Just for You

From Carolyn

2019: A Sure Thing

2:12.2019

Dear Friends, Beloved of God,

It’s a fact. I really like calendars. I have a flat one for my desk on which I make notes to help me know where I am supposed to be, today or on future days. I select my wall calendars to bring me cheer through their lovely pictures and readable numbers. 

One morning last month I looked across the room from my comfortable study chair to my calendar, enjoying the drawing and noticing the bold numbers for that day in January. I noticed it was Thursday, January 11. Oh my! Our oldest granddaughter’s birthday was January 10. I quickly started an email to Melanie to tell her I was sorry we were a day late but how much we loved and valued her. In the middle of my writing I thought, “Now wait a minute. Just yesterday I know that I made a business transaction that was on the 9^th of January. What is going on? This calendar must be defective.”

I hopped up, got the calendar down and sure enough I had ordered a calendar with beautiful pictures representing the seasons of each month. Yes, the January picture was appealing. Yes, it was the second Thursday of that month. Yes, the date was January 11. But no, the calendar was not defective. 

I had ordered a 2018 calendar!  My experience challenged me to pay more attention to details when I order calendars. For sure! And provided us with a good laugh. 

However this experience was also a good reminder that 2019 won’t be the same as 2018. There will be many changes for all of us this year, some exciting and delightful, some not so much.  While we don’t want to be stuck in a re-run of the movie Groundhog Day, if we have lived long enough we know that we will probably be called on to lay aside some familiarities we would rather keep. These changes could include things like health changes, unexpected family challenges, financial reversals, relationships that go south or the loss of a dear one, the loss of an opportunity, or the loss of trust in oneself or in others. The change could be the loss of a dream.

Change, even a good change can leave me wobbly at times. A bit off-kilter with a small change, but struck down for a while as I assimilate a huge change. Especially an unwanted change which I did not see coming. Or a change I could not hold back even if I saw it approaching. 

Paul had such times and he was truthful enough to tell us. Here is how he puts it—We have this treasure in earthen vessels...we are afflicted in everyway but not crushed, perplexed but not despairing, persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed (2 Corinthians 4:7-10).  

Here’s the truth. We live in a precarious world, one that is fallen, and at times life leaves us shaky, or even down…but not out. There are things that perplex us but we don’t have to stay forever stuck in despair.  At times we are persecuted by others, misunderstood or misrepresented, ignored or being shot at with words or “sticks and stones.”  And it’s a certainly that we will be attacked by the Enemy of our souls. We may be struck down but we don’t have to be destroyed.

“No one is made out of super dust!” Earthen vessels sometimes wobble. There will be tears. There will be fears. Often it takes time to regain our equilibrium, our sure footing. Paul testifies to this truth, as do I.

As I was thinking of this new year and the fact that changes will come, I realized I want stability, a sure thing that will not change in fair or foul weather, or in the knowns or the unknowns. I want an entity rock-solid and immovable. Something bigger than myself or bigger than the “look on the bright side” platitudes that can fade in the blink of an eye. And then I remembered that I have this sure thing. 

Jeremiah was speaking to a world in ruins. A people in a world of hurt. Much had gone wrong, and much of their own making. Lamentations 3:21-23 recounts part of what Jeremiah says to the people in their shaken, wobbly, hurting lives. His words are for me. His words are for you. 

 

This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope.

The LORD’s steadfast love never fails,

For His mercies never cease;

They are new every morning.

Great is Thy faithfulness.

Ahhh! Hope. What a bracing word. This year I plan to intentionally focus on the steadfast love of God exhibited by His great faithfulness. He is the One who holds me fast, and can anchor me in hope that does not disappoint. Even in the wobbly times, even in times of tears or fears. Even in 2019.

The first thing I can do is what Jeremiah does: “Recall to mind,” that is, I can remember the fact of God’s core characteristic—His steadfast love. He is so very full of compassion and morning mercies. I can offer thanks to Him for these qualities. I can remember His love that motivates His faithfulness. I can ask Him to bring this to mind when I forget. “Help” is one of my ongoing prayers.

Next, I want to remember the ways in which He has been faithful to me and mine in the past. Sometimes it helps me to record these as “memorial stones.” Times when He has seen me through a dark valley, or delivered me from myself or from a difficult situation. Part of His love is demonstrated by His faithfulness in providing green pastures of rest; part of His love is demonstrated by His faithfulness to walk with me through every dark valley I will encounter. Sometimes my forgetter is better than my rememberer! He can help with that malady and wants to. He knows our frame and He remembers we are but dust. Our Father delights when we come to Him for help, for rescue, for provision.

Third, I have the opportunity to ask His other children to listen to my heart and to pray with me and for me. That’s called loving one another.

As I consider His faithfulness, which is the backbone of His steadfast love, these are a few evidences of His faithfulness that can give me hope:

➤Nothing can separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus!—Romans 8:35–38.

(This includes situations like those listed in this passage: tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril or sword.)

➤He is faithful to forgive my sins and to cleanse me from all unrighteousness.—1 Corinthians 10:13 

(Morning mercies, just what the folks in Lamentations needed. Just what I need! I am refreshed as I come to Him with a repentant heart and stand in the powerful overflow of His mercy.)

➤If I am unfaithful, He remains faithful for He cannot deny Himself.—2 Timothy 2:13.

➤I am with you all the days, even to the end of the age!—Matthew: 28-20. (He will never, no not ever, leave me or forsake me.)

In all of this two question might come to mind. How do I know He has this steadfast love for me? “Greater love has no man than he lay down his life for his friend”(John 15:13). And then again in Romans 8 Paul argues, “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, will He not also give us all things?” Not all things that we want, but all things we need.

A second question one might have is “How could this thing I am facing be a product of God’s love?”  This is where I have to put my “mystery box” to use, honestly bring my questions to God and leave them there. “His ways are higher than my ways!” And if in such circumstances I find in myself faltering faith, I can bring my confused heart to the One who calls me Beloved and speak, cry or sigh the truth—“Lord, I sure don’t get this and how it meshes with Your steadfast love but, ‘Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief’ ” (Mark 9:24).

Two couples we know have had many months of upheaval in their lives. Both love God and have faithfully served Him for many years. Now their lives have been interrupted and the future is cloudy. Family members have also been affected and plans and ministry dreams have been dashed. The shock of hurtful reactions on the part of some has been disheartening at times, for at least one couple. Government forces have superseded their desires in each case. I can only imagine there have been fears and tears.  Many have stood with them, praying and encouraging. However, even with all the help and good will from others, each couple had to make a choice about where to look and on what to depend. Each couple had to find a sure thing greater than the changes that have been thrust upon them. 

Each couple has chosen a watchword, one that expresses their path forward in unsettled times. Here are the watchwords for each couple, their sure thing chosen by Couple 1 and then Couple 2. 

1. “Eyes on Jesus”

2. “Settled in His goodness.”

I think these words are exceptional. They help stabilize my faith. I have had a front-row seat to see some of the difficulties my friends have walked through. I see His faithfulness to each couple as they navigate uncertain times, remembering Him, each in a unique way.

“Great is Your faithfulness” is one of my watchwords I will focus on this next year. My sure thing.

When I remember this I have hope! Even in all the changes that will come to us and to our friends. Hope anchored to reality brings stability. It’s a sure thing.

I would welcome your “watchword” for the year, if you care to share it with me.

In closing, permit me to restate a couple of things:

1. No one is made out of super-dust. Period.

2. This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. The LORD’s steadfast love never fails, for His mercies never cease; they are new every morning. Great is Thy faithfulness.

With love and hope because of His faithfulness—to me and to you,

Carolyn Roper

It's Just Impossible

"Then Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, “How hard it is hard for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!” And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, “Children,  how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle..." (Mark 10:24,25). 

Picture an effort to force an angry, kicking, struggling, thousand pound  camel through the eye of a needle. It’s not hard to do. It’s impossible.[1]

Jesus makes the unexpected and largely unremarked point that it’s not just hard for wealthy people to follow Jesus; it’s hard for everyone. Indeed, it is impossible! 

Who then can be saved? "With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible" (10:27). He is our righteousness and our sanctification. We must ask him every day for the grace to do what he has asked us to do.

 "Let us resign the conflict wholly to Him. We have sought in vain for victory by resolutions and endeavors; by close attention to religious duties; by occupying our mind with various interests, so that we had no leisure to be tempted... Now, hand the conflict absolutely over to Jesus: do not even try to help Him: just let Him do all: be quite still, and when temptation comes, let Him meet it." —FB Meyer

"The One who called us is faithful. He will do it" (1Thessalonians 5:23,24).

David Roper

2.9.19

[1] Those who insist there must have been a narrow gate in Jerusalem called "The Eye of the Needle" miss the point. It's not just difficult to squeeze a camel through the (literal) eye of a needle. It can't be done!

Dancing Before the Lord

"And being in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as He sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard. Then she broke the flask and poured it on His head. But there were some who were indignant among themselves, and said, 'Why was this fragrant oil wasted?'" (Mark 14:3,4).

A number of years ago, Carolyn and I visited a little church in a mountain community here in Idaho. During the worship service the pastor's wife begin to dance in the aisle. She was soon joined by others in the congregation. Carolyn and I looked at one another and an unspoken agreement passed between us: "No way!"

Both Carolyn and I come from church traditions that favor a more staid liturgy and this form of worship was way beyond our comfort zone.

But if Mark's story of Mary's "waste" means anything at all it suggests that our love for Jesus can exceed traditional norms and may express itself in ways that others find uncomfortable.

A year’s wages were involved in Mary's anointing. It was an “imprudent” act that invited the disciples’ scorn. (The word Mark uses to describe their reaction, enebrimōnto,means “to snort," and suggests disdain and mockery.) Mary must have cringed, fearing Jesus’ response.

But Jesus commended her for her act of devotion and defended her against his own disciples, for he saw the love that prompted her action, despite what some would consider the impractical nature of it. 

And so, though I may not be able to embrace the forms of worship some churches cherish they may represent a sincere outpouring of love for Jesus. As such I must honor them.

David Roper

Foolishness

“From within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person" (Mark 7:20-23).

The last vice in Jesus’ inventory, "foolishness," is the New Testament Greek equivalent of an Old Testament Hebrew word, "peti,"—the ingenuous fool, the naïf that never thinks about the meaning of life. (Picture here jug-eared Alfred E Newman, tripping through life with a goofy grin on his face and asking "What, me worry?") 

It's odd that Jesus would include naiveté in a list of “evil things” that most of us would decry. His characterization started me thinking about those who think deepy about the meaning of life. And those who don't. 

I asked Alexa the meaning of life and she told me, "The meaning of life is to live it!" Alexa is a thorough-going existentialist, and I can't subscribe to her philosophy of life, but at least she's thought about the issue. 

I asked Siri (my circle of friends is quite small these days) and she said "The meaning of life is 42,” quoting Douglas Adams and The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, the point of which is that the meaning of life is a meaningless cipher. I can't go along with Adams either.

I didn’t ask Google. 

John, one of Jesus' apostles, gave us the inspired answer: Life is “knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he sent" (1John 17:3). Another apostle put it this way, “Christ is my life!" (Philippians 1:21).

If that's true—and we must decide—it will make no difference in the end what we accomplish in this life, physically, intellectually, socially, or monetarily. “If we have not chosen God, we will have missed the purpose for which we were formed and will have forsaken the only thing that satisfies” (Richard Law).

David Roper

1.3.19

The Man From Nazareth

"And (Jesus) came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, 'He shall be called a Nazarene'" (Matthew 2:23). 

Some of my growing-up years were spent in Duncanville, Texas, a small ranching/farming community a few miles from Dallas. Duncanville is a suburb of Dallas now, with a population of almost 40,000 people, but back then it was just a few old buildings scattered along one side of a wide spot on a country road. A nowhere place. Podunk. Hicksville. The K-12 school I attended had less than 100 students; my class numbered twelve.

Jesus grew up in a "nowhere" place as well, a one-horse town described in a short line in Matthew's gospel: “and he shall be called a Nazarene," i.e., a man from Nazareth.

Remember Nathaniel's dismissive counter, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth”? (John 1:46). And the ironical inscription on the cross: "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews" (John 19:19). "You’ve got to be kidding.”

I can find no prophecy in the Old Testament that suggests that Jesus would grow up in Nazareth. The formula that Matthew uses to introduce the quotation seems to refer to the Old Testament prophets in general and not to a specific text (note the plural noun). It is, I believe, a summary of prophetic expectation that Israel's Christ would be unimportant in the eyes of the world.

God has always done his best work through “insignificant” people: "Not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen...those that are not to bring to nothing the things that are. (1Corinthians 1:26-28). 

Oh, for sure, God has chosen a very few prominent men and women to get his work done.A wealthy friend of mine once quipped that he was glad Paul did not say, "not any." But most of us are unknown, insignificant, unimportant individuals. Yet we have been chosen to bring salvation to the world (1Corinthian 1:19). 

Consider your “Nazareth": A small rural church? A cramped cubicle in an office complex? A tiny apartment in an retirement community? A Stryker Bed?  You can love and pray and listen and live out the goodness of Jesus wherever you are. You don't have to be somebody to be somebody. You can be…well, nobody at all. 

David Roper

2.1.19

Authentic Christianity

• Blessed are the poor in spirit.
• Blessed are those who mourn.
• Blessed are the gentle.
• Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
• Blessed are the merciful.
• Blessed are the pure in heart.
• Blessed are the peacemakers.
• Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness.  —Jesus, Matthew 5:3-10
• 
  

I applied for a position in a Christian organization some years ago and was presented with a list of rules. "We expect Christian behavior from our employees" was the explanation. 

The list was a set of expectations with which I could agree for I, for reasons mostly unrelated to my faith, didn't do the things they proscribed. But, I thought, having agreed to their regulations, I should then ask for the right to be arrogant, insensitive, harsh, spiritually indifferent, critical, troublesome and defensive. None of these issues were addressed by this organization's rules. 

The character of those who follow Jesus is not defined by a code. It is a subtle quality of life that is  difficult to quantify, but can best be described as beautiful. 

Jesus' Beatitudes sum up that beauty: Those who are indwelled by and dependent upon the Spirit of Jesus are humble and self-effacing. They are deeply touched by the weakness and suffering of others. They are gentle and kind. They long for goodness in themselves and in others. They are merciful to those that struggle and fail. They are single-minded in their love for Jesus. They are quiet and peaceful and leave behind a legacy of peace. They are kind to those that ill-use them, returning good for evil. 

And they are "blessed," a word that means "happy" in the deepest sense of that word. 

This is the "wisdom that comes from above," a wisdom that arrests the attention of bystanders and outsiders, the only light that some people can see (Matthew 5:14,15). It belongs alone to those who come to Jesus and ask for it. To ask is to receive in due time. 

David Roper

1.27.19

The Winter of Our Discontent

"Now is the winter of our discontent/made glorious summer by the sun..." (William Shakespeare, in Richard III).

“Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near..." (Jesus, in Matthew 24:32).

Winters can be long and severe here in Idaho. I think of C.S. Lewis' description of Narnia: "Always winter and never Christmas." I wait eagerly for the willows to "break" and to see other signs of spring. 

Jesus drew a parallel between cold climes and a world in which “the love of many has grown cold" (24:12), and told his disciples of a day when the "son of righteousness" would rise and our world's winter of discontent and disorder would be turned into glorious summer.

"When will that be?" we ask with Jesus' disciples, a question he doesn’t answer: "Concerning that day and hour no one knows…but the Father alone" (24:36). 

We don't know the day and the hour of Jesus' coming, so we “must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will. Who then is the faithful and prudent servant whom his master put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time? (24:44)

Here Jesus defines what it means to be ready: readiness is not loitering, but loving and caring for Jesus’ children as we await his return.

Jesus urges us to set aside our preoccupation with time-lines and end-time scenarios and occupy ourselves with Kingdom business: To sit at Jesus’ feet and learn from him; to show and tell others what we're learning; to feed his household; "to give them  their food" as we have opportunities to do so. 

This is where joy is found: "Happy is that servant whom his master finds so doing when he returns" (24:46).