Home

          I've been thinking about home lately. The home Minnie made for us while the children were growing up. The home we had when the grandchildren were able to visit us very often. The home she and I had alone in Washington State for eleven years. And I'm thinking that home as God means for it to be should be a little taste of heaven while we're still yet so imperfect in this fallen world. We live among fallen creatures in a fallen world and sadly enough, we don't always help to make it a better place. And yet in spite of the rigor and the weariness of the daily chores and the unexpected problems that often arise, very often when love and kindness are shown in the family and we share in the excitement of learning and experiencing life as God intended it, “how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.”

          Home should be a place of refuge where all are accepted and loved because each has his or her own place to be and a responsibility to contribute and a share in all the goodness that the family has together. And this goes beyond the confines of the place that houses the individual family as the greater family shares with one another and helps bear one another's burdens. At home you can “wonder aloud” about things and have help clarifying your thinking and learning things you didn't know or understand. You can have demonstrated from life-to-life “how then should we live?” You can learn and share and teach each other the great truths you are learning from the Word of God and learning how to walk in paths of righteousness for His name's sake.

         At home you can walk by quiet waters and your soul can be refreshed and renewed each day. At home you find help with your problems. And you can share the excitement of the accomplishments God gives you. After all half the joy of the good things of life is sharing them with those you love.

        I said that I was thinking about “the home Minnie made for us while the children were growing up.” Actually we all made it together not any one person (and surely the husband and father has a major role to play, too), but a mother so often is able to set the tone for the home, the attitude that is picked up by the rest of the family. I think of Minnie's attitude of love and acceptance and hard work and cheerfulness and doing things with such a “willing heart.” Those are the qualities that all of us remember so well and wanted to emulate. So I pray for the attitude of all the mothers I know that they live up to what they know should be a good mother as described in Proverbs 31, for example. And I pray that the children will love their mother and father and honor them by obedience and a willing heart to do what is right. And may the children be kind one to another! I remember many times when the children were growing up and one of them said something too sharply to another, I would hear Minnie telling them from the other room in a kind, gentle voice herself, “And be ye kind one to another!” And the children responded and immediately softened their voices. I always loved to see that response.

        But think now how God is the “ultimate Home builder,” the One who invented home in the first place! How wonderful for a man and a woman deeply in love to get married and set up their own home and then through the glories of sexual relations (another creation of God's; He thought up and created the whole idea!) then a family is started. And what a good effect the children have on their parents! How can you continue to be self-centered when little children need your attention so much and so often? Having children is a major help in breaking our “natural” self-centeredness.

         So God started the whole thing by creating Adam and Eve with the capacities that they both had. 'God setteth the solitary in families.” Ps.68:6 “He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children.” Ps. 113:9 So God's wisdom, power, and grace are all seen in this basic institution of the home that God created.

       Think about the whole connotation of this well-loved word, “Home.” Consider a paragraph Jeannine wrote to me in an e-mail the other day:

"I was thinking on the bus this morning about what we were talking about last night when we had to end our conversation: God as the ultimate Home builder, resting place (He is Home), and provider of all the joy and comforts connoted by the word Home (not only the provider of it, but the creator of it, and the creator of even our capacity to long for and then enjoy Home). That is really mind boggling and I'm sure, completely unique among all of the alternative religions and philosophies. When we try to imagine what God is like, this is another way to see more of his traits and his love for us.” We speak of God as our refuge and strength, our resting place—which is another way of saying He is our Home. In Him we live and move and have our being. In Him we dwell! And all the joy and comforts of home that I was trying to describe a few minutes ago, it is He who created them and brings them in to being.         And then, she wrote that God not only created Home but He is also “the creator of even our capacity to long for and then enjoy Home.” And surely that is helping to prepare us for our Ultimate Home in heaven where Jesus Himself has gone “to prepare a place for us.” That's what we have at home and God Himself will dwell among us and He is our Father after which fathers on earth should pattern themselves. You have a longing for heaven because God actually created you for another world than this one. So when the Lord takes you home, you can say, “I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now. . . .” C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle, p. 196. “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” Phil. 3:20 ESV         Let's take it one step further: very often in our travels, we might be in Hong Kong, or Taiwan or Australia, or Europe, far from home and perhaps ready to go home then, I would tell Minnie, “Honey, my home is where you are.” And she understood and I understood. She was so dear to me that my home was wherever she was. When we get to heaven, we are going to realize that heaven is what it is because Jesus is there! And we are going to find perfect satisfaction and joy in His Presence. “. . . In thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” Ps. 16.11 [Being content just to be with her. Everything was “all right” if she was there. Contentment just being with her and in her presence.]

Who Can You Count On???

to be there and to do what he/she says

 

         'It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High: To show forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night,' Psalm 92:1-2

                A day or two ago we were talking about 'resting in the Lord' and what that means. We know that concept in different terminology when we apply that quality to people. We say they are 'reliable' or 'dependable,' or we can 'count on' them to be there and to do what they said they would do. They answer the phone and they follow through and follow up their work. It is so comforting and reassuring to depend on and have confidence in trustworthy people.

             Of course I immediately think of Minnie when I think of a dependable person. For 54 years my 'heart did safely trust in her.' 'She did me good and not harm all the days of her life.' Proverbs 31:11-12   I always knew I could count on her and she depended on me to do what I said I would. She was always 'there' when the children needed her.

            I was able to 'rest' and leave the matter with her, knowing it would get done to the best of her ability. In our 30^th Anniversary card she wrote, 'Dearest Bill, This peaceful scene makes me think of the deep secure life that we share together. God has been good to us. . . . Do you think we will have 30 more years together (in this life)? Love, Minnie'

            That 'deep secure life that we share together' is what we have in the Lord. That's what resting in Him means. You have complete confidence in His dependability. Even the most trustworthy of people can fail you for one reason or another, perhaps through no fault of their own, but God never will. 'His faithfulness reaches to the sky' and is seen 'every night.' In fact He has placed the moon as His 'faithful witness in the sky.'

 

         The moon may be obscured or only partially visible, but it is always 'there' reminding us of the continual presence of God. Our world is spinning in space but its location in space is kept perfectly in orbit and tilted at just the right angle to the sun to bring about day and night and the seasons of the year. Its 'foundations' are God's power and dependability, 'upholding all things by the Word of His power.' 'By Him all things hold together.' Col.1.17 You can count on it and rest in Him, content and secure and at peace. Shalom!

 

The Fellowship of His Sufferings

^'That I may know Him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, . . . .' Phil. 3:10

          There IS a fellowship in going through sufferings and difficulties together. It brings you even closer together. Minnie—by the strength of God's grace—went through the physical sufferings of pancreatic cancer but I shared in the enormous inward spiritual pain—and so did our four children and those dear grandchildren and our larger family, as well.

       'Suffering has no meaning in itself. Left to its own, it is a frustrating and bewildering burden. But given the context of relationship, suffering suddenly has meaning.” [Joni, When God Weeps, p. 127]

       When your children suffer, you suffer. And we are God's children! 'How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!' 1 Jn.3.1 “It is the love that you have for your child that quickens your step and buoys up your heart. Your relationship gives your burden meaning.' p.126

      “Intimacy happens as two souls share together. It's what we long for more than anything else. To know and be known. . . . God answers that ancient longing. A yearning that echoes with the message that we were made for Him.' 128

        The word for fellowship is koinonia meaning sharing something in common. And the esprit de corps of fellow sufferers is deep, but suffering shared with God is deeper still. To know God through the difficulties of life is to know why we trust Him. 'To know God is to be free of the incessant need to understand exactly what He is doing before you place your confidence in Him.' 131

         God will always have enough grace for you, strength for the journey and the difficulties. We know His mercy is limitless and His protection and peace through it all. He is the 'God of all comfort' and his compassion never fails. He can be counted on through all the difficulties and sufferings of life and then? Then 'I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever' for He will 'bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom.' Ps.23.6, 2 Tim.4.18

Easter & Resurrection

Easter & Resurrection

Christ died for our sins just as the Scriptures had said would happen, he was buried, he was raised on the third day just as the Scriptures had prophesied, and he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time. . . . Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. . . .

Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have died. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. . . .

But someone may ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. All flesh is not the same: Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.

So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.

If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.

I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

“Where, O death, is your victory?

Where, O death, is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

--from 1 Corinthians 15

Power of His Promises

Power of His Promises

“By faith our fathers roamed the earth

With the power of His promise in their hearts.”

         Aye! Verily those promises are powerful with the wisdom, kindness, and Presence of God Himself standing behind them. In Minnie's last talk to the ladies at the Bible church in Washington State on “Jehovah Shalom” she explained how God sustained her through her ordeal: “The Word, the Word, the Promises!”

          And what are some of those thousand or more promises that are so powerful and sustaining in our hearts and in the external world of God's providence? For Minnie God flooded her heart with the reality of this promise:

“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you . . . Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27 She was so aware of His Presence with her—through it all. “All is well!” she knew.

         And that the completion of the journey would “lead to a joyful end” with Jesus' promise to come for her Himself personally when the time came “. . .I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” John 14:3 esv “Absent from the body . . . present with the Lord.” 2 Cor. 5:8

        And what are the promises in my life that sustained me as I “roamed the earth”? Here are a few of the many:

Romans 10:9-13 (ESV) “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. . . . For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

          1 Cor. 10:13 (ESV) ^“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

        Psalm 27:14 (KJV) ^“Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.”

2 Cor. 4:16 NIV “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.”

       How about you? What are some of your favorite promises that God has used in your life? Click on Reply and share them with us. They will encourage others.

January 13, 2013

The Wonder and Mystery of our God-directed Lives

        Today is the 3^rd Anniversary of Minnie's Homegoing to be with the Lord. She is with Him now and “in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” Psalm 16:11; 17:15

         Minnie never lost her sense of wonder at the goodness of God and the intriguing fascination of God's works in Creation. She herself was one of God's glorious works. She lived life with a sense of expectancy and joy. And at the end [though it was not the End, but the Beginning] she told Jeannine and me, “I feel that God has given me so much happiness in life! One of her favorite verses that she shared with me often was Ephesians 3:20 “He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. . . .”

         One of the books she delighted in was Ravi Zacharias, Recapture the Wonder—which Minnie never lost! She was always so delighted in babies and little children and their enthusiasm, which she shared. She loved to do things for them and with them. And she laughed a lot as she took pleasure in life. She told one of our granddaughters that even with cancer she tried to take pleasure in the good of that day and enjoy the company of whoever was with her that day.

         Ravi points out that to maintain our sense of wonder we need a thankful spirit guided by truth. And that truth is personal; it is personified in Jesus Himself who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. One of the marvelous names given to Jesus 700 years before He was born was “Wonder” ! It comes from that marvelous Christmas passage in Isaiah 9:6

^“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”

        All those names mean so much. This child who was to be born for us, sent from God Himself, is Wonder.” In Hebrew the word is a noun instead of an adjective, adding even additional strength to the meaning. Isaiah uses the same Hebrew word used to describe the marvelous wonders that God did in bringing the children of Israel out of Egypt. Implied is not only marvel but mystery. It is a personal relationship with the God of Wonder Himself that gives meaning, excitement, and joy to our lives. He is the “Emmanuel,” God Himself with us in the person of Jesus, the Sent One, the Messiah from God the Father.

      “Great God of wonders! All thy ways are worthy of thyself—divine.

And the bright glories of thy grace Among thine other wonders shine.

Who is a pard'ning God like thee? Or who has grace so rich and free?”

       It is in communion with God that we find that sense of wonder, rejoicing in the works of God and always aware of the mystery of knowing Him, “whom to know aright is life eternal.” “Enchantment in life can never be realized in some thing; it must ultimately culminate in a person.” “Just as gratitude requires someone to whom we can be grateful, truth requires someone because of whom truth is possible. In both instances personhood is indispensable to wonder.” p. 104 Ravi Zacharias

        An essential part of wonder is to understand and experience love. And that happens in our relationship with Jesus. Love is “the quiet confidence of belonging to someone other than oneself; a commitment to a cause greater than oneself; a relationship that makes choices apart from the self; it is the root of unending sacrifice. When that love is found, wonder is sustained even in moments of great fear. But the how and why of such a love is a challenge.”

        ^“Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the [atoning sacrifice] for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.” 1 John 4:10-11

                                                                               --Bill Burnside

Renewed every morning

           One of our daily privileges is to look to the Lord for respite, rest, renewal and rejuvenation each day. And the result is rejoicing in Him because “although our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.” 2 Cor. 4:16 ESV It is fascinating how so often in the midst of a dilemma, a problem, or a trial, God gives us rest and renewal. We can take a deep breath before going on.

Sometimes A Light surprises the Christian while he sings;

It is the Lord who rises with healing in His wings:

When comforts are declining, He grants the soul again

A season of clear shining, To cheer it after rain.

         God does this daily. I notice it often and remember so well how Minnie and I were refreshed on those last steep hills on her journey home. We often had to “come apart and rest awhile,” but God renewed us daily—and He still does. Where does that “Light” that “surprises” you come from? God meets with us in His Word! How often we read our Bible and see how glorious the old truths are and how they grip our hearts. It’s the Light of the illumination of the Holy Spirit exalting Jesus the Light of the world.

        But this wonderful hymn says the “surprise” reminder comes “while he sings.” Aye, and that’s so true as we sing to one another and to the Lord in “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.” That’s because we are singing scriptural truths and God has put a new song in our hearts, even praise unto the Lord our God. Why is it “new”? It’s always new because it’s fresh and illumined by the Presence of God Himself who is always “there” (or shall we say “here.”)

Think of the rain and how the “season of clear shining” follows that long rain. Or how the spring follows the winter. Or how the morning light follows the dark midnight. Or how joy comes in the morning after a long night.

In holy contemplation we sweetly then pursue The theme of God's salvation, And find it ever new;

Set free from present sorrow, We cheerfully can say, Let the unknown tomorrow Bring with it what it may.

It can bring with it nothing But He will bear us through: Who gives the lilies clothing Will clothe His people too:

Beneath the spreading heavens No creature but is fed; And He who feeds the ravens Will give His children bread.

Though vine nor fig tree neither Their wanted fruit should bear, Though all the fields should wither, Nor flocks nor herds be there:

Yet, God the same abiding, His praise shall tune my voice: For, while in Him confiding, I cannot but rejoice.

                                          --William Cowper, alt. From “A Quiet Heart,” Soundforth Singers

Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him. Psalm 37:7