song in their hearts.
Because Jesus promised “abundant life” to His followers, vibrant joy should be the norm for those who claim to know Him. In fact, His Spirit will produce the “fruit” that is described in Galatians 5 as: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”
Because God gives joy, why should some Christians be lifeless, even sour, complaining and unhappy? Have they lost their sense of being alive with Christ? Have they lost their spiritual emphasis and focus? Are their lives consumed with problems, money or other things that take them away from God?
Perhaps. In the parable of the sower, Jesus explains that human hearts are like four kinds of soil. When the seed, which is His Word, is planted, one kind is like good soil and produces a good crop but the other three are unable to bear fruit. Jesus tells why. If the sower scatters the seed on hard soil where it cannot penetrate, that is like a person who is told about God and Christ but is so hard of heart they really do not hear the message. To them, it is just noise.
The second soil seems a bit better. That person is at first receptive but when any problems arise because they believe, it can be seen that their hearts are like deadpan. Whatever began to grow can find no root. They begin to resist and finally reject God’s Word. The Holy Spirit cannot produce fruit in their lives.
The third soil also receives the seed and it begins to grow too. However, this person’s life is full of “thistles” which represent the worries and concerns of this life. These things draw that person away from God and His Word and again, there is no fruit produced in them.
While this parable generally describes people who are without any faith, Christians can also have hardness deep down in their hearts. They can resist God during trials and miss out on the joy His Spirit wants to give them. They can become so preoccupied with worldly concerns and current circumstances, that their joy becomes dependant on these things. When all goes right, they smile, but as soon as trouble comes, that kind of joy disappears.
People with “good soil” hearts are receptive to God’s Word, all the time. They are “alive in Him,” not into power trips or worldly pursuits. Like a singing canary, joy flows out effortlessly. It is a part of being alive, being what Christ intends them to be.
On the other hand, a ceramic bird sounds like a bird, even look something like a bird. With considerable work, it could even move like a bird — but it will never be alive nor will it ever produce a real song. With Christ, people at least have the possibility.
My mother’s German Roller canary sings a lovely, rolling melody from his cage hanging in our kitchen. Before he arrived, someone gave mom a small ceramic bird that makes chirping noises whenever anyone bumps or shakes it. Obviously, it is an imitation — anyone can see the difference between it and the one in the cage.
I’ve noticed church goers can be like either kind of bird. Some are happy, even bubbling over in joyful song. They are different, full of life. They make you feel happy. If asked about their joy, they might say “Christ has given it to me. Once I was dead to God and dead in my sin, but now I am alive in Him.”
Other church goers are like the ceramic variety. They attend worship services, even talk about their church or religious experiences (only when bumped?) but something is missing. They might sing with their voices but there is no song in their hearts.
Because Jesus promised “abundant life” to His followers, vibrant joy should be the norm for those who claim to know Him. In fact, His Spirit will produce the “fruit” that is described in Galatians 5 as: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”
Because God gives joy, why should some Christians be lifeless, even sour, complaining and unhappy? Have they lost their sense of being alive with Christ? Have they lost their spiritual emphasis and focus? Are their lives consumed with problems, money or other things that take them away from God?
Perhaps. In the parable of the sower, Jesus explains that human hearts are like four kinds of soil. When the seed, which is His Word, is planted, one kind is like good soil and produces a good crop but the other three are unable to bear fruit. Jesus tells why. If the sower scatters the seed on hard soil where it cannot penetrate, that is like a person who is told about God and Christ but is so hard of heart they really do not hear the message. To them, it is just noise.
The second soil seems a bit better. That person is at first receptive but when any problems arise because they believe, it can be seen that their hearts are like deadpan. Whatever began to grow can find no root. They begin to resist and finally reject God’s Word. The Holy Spirit cannot produce fruit in their lives.
The third soil also receives the seed and it begins to grow too. However, this person’s life is full of “thistles” which represent the worries and concerns of this life. These things draw that person away from God and His Word and again, there is no fruit produced in them.
While this parable generally describes people who are without any faith, Christians can also have hardness deep down in their hearts. They can resist God during trials and miss out on the joy His Spirit wants to give them. They can become so preoccupied with worldly concerns and current circumstances, that their joy becomes dependant on these things. When all goes right, they smile, but as soon as trouble comes, that kind of joy disappears.
People with “good soil” hearts are receptive to God’s Word, all the time. They are “alive in Him,” not into power trips or worldly pursuits. Like a singing canary, joy flows out effortlessly. It is a part of being alive, being what Christ intends them to be.
On the other hand, a ceramic bird sounds like a bird, even look something like a bird. With considerable work, it could even move like a bird — but it will never be alive nor will it ever produce a real song. With Christ, people at least have the possibility.
Wednesday, August 31, 2016
Measuring God? .......... Parables 478
August 1, 1995
An atheist farmer wrote the following letter to the editor of a local newspaper: “I plowed on Sunday, planted on Sunday, cultivated on Sunday, and hauled in my crops on Sunday, but I never went to church on Sunday. Yet I harvested more bushels per acre than anyone else, even those who are God fearing and never miss a service.”
The editor printed the man’s letter and then added this remark: “God doesn’t always settle His accounts in October.”
An atheist asserts that God does not exist yet sometimes talks more Him than do people who are convinced otherwise. Atheists are seldom found going to kindergarten, in foxholes or beside a dying loved one. Apparently, believing in no-God is not easy.
However, according to Scripture believing in God means far more than acknowledging He exists. James, half-brother of Jesus and writer of a New Testament book, said “So you believe in God? Even the demons believe, and tremble.”
The demons know God is there but their “belief” does not seem to do them much good. While the Bible says we do need to believe He exists, it adds we must also believe that “He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
God’s rewards are not like those human beings give and receive. For one thing, they are eternal, not every October, yet He often gives a taste right now of what is to come.
For instance, faith in Christ results in peace with God. Sin separates everyone from Him but Jesus died for our sin so that separation could be removed. Believers often experience a wonderful inner peace from God as they live out their Christian lives.
Without faith, inner peace is fleeting at best. Writers H.G. Wells and George Bernard Shaw both rejected God and placed their trust in their own systems of belief based on human reason. They were brilliant men, yet neither found lasting peace of mind and heart.
Wells’ final literary work, has been called “a scream of despair.” Shortly before Shaw died in 1950, he wrote, “The science to which I pinned my faith is bankrupt . . . Its counsels, which should have established the millennium, have led directly to the suicide of Europe. I believed them once . . . In their name I helped to destroy the faith of millions . . . And now they look at me and witness the great tragedy of an atheist who has lost his faith.”
For seventy-five years, communist leaders tried that same notion in Russia. Now, after years of physical, social and spiritual decay, they admit they were foolish. Many of them have come to a personal faith in God through Jesus Christ.
It seems to me proving the grand notion of God untrue requires much more effort and faith than believing He is real. While circumstances in the world around us often make us wonder why Lord does not do something, even that question admits He is there.
As for rewards, this page is too small to list them, but if I did, their fullness would be difficult to describe. God reserves that for those who believe. Also, He never uses rewards to prove He is there. Instead, He reveals Himself to His people through the Person of Jesus Christ and the pages of His Word. He invites faith by being consistent with what He has revealed. He is a good, holy, powerful and changeless God.
He also rewards faith. He may not “settle His accounts in October,” but He promises His presence right now, all through an abundant life — a life that reaches into eternity, spent with Him. Then there will be no more sin and evil, sorrow or pain. Only fools would dare suggest bushels per acre is a worthy comparison.
An atheist farmer wrote the following letter to the editor of a local newspaper: “I plowed on Sunday, planted on Sunday, cultivated on Sunday, and hauled in my crops on Sunday, but I never went to church on Sunday. Yet I harvested more bushels per acre than anyone else, even those who are God fearing and never miss a service.”
The editor printed the man’s letter and then added this remark: “God doesn’t always settle His accounts in October.”
An atheist asserts that God does not exist yet sometimes talks more Him than do people who are convinced otherwise. Atheists are seldom found going to kindergarten, in foxholes or beside a dying loved one. Apparently, believing in no-God is not easy.
However, according to Scripture believing in God means far more than acknowledging He exists. James, half-brother of Jesus and writer of a New Testament book, said “So you believe in God? Even the demons believe, and tremble.”
The demons know God is there but their “belief” does not seem to do them much good. While the Bible says we do need to believe He exists, it adds we must also believe that “He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
God’s rewards are not like those human beings give and receive. For one thing, they are eternal, not every October, yet He often gives a taste right now of what is to come.
For instance, faith in Christ results in peace with God. Sin separates everyone from Him but Jesus died for our sin so that separation could be removed. Believers often experience a wonderful inner peace from God as they live out their Christian lives.
Without faith, inner peace is fleeting at best. Writers H.G. Wells and George Bernard Shaw both rejected God and placed their trust in their own systems of belief based on human reason. They were brilliant men, yet neither found lasting peace of mind and heart.
Wells’ final literary work, has been called “a scream of despair.” Shortly before Shaw died in 1950, he wrote, “The science to which I pinned my faith is bankrupt . . . Its counsels, which should have established the millennium, have led directly to the suicide of Europe. I believed them once . . . In their name I helped to destroy the faith of millions . . . And now they look at me and witness the great tragedy of an atheist who has lost his faith.”
For seventy-five years, communist leaders tried that same notion in Russia. Now, after years of physical, social and spiritual decay, they admit they were foolish. Many of them have come to a personal faith in God through Jesus Christ.
It seems to me proving the grand notion of God untrue requires much more effort and faith than believing He is real. While circumstances in the world around us often make us wonder why Lord does not do something, even that question admits He is there.
As for rewards, this page is too small to list them, but if I did, their fullness would be difficult to describe. God reserves that for those who believe. Also, He never uses rewards to prove He is there. Instead, He reveals Himself to His people through the Person of Jesus Christ and the pages of His Word. He invites faith by being consistent with what He has revealed. He is a good, holy, powerful and changeless God.
He also rewards faith. He may not “settle His accounts in October,” but He promises His presence right now, all through an abundant life — a life that reaches into eternity, spent with Him. Then there will be no more sin and evil, sorrow or pain. Only fools would dare suggest bushels per acre is a worthy comparison.
Monday, August 29, 2016
You have to have been there! .......... Parables 477
July 18, 1995
The woman on the plane sounded Scottish so I asked her where she was from. She replied, “I live in Liverpool, but I belong to Scotland.” What charming words!
A few hours later, we landed in Glasgow and spent two weeks traveling through Scotland. Now, those words are more than charming. Now I have been there myself. Now I feel her heartbeat. I also feel as if I belong to Scotland. It is everything I imagined and more.
Perhaps my love affair is due to my grandfather being born near Aberdeen. There is something about family roots that draws a person back to the land of their origins. Whatever it is, I dream about Scotland nearly every night since we arrived back here in Alberta.
Mind you, there are drawbacks. It rains a great deal there (but I like rain). The roads are narrow and everyone drives on the wrong side of the road (but it never hurts me to slow down or learn a new skill). The prices are double or more what they are here in Canada and it is hard to make a living (so that is why Scots are so thrifty — but I am too). Still, I would go back tomorrow, if I could. And while I am dreaming, I would buy a castle ruins and have it restored. I even have the castle picked out. But then, you would have had to have been there.
“You have to have been there...” How true! Remember telling funny anecdotes but somehow they lost some of their magic in the retelling? The event was better “first hand.”
What about when children finally grow up and become parents... don’t they now better understand the joys and sorrows of being parents after they have “been there” themselves?
The same holds true in the Christian experience. Most people know at least something about God, but hearing about Him and is not the same as having “been there,” as having a personal relationship with Him. Try as we might, our glowing words, praises for God, and stories of answered prayer all sound flat to people who have not “been there.” Perhaps one way to explain is like standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon and trying to describe its color to a blind person.
The question is: How can a person know God? According to Scripture, we do not know God through hearing eloquent words, magnificent descriptions, and glowing testimonies about Him. They may help but the difference is like reading about Wayne Gretzky in the newspaper compared to playing on the same team with him.
Neither does being smart guarantee that a person knows God. The Bible explains that God (in His wisdom) decided no one in the world would know Him through wisdom. Being powerful or wealthy does not automatically make a person know God either.
How then can a person know God? Paul says, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him — but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit...”
A “been there” experience of God is a revealed thing, and God has to do the revealing. He hides Himself from those who are proud, uninterested or simply playing games. Therefore we must come to Him with a “humble and contrite spirit” and “believe that He is and is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” We have to look for Him and desire to know Him for ourselves.
The lady on the plane could have described Scotland. She could have told me about the flawless fresh air and the bend-over-backwards hospitality — but being there made the difference. Scotland showed me Scotland... and now that I have been there, I’m not sure I understand why she lives in Liverpool.
The woman on the plane sounded Scottish so I asked her where she was from. She replied, “I live in Liverpool, but I belong to Scotland.” What charming words!
A few hours later, we landed in Glasgow and spent two weeks traveling through Scotland. Now, those words are more than charming. Now I have been there myself. Now I feel her heartbeat. I also feel as if I belong to Scotland. It is everything I imagined and more.
Perhaps my love affair is due to my grandfather being born near Aberdeen. There is something about family roots that draws a person back to the land of their origins. Whatever it is, I dream about Scotland nearly every night since we arrived back here in Alberta.
Mind you, there are drawbacks. It rains a great deal there (but I like rain). The roads are narrow and everyone drives on the wrong side of the road (but it never hurts me to slow down or learn a new skill). The prices are double or more what they are here in Canada and it is hard to make a living (so that is why Scots are so thrifty — but I am too). Still, I would go back tomorrow, if I could. And while I am dreaming, I would buy a castle ruins and have it restored. I even have the castle picked out. But then, you would have had to have been there.
“You have to have been there...” How true! Remember telling funny anecdotes but somehow they lost some of their magic in the retelling? The event was better “first hand.”
What about when children finally grow up and become parents... don’t they now better understand the joys and sorrows of being parents after they have “been there” themselves?
The same holds true in the Christian experience. Most people know at least something about God, but hearing about Him and is not the same as having “been there,” as having a personal relationship with Him. Try as we might, our glowing words, praises for God, and stories of answered prayer all sound flat to people who have not “been there.” Perhaps one way to explain is like standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon and trying to describe its color to a blind person.
The question is: How can a person know God? According to Scripture, we do not know God through hearing eloquent words, magnificent descriptions, and glowing testimonies about Him. They may help but the difference is like reading about Wayne Gretzky in the newspaper compared to playing on the same team with him.
Neither does being smart guarantee that a person knows God. The Bible explains that God (in His wisdom) decided no one in the world would know Him through wisdom. Being powerful or wealthy does not automatically make a person know God either.
How then can a person know God? Paul says, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him — but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit...”
A “been there” experience of God is a revealed thing, and God has to do the revealing. He hides Himself from those who are proud, uninterested or simply playing games. Therefore we must come to Him with a “humble and contrite spirit” and “believe that He is and is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” We have to look for Him and desire to know Him for ourselves.
The lady on the plane could have described Scotland. She could have told me about the flawless fresh air and the bend-over-backwards hospitality — but being there made the difference. Scotland showed me Scotland... and now that I have been there, I’m not sure I understand why she lives in Liverpool.
Friday, August 26, 2016
Seeing and believing .......... Parables 476
(no date for original)
My mom wears bifocals. Actually, that is not exactly true. She has bifocals. She wears them on a cord around her neck — most of the time. Whenever she tries to read, or watch television, or look out the window, she narrows her eyes and squints.
One day I asked her why she didn’t wear her glasses. Couldn’t she see better with them on? She put them on, looked at the TV, took them off and said, “Yes, I can, but most of the time I don’t want to look at anything.”
I understand that. Some days I don’t want to look at anything either. The news is frightful or repetitive. The day outside is gloomy. Television is nothing but reruns. I’ve read all my books. Why wear glasses?
As my mother grows older, she is becoming less and less interested in life’s confusion. Keeping her eyes off the world is one way to cope with a decreasing ability to make sense of it. Although I understand and even sympathize with her, her attitude reminds me of another type of refusing to see. This one is far more serious, even deadly.
Jesus talked about people “having eyes but seeing not.” He told His disciples that He spoke in parables or stories that would be not be understood by these people because, “though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.”
Jesus added “For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.”
Confused? The Bible explains. When someone hears spiritual truth but ignores or rejects it, their heart (mind) becomes hardened. As the process is repeated, a callous forms and soon that person can no longer hear or understand the truth Jesus proclaimed.
In contrast, those who follow Jesus have a responsibility to both hear and repeat the truth Jesus told. For instance, God gave the Apostle Paul a special mission. He related to King Agrippa what God had told him: “I am sending you to (the Gentiles) to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.”
Then Paul added, “So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven.”
As Paul obeyed what God showed him, he was given increasing revelations. The Lord even allowed an “infirmity” or weakness to prevent him from taking pride in that he had seen. Without this “thorn in the flesh,” Paul may have boasted about himself and his knowledge instead of doing the job God sent him to do.
The Pharisee’s illustrate the other end of the matter. They refused to believe anything Jesus said. Before long, even the simplest truths illustrated in parables confused them. Their deliberate choice at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry did them in. That choice was refusal to see the most basic reality: all have sinned (including themselves, the most religious Pharisees) and all need God’s forgiveness and the redemption He offers through faith in His Son.
“Use it or lose it” can be applied to muscle tone, eyesight, and skills — yet the most important application is to spiritual understanding. Whenever anyone refuses to see their own need of God, God politely makes Himself fuzzy, if not invisible, to their sight.
My mom wears bifocals. Actually, that is not exactly true. She has bifocals. She wears them on a cord around her neck — most of the time. Whenever she tries to read, or watch television, or look out the window, she narrows her eyes and squints.
One day I asked her why she didn’t wear her glasses. Couldn’t she see better with them on? She put them on, looked at the TV, took them off and said, “Yes, I can, but most of the time I don’t want to look at anything.”
I understand that. Some days I don’t want to look at anything either. The news is frightful or repetitive. The day outside is gloomy. Television is nothing but reruns. I’ve read all my books. Why wear glasses?
As my mother grows older, she is becoming less and less interested in life’s confusion. Keeping her eyes off the world is one way to cope with a decreasing ability to make sense of it. Although I understand and even sympathize with her, her attitude reminds me of another type of refusing to see. This one is far more serious, even deadly.
Jesus talked about people “having eyes but seeing not.” He told His disciples that He spoke in parables or stories that would be not be understood by these people because, “though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.”
Jesus added “For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.”
Confused? The Bible explains. When someone hears spiritual truth but ignores or rejects it, their heart (mind) becomes hardened. As the process is repeated, a callous forms and soon that person can no longer hear or understand the truth Jesus proclaimed.
In contrast, those who follow Jesus have a responsibility to both hear and repeat the truth Jesus told. For instance, God gave the Apostle Paul a special mission. He related to King Agrippa what God had told him: “I am sending you to (the Gentiles) to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.”
Then Paul added, “So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven.”
As Paul obeyed what God showed him, he was given increasing revelations. The Lord even allowed an “infirmity” or weakness to prevent him from taking pride in that he had seen. Without this “thorn in the flesh,” Paul may have boasted about himself and his knowledge instead of doing the job God sent him to do.
The Pharisee’s illustrate the other end of the matter. They refused to believe anything Jesus said. Before long, even the simplest truths illustrated in parables confused them. Their deliberate choice at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry did them in. That choice was refusal to see the most basic reality: all have sinned (including themselves, the most religious Pharisees) and all need God’s forgiveness and the redemption He offers through faith in His Son.
“Use it or lose it” can be applied to muscle tone, eyesight, and skills — yet the most important application is to spiritual understanding. Whenever anyone refuses to see their own need of God, God politely makes Himself fuzzy, if not invisible, to their sight.
Wednesday, August 24, 2016
Smell, then taste and see .......... Parables 475
July 25, 1995
According to a recent article in “Health Watch,” smell has more influence on our lives than taste. For instance, the odor of vanilla reduces anxiety. According to one experiment involving three thousand people, the scents of banana, green apple and peppermint together encourage weight loss, up to 5 pounds a month.
People who lose their sense of smell also experience depression or anxiety. Dr. Alan Hirsch, director of smell and taste research in Chicago says often smell is craved, not food. Perhaps that is why those smells produce a weight loss; smell alone satisfied those three thousand people in the experiment.
If people are truly more interested in “smelling” than eating, that could explain why people do not like Christians “shoving religion” down their throats. I will explain. . . .
The metaphor is this: in the Bible, prayers and obedient lives are called “pleasing odors” to God and the “sweet smell” of Christ to others. Being forced to ingest or accept a doctrine or theological viewpoint without really wanting it is like being force-fed. Seeing someone live it out is far more pleasing. Thus, “smelling” is better than “eating.”
The metaphor holds true from the opposite perspective too. If someone is spiritually hungry and fortunate enough to observe a pleasing Christian lifestyle, their hunger will be satisfied, but only for a short time and only in a minimal way. The “sweet smell” of another person’s life cannot replace spiritual food to satisfy a deep and genuine spiritual hunger. Those who are hungry need to “taste and see” for themselves or they may perish.
Jesus called Himself “the Bread of Life who came down from heaven” and claimed, “He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”
People who heard him were confused. Before they could understand the metaphor, they had to accept that He came from heaven. This they were not willing to do. To them, He was merely the son of Joseph, the carpenter, so He responded to their confusion with, “Stop grumbling among yourselves . . . Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from Him comes to me. No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only He has seen the Father. I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever.”
As Jesus explained that his flesh was the bread, which He would give for the life of the world, the Jews began to argue even more. They thought He was cramming an unwanted theology down their throats. Although He had lived a sinless, “sweet smelling” life before them and although He had told them this “Bread” would save their lives for eternity, they were not interested in either eating or smelling.
The Apostles experienced the same response: “For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life.”
Some cannot imagine anyone enjoying life in submission to Christ; to them, Christians “smell” like death. They assume whatever we offer is poison. Others see the aroma of Christ and to them, the Christian life is pleasing, like fresh baked apple pie. That sweet smell draws them to the Source and eventually to “taste and see that the Lord is good” for themselves.
According to a recent article in “Health Watch,” smell has more influence on our lives than taste. For instance, the odor of vanilla reduces anxiety. According to one experiment involving three thousand people, the scents of banana, green apple and peppermint together encourage weight loss, up to 5 pounds a month.
People who lose their sense of smell also experience depression or anxiety. Dr. Alan Hirsch, director of smell and taste research in Chicago says often smell is craved, not food. Perhaps that is why those smells produce a weight loss; smell alone satisfied those three thousand people in the experiment.
If people are truly more interested in “smelling” than eating, that could explain why people do not like Christians “shoving religion” down their throats. I will explain. . . .
The metaphor is this: in the Bible, prayers and obedient lives are called “pleasing odors” to God and the “sweet smell” of Christ to others. Being forced to ingest or accept a doctrine or theological viewpoint without really wanting it is like being force-fed. Seeing someone live it out is far more pleasing. Thus, “smelling” is better than “eating.”
The metaphor holds true from the opposite perspective too. If someone is spiritually hungry and fortunate enough to observe a pleasing Christian lifestyle, their hunger will be satisfied, but only for a short time and only in a minimal way. The “sweet smell” of another person’s life cannot replace spiritual food to satisfy a deep and genuine spiritual hunger. Those who are hungry need to “taste and see” for themselves or they may perish.
Jesus called Himself “the Bread of Life who came down from heaven” and claimed, “He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”
People who heard him were confused. Before they could understand the metaphor, they had to accept that He came from heaven. This they were not willing to do. To them, He was merely the son of Joseph, the carpenter, so He responded to their confusion with, “Stop grumbling among yourselves . . . Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from Him comes to me. No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only He has seen the Father. I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever.”
As Jesus explained that his flesh was the bread, which He would give for the life of the world, the Jews began to argue even more. They thought He was cramming an unwanted theology down their throats. Although He had lived a sinless, “sweet smelling” life before them and although He had told them this “Bread” would save their lives for eternity, they were not interested in either eating or smelling.
The Apostles experienced the same response: “For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life.”
Some cannot imagine anyone enjoying life in submission to Christ; to them, Christians “smell” like death. They assume whatever we offer is poison. Others see the aroma of Christ and to them, the Christian life is pleasing, like fresh baked apple pie. That sweet smell draws them to the Source and eventually to “taste and see that the Lord is good” for themselves.
Monday, August 22, 2016
A Cry for Justice .......... Parables 474
July 11, 1995
As the horror of the Oklahoma city bombing unfolded on television, many people began expressing their hopes that justice would soon prevail. A few angry citizens even sounded like Old West style lynch mobs crying vengeance and saying, “Those who did it should be hung on the spot.”
Some simply think any who would do such a thing do not deserve a fair trial; those are only for cases where there is reasonable doubt of guilt or that innocence needs to be proven. Others seem to fear that judicial “fairness” will result in less punishment than warranted by the magnitude of the crime.
While no one wants to see criminals go unpunished, insuring a fair trial for even the obviously guilty is a freedom we need to protect. The concept of justice and a fair trial goes back a long way with foundations in the legal system of the Roman Empire and even beyond to ancient Biblical history in the Middle East. In fact, right after Noah and his family stepped off the ark, God told them “From each man, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.”
Many nations developed civil laws but those of the Jews were unique. Around 1450 B.C., after Moses led the children of Israel out of slavery in Egypt, God gave them specific commandments. We are familiar with the Ten, including “Thou shalt not murder,” but many other laws defined justice and ethics further. God told them, “Do not spread false reports. Do not help a wicked man by being a malicious witness. When you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd. Do not deny justice to your poor people. Have nothing to do with a false charge and do not put an innocent or honest person to death . . . .”
God’s laws also included protection for the accused by decreeing trials that are as fair as possible; the prosecution must produce “two or three witnesses” whose statements agreed. God repeatedly warned that it was the responsibility of governing officials to punish lawbreakers, not angry, vengeful citizens. Even murderers in those days had “cities of refuge” where they were protected from private revenge.
Human justice systems are not always as fair as that which God designed. Innocent people are sometimes condemned and the guilty set free. When justice is perverted, fear and anger are normal responses. On the other hand, those who know God take reassurance from His promise of a final justice: “Do not fret because of evil men . . . The wicked plot against the righteous . . . but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for He knows their day is coming.”
Even if someone escapes human courts, God Himself eventually deals with those who deserve punishment. His judgment is far more serious than the light tap implied by Maude (from the television show by the same name) when she warned, “God will get you for that.”
Should American courts be too lenient toward the people who used the bomb, we know that God is fully able to render justice to whom justice is due. However, that should never be an excuse for civil leadership to slap wrists only. God established authorities here on earth as agents of wrath to punish wrongdoers (Romans 13). His justice demands that the full horror of what they have done be brought home to the hearts of the guilty.
On a personal level, an eternal perspective tells us not to be too quick to condemn even the most brutal acts of terrorism with a smug, self-righteousness. Pride and even small sins produce guilt before God too. We need to pay attention also to our own lives.
As the horror of the Oklahoma city bombing unfolded on television, many people began expressing their hopes that justice would soon prevail. A few angry citizens even sounded like Old West style lynch mobs crying vengeance and saying, “Those who did it should be hung on the spot.”
Some simply think any who would do such a thing do not deserve a fair trial; those are only for cases where there is reasonable doubt of guilt or that innocence needs to be proven. Others seem to fear that judicial “fairness” will result in less punishment than warranted by the magnitude of the crime.
While no one wants to see criminals go unpunished, insuring a fair trial for even the obviously guilty is a freedom we need to protect. The concept of justice and a fair trial goes back a long way with foundations in the legal system of the Roman Empire and even beyond to ancient Biblical history in the Middle East. In fact, right after Noah and his family stepped off the ark, God told them “From each man, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.”
Many nations developed civil laws but those of the Jews were unique. Around 1450 B.C., after Moses led the children of Israel out of slavery in Egypt, God gave them specific commandments. We are familiar with the Ten, including “Thou shalt not murder,” but many other laws defined justice and ethics further. God told them, “Do not spread false reports. Do not help a wicked man by being a malicious witness. When you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd. Do not deny justice to your poor people. Have nothing to do with a false charge and do not put an innocent or honest person to death . . . .”
God’s laws also included protection for the accused by decreeing trials that are as fair as possible; the prosecution must produce “two or three witnesses” whose statements agreed. God repeatedly warned that it was the responsibility of governing officials to punish lawbreakers, not angry, vengeful citizens. Even murderers in those days had “cities of refuge” where they were protected from private revenge.
Human justice systems are not always as fair as that which God designed. Innocent people are sometimes condemned and the guilty set free. When justice is perverted, fear and anger are normal responses. On the other hand, those who know God take reassurance from His promise of a final justice: “Do not fret because of evil men . . . The wicked plot against the righteous . . . but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for He knows their day is coming.”
Even if someone escapes human courts, God Himself eventually deals with those who deserve punishment. His judgment is far more serious than the light tap implied by Maude (from the television show by the same name) when she warned, “God will get you for that.”
Should American courts be too lenient toward the people who used the bomb, we know that God is fully able to render justice to whom justice is due. However, that should never be an excuse for civil leadership to slap wrists only. God established authorities here on earth as agents of wrath to punish wrongdoers (Romans 13). His justice demands that the full horror of what they have done be brought home to the hearts of the guilty.
On a personal level, an eternal perspective tells us not to be too quick to condemn even the most brutal acts of terrorism with a smug, self-righteousness. Pride and even small sins produce guilt before God too. We need to pay attention also to our own lives.
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