Away for Some R and R!

I am out of town this week for some needed rest and restoration (My wife, Sharon and I are enjoying the history and beauty of Charleston, SC.) Therefore, I have posted a blog posting from the past that I think needs to be read again. It is so easy to get away from the Word!

Thanks for stopping by,

pj


Rain and the Bible

(Originally posted on September 15, 2005)

It began yesterday around 3 PM. I looked out my office window, and there it was, falling from the clouds. Rain! (Note: If I had written this TODAY - I could have said "SNOW!" I regret I am not in Lancaster to enjoy it - not!) I had not seen it for over two weeks. With the grass growing brown and plants beginning to wither, I was glad to see it!

As I thought of the benefits of rain, these words penned by Isaiah the prophet came to mind: “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:10-11). There is power in the book we call the Bible. It is God’s Word. As such, God sends it to accomplish HIS purposes in our lives. Hmm, I wonder. For those of us who are not seeing God at work in us and through us – could it be due to our lack of interaction with God’s Word? How much time do YOU spend in the Bible?

Thanks for stopping by,

pj

Justice?

Earlier this week I read in the Lancaster New Era that a woman whose son was killed in a police shootout back in November of 2005 had filed a wrongful death lawsuit. At one point as I read the article, I had to stop and make sure I was still reading the New Era and not the National Enquirer! I mean, here is a woman whose son was on record of desiring to kill cops and who put that desire into action by actually shooting one cop, leaving him seriously wounded AND shooting at other police officers as they sought to apprehend him. The Lancaster District Attorney's post-shooting investigation AND two other independent investigations came to the same conclusion: the police shooting of the suspect was justifiable. However, the suspect's mother is not satisfied and has therefore filed this suit. The suit names several police departments involved in the manhunt for her son AND the police officer whom her son shot! I feel for this woman's pain. I cannot imagine losing a child in this way. But give me a break! My hope is that this frivolous law suit gets thrown out. Taxpayers should not have to finance the defense of our law enforcement personnel who are doing their job protecting us from those who want to harm others!

Now notice I said, "I HOPE this law suit gets thrown out." There is no guarantee that it will. I'm guessing that it will be up to a judge as to whether the suit moves on or gets the toss. And not every judge does the right thing. Now that might be true in our legal system (and should be expected, for our judges our human - that means they are imperfect and fallible). But there is ONE judge who is perfect, who is infallible. This judge is God. In Genesis 18:25 we read, "Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?" The answer is, "Of course!" God as Judge of all the earth will ALWAYS do what is right! Judging justly, wisely and perfectly is something that flows out of his just, wise and perfect being!

So what does this mean for us? For starters, it means that whenever we believe we are wronged by another, we must allow God to deal with the offender. After all, we cannot see into a person's heart. Only God can. And only he can make perfect judgments. This is why we are admonished in Scripture, "Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord" (Romans 12:19). God as the Judge of all the earth will do what is right! Justice will prevail - if not in this life, certainly in the life to come.

In addition, knowing that God judges wisely and perfectly means that we had better live carefully in this life. Yes - that's right. Even followers of Jesus will face his judgment. We will not face condemnation (Romans 8:1), but the lives we live as believers will be scrutinized by the Judge of all the earth (please read 2 Corinthians 5:6-11). So my question for you (and ME!) is this: Are we living lives worthy of our calling as HIS people? Hmm. A thought for you to "chew on" this weekend.

Thanks for stopping by . . .

pj

Please Silence Your Cell Phones - Or Else!!!

Niagara Falls City Court Judge Robert Restaino was recently removed from his position on the bench by a New York State Commission. The Commission made their decision due to the actions of the judge in response to a cell phone that rang and interrupted one of his court sessions. The judge angrily ordered the "culprit" who allowed the interruption to come forward with the "guilty" cell phone in hand. When no one moved, he ordered all forty six people in the courtroom to jail. Once there, all were searched and herded into crowded cells. Those unable to post bail were shackled and bused to a separate jail. Restaino confessed to the state panel that he had been under stress in his personal life at the time. The judge is appealing the decision to remove him from his position.

This is just another reminder that stress causes people to do things they would not normally do. And since we live in such a stress filled world, we had better learn how to handle it. I believe one of the best prescriptions for dealing with stress is found in Philippians chapter four. There the apostle Paul writes the following, "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (4:4-7). There you have it. Focus on God, rejoicing in him and realizing that he is near (to help!). Stop worrying! Instead give all your needs to God. Thank him (no matter how what you are facing, there is always, always, always something to be thankful for!). You do this and HE will give you a peace that is out of this world (i.e. - a supernatural peace that only HE can give!). Give this a try - I won't guarantee less stress - but I will guarantee more peace!

Thanks for stopping by,

pj

Dual Identities?

People have a lot of fun with my name (at my expense!). When someone asks me my name and I answer with "John Smith" - I often get asked, "What's your real name?" "Who are you hiding from?" "Where is Pocahontas?" (By the way, the Indian princess Pocahontas never did marry John Smith. She married a Virginia tobacco plantation owner by the name of John Rolfe!)

I am sure many are glad they do not bear my name - but I must admit I, too, have experienced a lot of fun with my name over the years! So would I trade it for another? Hmm...Let me think on that.

Donald L. LaRose, however, apparently did not like his name. Twenty seven years ago he disappeared from his Indiana home and has not been seen since. The story spread that he was kidnapped by some Satanic cult that had been harassing him (he was pastoring a Baptist church at the time of his disappearance). Finally, after an intensive manhunt failed to find LaRose, an Indiana court declared him dead in 1986. But unknown to the court, his family and everyone who knew him - he was very much alive and living in a small Arkansas town under the assumed name of Ken Williams. And life went right along for Ken ... or is it Don...until just this past week when a newspaper reporter confronted him with evidence that he was not Ken Williams but Don LaRose. Ken ... I mean, Don admitted to his true identity - much to the shock of all of Ken's admirers (he was the town mayor) and Don's family! (Are you confused yet?).

As the authorities and Don's (and Ken's) friends and family sort all of this out (he remarried - is he guilty of bigamy?) I just have to shake my head. What motivated this guy to go into hiding for almost three decades, leaving his family, friends, and ministry behind? I have no clue (by the way, he had done this once before back in 1976 - that lasted a mere three months before he was discovered). But this whole concept of "dual identities" (Don/Ken) reminds me of the dual identities with which we struggle. That's right. If you are a follower of Christ, you struggle, I struggle, we all struggle with wavering between our true, real and God-given identity of being "in Christ" AND our old and stubbornly hanging on (with no authority to do so, by the way) identity of what we once WERE (past tense) before Christ (the Apostle Paul talks about this struggle in Romans 7).

All of us have a choice to make. It is a choice we must make moment by moment. Am I going to live according to my new identity as a child of God? Or am I going to choose to live according to my old identity as a rebellious sinner, hopelessly enslaved to sin and all of its heartbreak and pain? I hope all of us become more consistent in choosing to live our identity "in Christ!"

Oh and by the way, would I trade my name for another? Nah! Why should I trade in my name? It is the most popular name in America!

Thanks for listening,

pj

Thanksgiving Day 2007

Last week the automobile club, AAA predicted that a record 38.7 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more from home over the five days beginning today. That is a 1.6% increase over last year. Most of these trips will be by car (approximately 80%), in spite of the fact that the cost of a gallon of gasoline is up about 90 cents over last year's Thanksgiving holiday.

Why do so many people travel at Thanksgiving? I think I can answer this question, and answer it accurately with one word: "Family." Tomorrow will be my fifty-second Thanksgiving Day. All of them (at least as far back as I can remember) have been spent with family (and I am thankful for that privilege for not everyone has family). Tomorrow will be no different.

I want to go on record that this Thanksgiving Day ... and EVERY day ... I am very thankful for my family. My wife, my children, their spouses and spouses-to-be are among my life's greatest blessings. In addition, I thank God regularly for my extended family and my church family as well.

My Thanksgiving wish for you is that you will enjoy the time with your family - rejoicing in the One who in His providence places us in our particular families.

Thanks for stopping by . . .

pj

So Just How Does God View Sin? (Part 2)

A number of years ago when I was pastoring my first church in suburban Philadelphia, I recruited some teens to help me with some clean up of the church property. The facility sat on a 12 acre tract of land of which 1/3 was wooded. Meandering through this wooded section was a small stream. One summer day I had noticed a lot of debris in the stream and thus the need for a "clean up" day. In the process of cleaning out the stream, a middle school student and I stumbled across a dead cat. It was very apparent that this cat had been dead for a quite some time. So fighting waves of nausea, we removed the body of the cat and bagged it as quickly as we could. It was down right disgusting (in fact, I am getting a little queasy just thinking about it now!).

As disgusting as that cat was in our sight back then -- our sin is so much more disgusting in God's sight. As I mentioned in my last posting, God sees sin as a breaking of his law and a missing of the mark he has established for us. Now that would be bad enough ... but there is more!

In addition, God also sees our sin as a defiant rebellion against his authority. A frequent New Testament word (anomia) for sin carries the idea of "lawlessness" (1 John 3:4) or "without law or restraint" (Matt. 24:12). The Hebrew word pesha (often used in the Old Testament for sin) includes the idea of rebellion (Job 34:37; Exodus 23:2; 34:7; Joshua 24:19). The prophet Isaiah captured this idea of sin as rebellion when he wrote, "All we like sheep have gone astray; each of us has turned to his OWN way (vs. God's way)" (53:6). In effect, whenever we sin we are rebelling against God's rightful authority over us.

One final thought about God's view of sin. Sin is a willful twisting or distorting of the law of God. The Hebrew Old Testament word awon which is also used to refer to our sin literally means "to bend, twist, distort" (See Job 33:27; Eccl. 1:15). If you stop to think about this - isn't this what we often do when we sin? We seek to rationalize our sin and so we twist, bend and distort God's law so that we can justify ourselves! Sad, but true!

Bottom line, sin is UGLY! If we are ever going to grow in our faith and become increasingly like Jesus Christ, we MUST learn to see sin as God does! Let me suggest you soon set some time aside to read Psalm 51. These words were written by King David after he was confronted by Nathan the prophet concerning his sin of adultery with Bathsheba. As you read these words, ask God to reveal to you any sin you have not confessed to him. And as you confess any sin, remember the promise of 1 John 1:9: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." Now that is something to be THANKFUL for!

Thanks for stopping by . . .

pj

So Just How Does GOD View Sin? (Part 1)

Did you ever turn the wrong way onto a one way street? It can prove to be quite exhilarating. I know, because I have done it (and more than just once!). When it comes to our view of sin, many of us are heading the wrong way on a one way street. Yesterday, I discussed a few ways that our culture view sin (which in turn often impacts how we Christians look at it). And it is NOT how God sees it!

So just how does GOD view sin? For starters, he sees sin as a breaking of his law. In Romans 2:23 we read, "You who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?" The Greek word translated here as "breaking" carries the idea of stepping over a boundary. So, in God's view we are LAW BREAKERS. And that includes every single one of us! (Romans 3:23 "For ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.")

Now you might be thinking, "Wait a minute, John. I have never broken God's law. I am a decent person. I am not a law breaker!" That might be true, but God's Word sets a high (in fact an unattainable) standard. Take the 6th commandment (of the Ten) which states, "You shall not murder" (Exodus 20:13). Granted, most of us have never actually taken another human being's life. But Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:21-22a, "You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment." Who among us can claim that we have NEVER been angry with another person. OK, we have all broken the 6th commandment.

Perhaps you remain unconvinced that you are a law breaker from God's vantage point. Take the next commandment (#7) which states, "You shall not commit adultery." Again you might be thinking, "Whew, that's good. I have never cheated on my spouse! I've got this one down!" But Jesus once more confronts our hearts when he says in Matthew 5:27-28, "You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart." Again, who among us can claim that we have never lusted in this way? Now I could go on and on ... but I think (and hope) you get the point. Sin is the breaking of God's law and we are ALL guilty of doing so!


God also sees sin as a failure on our part to conform to HIS standard. In the Romans 3:23 passage I quoted above, the Greek word translated "sin" literally means "a missing of the mark." So bottom line, we sin when we miss the mark God has set for us. And just what is that mark? It is living our lives totally and wholeheartedly for HIM - all for His glory! There is not a soul among us who has lived up to that standard! All of us fall woefully short (read Romans 3:23 again).


So to sum up: sin is a breaking of God's law and a missing of His standard for us. That sure sounds a lot different from the view our culture has on sin. In my next posting, I will continue this discussion on how God views sin.

Thanks for stopping by . . .

pj