Yesterday in the news was a story heralded as a great leap
forward in man’s nobility, his ability to take life on his own terms and spit
in the eye of nature and even life itself.
The story takes place in Belgium and had to do with 45 year old twin men
who were born deaf. Both men who have
good lives and tremendous rapport with one another had recently discovered they
both have a degenerative disease which will leave them blind. They were not ill and were in no pain other
than the fact that in a very short time both would be unable to see one another
and of course unable to hear one another.
The purpose of the story was to explain Belgium’s new law
that allows someone to petition the court to end their lives by lethal
injection. This law which was originally
written to allow those with painful life threatening diseases and physical
problems to end their lives at a time and place of their own choosing with the
help of trained medical professionals.
These men had no life threatening disease or painful physical condition,
merely a painfully emotional one of losing one of the senses they have depended
on all their lives.
First of all, I understand the emotional pain of aging and
its debilitations. I either must wear
glasses to read or a special contact in one eye. My eyesight used to be perfect. I could focus as close as three inches or as
far as our polluted air would allow. I can
still see fairly well at a distance but not close up. As for hearing; I used to be able to walk
down the street and tell you which house had television on by the high-pitched
whine coming from the houses. Now after
raising three children and riding motorcycles for years I can barely hear
someone talking to me in a soft voice.
This is disturbing in a background way but I cannot imagine after losing
my eyesight and hearing that life would not be worth living any longer. I know those who have very nearly lost both
and while I feel bad for them I consider Helen Keller who lived such a full and
rewarding life after meeting up with her dear mentor and friend Anne
Sullivan. It’s true that Helen was
blessed with so true a friend who stuck to her side through thick and thin for
more than 50 years.
If you ever want to study a life of someone who has overcome
tragedy to become known to kings and potentates just study Helen Keller’s life
sometime.
I know someone today who is a wonderful, vibrant and caring
woman of God who has lost most of her hearing and eyesight and yet still lives
a full life and adds an immeasurable blessing both to her family AND to all who
know her including me. Her occasional
words of encouragement have brightened my life immeasurably. Life is what you make it and it if has some
rocks then in the eyes of the right person some of those rocks might just
contain a diamond or two. As much as I
enjoy my eyes and ears and as difficult as it might be to learn braille and
communicate in other ways, I still have a message worth telling to the world
and the means to do it.
The story of these two men in Belgium continued, to end on a
much more disturbing note. It seems that
many families have loved ones suffering from dementia or other age related
problems. They were seriously discussing the idea of doing away with grandma or
grandpa. Now I’m sure their reasons were
noble and meant to be best for the poor dears (sorry, had to clear my throat,
had a coughing fit), but while it used to be something of a joke when my kids
said they would put me in a home when I got old and cranky; now it adds a
distinct chill to the air to find that my last days will be shortened by a
needle because THEY might decide it’s better for ME this way. After all, the point of the ending was that
the kids had to decide for dear old dad or mom because they weren’t thinking too
clearly these days.
So who is?
Ecclesiastes 1:3
What profit does man have left from all his toil at which he toils under the
sun? [Is life worth living?]
What does it take to give value to life? Some would say if you make lots of money or
have fame. I can think of one young
woman whose sole claim to fame is people know who she is. She produces nothing; believes in nothing
that I have ever heard and lives for the touch of the spotlight. Financially, I have been at a place in life
where I had to budget a loaf of bread. I
am currently at a place where a laptop must be budgeted. There are those whose finances look at a top
of the line Macbook Air as if it’s a McDonalds dollar cheeseburger. Is their life better than mine? Some would say so; not me, but some.
Today I heard a wonderful message by Pastor Ruben Guitron in
Riverside, California. He spoke on the
importance of finding your secret place with God, not for answered prayers but
for the relationship. When your
relationship with the Almighty is right, all the surrounding ‘stuff’ is of
little importance. Pastor Barry E.
Knight said the same thing a few weeks ago.
He said the most important thing in 2013 was to find and celebrate
GOD! Not to serve Him, that goes without
saying; but to worship and adore Him as the most important person in your life. Pastor Ruben said we should enter into our
secret place like Moses did on the mountain where God didn’t even want sheep to
intrude on their conversation. Perhaps in
that place we can find a bit of the ‘glow’ that Moses enjoyed.
The problem with the world we live in is that like Matthew
9:36; the multitudes have no shepherd.
Who do they answer to? To whom
can they reach out for mercy and love when there is no man or woman around who
will offer this most precious of balms? Without
a God who actually exists, who can be trusted to keep His Word to the end of
the world and beyond, there is no hope.
Apostle Paul said that if in this life only we have hope we are the most
miserable of men. Why? Because the life of a Christian is one of
warfare and assault. Satan is the
spiritual king of the demonic mafia. He
rules with an rusty iron fist through deceit, fear, deception and
hopelessness.
Since we human beings are bound by flesh to this world of
ours there must be some other way for us to succeed and be victorious. It is not enough to simply say, “The weapons of our warfare are not natural
flesh and blood weapons but mighty through God to the pulling down of demonic
spiritual strongholds.” You must
BELIEVE in God and be ASSURED within yourself that He understands your
weaknesses and in spite of that will not allow you to fail or your life to
collapse in a worthless heap.
Does God know you are weak?
Of course. Psalm 6:1 says, “O
Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.
2 Have mercy upon me, O Lord; for I am weak: O Lord, heal me; for my bones are
vexed.” He made David king of all
Israel knowing full well that he was weak and would sin repeatedly through
doubt, adultery; even using his position to commit murder. David was the average person with a good
heart who continued to try and do the right thing after repeated failures. It’s even harder for a man like him than
someone ordinary because the wealthy and famous have much more opportunities to
miss God. People tell them, “You’re the
stuff! You have what it takes!” Some in the Bible have even listened to the
praises of people when they were told, “You’re like a God!”
That happened to Nebuchadnezzar and Herod who basked in the
honor and God punished both of them. It
happened to Paul and Barnabas in Acts 14 and they rushed forward and stopped
the people warning them that they were just ordinary men. Because of this humility God continued to
move them but because they refused to act like great men they were immediately
persecuted. You will pay dearly for
doing the right thing but it does not cease being the right thing.
Proverbs 24:16 says, “A
righteous man falleth seven times but rises up again.” Why does he keep trying? Because God’s mercy and grace will continue
to bring opportunities to those who strive to do right but total failure for
those who don’t even try. Jesus said we
ought to forgive seventy times seven. Do
you really believe God will not forgive you more than He expects of us if you
ask?
If we are in Christ Jesus we are twice blessed because not
only did He die for our sins but continues to sit at the right hand of the
Father in a place of honor making intercession for us as the heavenly propitiation
of our sins. We are thrice blessed
because if we human beings are to forgive those seventy times seven transgressions
against us then how often will God forgive us while Christ sits at his side
pleading our case?
It is God who makes opportunity. It is God who forgives. It is God who raises humble failures into
great kings. Who are we to say that my
life is over simply because I have failed or it has become too hard or more
likely, I cannot see a future. Of course
we cannot see. God sees the end from the
beginning and we cannot see farther than our own noses. We are limited and He is not. If you but trust in Him you will be saved,
body, soul, spirit and even the life you live.
Eccl 1:4 One
generation goes and another generation comes, but the earth remains forever.
1 Corinthians 3 says, “4
For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not
carnal? 5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye
believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? 6 I have planted, Apollos
watered; but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither is he that planteth any
thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.” You will never be EVERYTHING in anyone’s
life. That is not a healthy
relationship. As much as you might love
your mate or pastor or mother or father you have no way to meet their every
need any more than they can meet all of yours.
Even God can’t meet all your needs. Do you know why? Because your heart and heart’s desires are
out of whack. You want what you want
when you want it but God knows what you need and when you’ll need it. I am reminded of a movie where a man created
a machine that could see the future. The
evil person who hired him was trying to find and kill him but at every turn in
the road he had an item that gave him direction. Not one of the items made sense to him until
he arrived at the point where they were needed.
If God gave you a hundred thousand dollars right now or a
million dollars right now so you would have it in five years for ministry work,
there wouldn’t be a nickel left when the money was needed. This is why he must first train you to handle
money and restrain your impulses and then at just the proper moment provide you
with just what you needed for the task at hand.
He is the great shepherd and it simply does not yet appear what we shall
be but when He appears, when the moment we have been waiting for appears then
we shall know Him and what He expects of Him because at that moment we shall be
like Him (1 John 3:2). You can’t live
like a savior when you haven’t even learned to trust the Father yet. Have you been there for your wife or children
or family members in need? No? Have you failed in any of these relationships
yet? If so you aren’t ready for the next
step and God won’t waste resources if you aren’t ready.
Eccl 1:5 The sun
also rises and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises.
I read a wonderful scripture lesson from a Rabbi the other
day. It said that the cycle of the sun
and moon, night and day, seasons and generations are here for our
admonition. Mankind can’t live for even
a day without the Spirit of God hovering over it. The cycle of the sun and moon is an example
to us of God’s unending love and grace.
He is letting us know that He will never leave us or forsake us. He is letting us know that we may have broken
every cycle He has sent our way from birth until now but because He loves us
more than the life of His Son, He will keep sending opportunities along the way
to His wayward children so they will one day do the right thing and begin to
live by the Spirit and not the flesh.
Eccl 1:6 The wind
goes to the south and circles about to the north; it circles and circles about
continually, and on its circuit the wind returns again.
God’s Spirit circles the Earth and returns again to where it
began. The merry-go-round of life keeps
bringing us to where we can reach out and grab the brass ring if we will but
focus and try. Yes you did wrong
today. Maybe someone in your life will
not give you another chance or told you that you will never amount to anything;
what of it? “God has said,” carries much
more weight than an enemy or even a friend who says you will never amount to
anything. Only His opinion counts. He’s providing opportunities no matter how
badly you have missed God. Scripture
says, “Let God be true and every other man on Earth a liar (Romans 3:4). If you don’t quit the opportunities will
continue to come around. If you keep
failing the tests will continue to come but once you start passing them you
will rise up into the blessings of God.
Eccl 1:7 All the
rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full. To the place from which the
rivers come, to there and from there they return again.
This verse is telling us something vital. You can’t keep hoarding your blessings and
expect them to continue. Scripture says
that out of your belly will flow rivers of living water. This living water is the Holy Spirit and it
comes from God Himself. It is also His
blessings which also come from Him.
Trying to hoard His Spirit or His blessings is like robbing from your
neighbor. It was given to you to share,
to pass it forward. Unless you give it
away it cannot grow. This forces you to
trust in God and believe that greed is your deadly financial enemy. Give and it shall be given unto you, good
measure, pressed down and shaken together shall men give unto your bosom. Keep what you were give and God will take
even that and give it to someone who is more worthy.
Beloved, I hope this lesson has been a help in your
life. I have been blessed this week
during the ETM prayer conference and hope you too will be blessed by a portion
of this word.
Bishop J.
