God’s GPS (Glorified, Perfect, Son)

In West Virginia until a few years ago, driving the back roads was usually by visual reckoning.   You might hear such directions as, “drive till you get to the fork in the road by the Jones place, but they don’t live there anymore, but we still call it that, and go till you see…”  Five years ago after complaining about getting lost going to visitations, my wife got me a GPS for Christmas.  I was so excited I went out to my car with a five year old Stefani in tow.  When the system was powered up, the female voice came on directing me to the next screen.  Stefani pipes up, “Daddy, now you have three women to listen to!”  I said, “Three?”  She continues, “Me, Mommy and GPS.”  My GPS is well used as a chaplain and at times, I have gone my own way with the GPS repeating, “Recalculating…recalculating, etc.”  One day I expect it to say after I have refused to listen to it, “Fine, I will just sit here on the dash and you can find your own way!” 

While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” Matthew 17:3-5

(NIV)

Many times in the Gospels you see Jesus saying, “He who has ears, let him hear…”  We need to understand to the people of the Bible the word hear was more than sound waves vibrating on the ear drum.  Hearing included the required action of doing.  In twenty years of ministry I have heard people remark they did not get anything from the sermon.  The problem is they had no intention of putting the sermon to action in their lives.  As Christians we at times ask God for more and more understanding of his plan but have we put into use the things he has already revealed?  Just like my GPS will give me directions to a particular place, unless I am willing to follow them, why use it to get directions? 

God told the three disciples who witnessed the transfiguration of Jesus to hear his Son.  Jesus is God’s Glorified, Perfect, Son and he has already given us the words, principles, and instructions of what God has for us if we follow the directions.  Don’t let what you know God wants you to do sit on the dashboard, put them into use to get where he wants you to be. 

To those who have ears, let him hear~!

God's Welcome Mat

As a hospice chaplain I travel to many different homes and knock on many different doors.  What are so different are the mats which welcome you to the home.  Some of the mats feature the image of the family's favorite sports team.  Of course as a Patriot's fan I would never walk on the symbol of my team, but would consider walking on another AFC team’s logo.  They may have purchased a mat with the family name blazed across the middle welcoming guests to their home.  Then, some may just have a mat which has a more the utilitarian purpose of cleaning the shoes before they come into the house.  While some mats may be carpeted, others may be of recycled materials and even others may be heated for those who live in northern climates. 

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  2 Peter 1:10-11

Peter’s letter begins with reminding the weak and the strong person of faith of the power which has been given over to them so they can live a godly life.  The presence of this power in the life continually helps the Christian to evaluate and reevaluate his or her walk.  Matthew Henry’s commentary of this passage says we should turn the promises into prayers for the purifying and transforming by the Holy Spirit.  Like welcome mats which clean the feet of the person entering a home, this power helps to clean away impurities from the disciple.  At the Passover before his Passion, Jesus washed the disciples’ feet.  While ritual bathing would have been needed before the meal, the washing of the feet was a welcome ritual for anyone entering a Jewish home.  God gave us a welcome mat in the form of his son.  The Messiah’s Atonement was the reconciliation of man to God through the life, death, burial, and resurrection of the Messiah.  The word reconcile has the understanding of a set of scales which are no longer weighted on one side by the sins of man against the holiness of God, but are now brought in balance so man can have a relationship once separated by sin. 
When you walk in a home you might need to look down to see you do not trip on the mat.  To enter into the kingdom of God one must look down upon God’s mat, Jesus Christ, and remember it was my sin which brought him down to earth to die a horrible death.  No one will enter into the kingdom of God unless they use God’s Messiah’s Atonement.  All others will trip over it into judgment. 

 

Old Friends and Old Favorites--I Must Be Getting Older

Last night I got a phone call from my old college roommate of twenty-eight years.  DJ and I lived together for two years but our friendship has faced obstacles, hardships, joys and loss.  I was his best man for his wedding and was there years ago when he and Verda faced a major surgery.  When he called it was as if we had never been apart and were back at Minden Hall, our first dormitory in college.  I was a new Christian and he was my mentor even though he was younger than me.  He held me accountable and helped me to grow.  One day sitting in our room talking about our pasts, DJ opens his trunk of memories.  He showed me his prom pictures and one made us both laugh.  DJ was dressed in a white tuxedo with platformed shoes, cane and his fro was picked out to its fullest.  I told him I had a fro just before college and wore leisure suits, but fortunately there are no incrementing pictures.  Twenty-eight years and now he is a grandpa, his wife has retired and went back to school to be a teacher, and his baby is entering tenth grade.

 
This morning I was looking for another favorite.  Peter Pan Crunchy Peanut Butter!  Peanut butter and banana sandwiches! Peanut butter and Fluff!  Peanut butter and apple butter!  Perhaps the reason I like Peter Pan is its logo—the image of a flying boy who never wanted to grow up.  This nearly one hundred year old product followed me to school just like Mary’s lamb.  I don’t usually eat it, but every once in a while I just have to eat a peanut butter sandwich. 

When I was a child, I talked like a child; I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 1 Corinthians 13:11

I am no longer the young Christian I was twenty-eight years ago.  I have experiences which have been God’s method of maturing me.  My first pastorate I wanted to please people and so build a church to me.  I have learned I am there to serve God and not myself.  I can’t be a friend to God and the world, no matter how I might have wanted its approval.  I have grown to trust less in myself and more of God.  I may have put away my Christian childhood for Christian maturity, but nobody better take away my Peter Pan Crunchy Peanut Butter!