To Win the Prize

"Do you remember how, on a racing-track, every competitor runs, but only one wins the prize? Well, you ought to run with your minds fixed on winning the prize! Every competitor in athletic events goes into serious training. Athletes will take tremendous pains—for a fading crown of leaves. But our contest is for a crown that will never fade" (1 Corinthians 9:25, 26, J.B. Phillips).

I ran track in high school—the 100 and 200 meter hurdles. When I got to college, however, I realized that everyone in the Southwest Conference—even the equipment managers—could run faster than I and turned in my spikes. 

One thing I learned about competing at the highest level: "Every competitor in athletic events goes into serious training."

That analogy—running with your mind fixed on the prize—is often applied to the Christian life with inducements to establish a set of dreary disciplines—rising at 4:00 a.m. to pray, a chastisement that only made me grouchy. Thankfully, however, that's not how Paul applies that phrase.

Paul argues that though we have been endowed with certain rights, we can, out of our love for Jesus, impose limits on ourselves—discipline ourselves, if you will—give up those rights in order to bring others closer to him. That's what Paul means when he writes, "I run the race with determination. I am no shadow-boxer, I really fight!" (9:27). (Here Paul uses a technical boxing term that evokes memories of  Mammy Yoakum's fabled "Goodnight Irene" knockout punch.)

Stern discipline indeed: To “knock ourselves out” to gain the greatest prize—the spiritual good of another. It's what Jesus did when He set aside his rights as Almighty God and humbled himself to bring salvation to us. He was willing to give up his throne in glory and every other right as God to seek our highest good. There is no greater discipline. There is no greater love.

David Roper

6.24.20

Father’s Day

Father’s Day is the day we set aside to honor our fathers, though I suspect, these days, it best serves the interests of the merchants.

Nevertheless… Father’s Day is upon us and as such is an appropriate time to take note of something God said: “Every one of you shall honor… his father” (Leviticus 19:3).

Actually, God said something even more significant: “You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy. Every one of you shall honor…his father” (19:2,3), thus establishing a connection between holy living and paternal honor. You can’t have one without the other.

Few men my age have living parents, thus we can honor them only in our memories. But most of us have living children. We, as fathers, cannot insist that they honor us, but we can do something even better: We can, by God’s grace, become the kind of men and fathers that our children find easy to honor (Ephesians 6:4).

David Roper

6.20.20

"Hang A While"

Where'er Thou roam'st, one happy soul, we know,

      Seen at Thy side in woe,

   Waits on Thy triumphs—even as all the blest

      With him and Thee shall rest.

   Each on his cross; by Thee we hang a while,

      Watching Thy patient smile,

   Till we have learned to say, "'Tis justly done,

Only in glory, LORD, Thy sinful servant own."

—John Keble

Old John Keble’s poetry is difficult to parse, but worth the trouble when done.  

He writes of “one happy soul,” thinking of Dismas, the repentant thief, hanging on the cross at Jesus’ side, suffering woe, but waiting for Jesus’ triumph. 

Keble sees us crucified with him (“each on his own cross"), as we "hang a while” at Jesus’ side  until we have learned to say “’Tis justly done”—patiently accepting our measure of sorrow and suffering in this life, as Jesus did (“Thy will be done”)—clinging to his promise: "Truly I say to you, you will be with me in Paradise."

Jesus, for the glory set before him endured the cross. Thus we “watch” and wear his patient smile and “hang a while” until he takes us with him into glory.

David Roper

6.19.20

Frog and Toad Together

by Arnold Lobel: An "I Can Read Book"

 

Frog was in his garden. 

Toad came walking by. 

"What a fine garden you have, Frog," he said. 

"Yes," said Frog. "It is very nice, but it was hard work." 

"I wish I had a garden," said Toad. 

 

"Here are some flower seeds. 

Plant them in the ground," said Frog, "and soon you will have a garden." 

"How soon?" asked Toad. 

"Quite soon," said Frog.

 

Toad ran home. 

He planted the Flower seeds.

"Now seeds," said Toad, "start growing."

Toad walked up and down a few times. 

The seeds did not start to grow.

 

Toad put his head close to the ground and said loudly, 

"Now seeds, start growing!" 

Toad looked at the ground again.

The seeds did not start to grow.

 

Frog came running up the path. 

"What is all this noise?" he asked. 

"My seeds will not grow," said Toad. 

"You are shouting too much," said Frog. 

"These poor seeds are afraid to grow." 

 

"My seeds are afraid to grow?" asked Toad.

"Of course," said Frog. 

"Leave them alone for a few days. 

Let the sun shine on them, let the rain fall on them. 

Soon your seeds will start to grow."

 

That night Toad looked out of his window. 

"Drat!" said Toad. "My seeds have not started to grow.

They must be afraid of the dark." 

 

Toad went out to his garden with some candles. 

"I will read the seeds a story," said Toad. 

"Then they will not be afraid."

Toad read a long story to his seeds.

 

All the next day Toad sang songs to his seeds.

And all the next day

Toad read poems to his seeds.

And all the next day

Toad played music for his seeds. 

 

Toad looked at the ground. 

The seeds still did not start to grow. 

"What shall I do?" cried Toad. 

"These must be the most frightened seeds; in the whole world!"

 

Then Toad felt very tired, and he fell asleep.

"Toad, Toad, wake up," said Frog. "Look at your garden!" 

Toad looked at his garden. 

Little green plants were springing up out of the ground.

 

"At last," shouted Toad, "my seeds have stopped being afraid to grow!" 

"And now you will have a nice garden too," said Frog. 

 "Yes," said Toad, "but you were right, Frog. It was very hard work"

 

Some folks work very hard to be good, but like garden flowers and other things that come from God, personal righteousness is a gift that God wants to give you. He will bring it to you little by little and in due time if you keep asking him for it. “For as a garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring up; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up...” (Isaiah 61:11).

 

David Roper

6.17.20

Better Than My Best

I prayed for strength, and then I lost awhile 

All sense of nearness, human and divine; 

The love I leaned on failed and pierced my heart, 

The hands I clung to loosed themselves from mine; 

But while I swayed, weak, trembling, and alone, 

The everlasting arms upheld my own. 

I prayed for light; the sun went down in clouds, 

The moon was darkened by a misty doubt, 

The stars of heaven were dimmed by earthly fears, And all my little candle flames burned out; 

But while I sat in shadow, wrapped in night, 

The face of Christ made all the darkness bright. 

I prayed for peace, and dreamed of restful ease, 

A slumber free from pain, a hushed repose; 

Above my head the skies were black with storm, 

And fiercer grew the onslaught of my foes; 

But while the battle raged, and wild winds blew, 

I heard His voice and perfect peace I knew. 

I thank You, Lord, You were too wise to heed 

My feeble prayers, and answer as I sought, 

Since these rich gifts Your bounty has bestowed 

Have brought me more than all I asked or thought; 

Giver of good, so answer each request 

With Your own giving, better than my best. 

—Annie Johnson Flint

The Criminal Under My Hat

We all want to put an end to injustice, but where shall we begin? What evil needs to fall?

Alessandro Solzhenitsyn wrote, “If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.” 

That being true, before I speak to others about the injustice in their hearts, “I must first catch the criminal under my own hat” (G.K. Chesterton’s Father Brown).

Which is what Jesus meant when he told us to first pluck the beam from our own eye.

David Roper

6.12.20.     

Dear IMM Friends,

As I have been thinking of you and of some of the things you're personally facing, I have also been thinking of our country and the turmoil and struggles we are in the midst of. As I have prayed, read and processed with God some of your situations and some of mine, and these times we are living in, I had the opportunity to write some of the thoughts God gave me to a friend whom I love dearly.

This is a difficult time for all of us as we walk under COVID 19 and the unrest in our country, plus as we deal with our personal situations which are on our minds daily. So how do we think about the things we are going through?

I keep thinking of the word TOGETHER. It’s in that overused verse in Romans 8:28. With this word—“TOGETHER”— being central I can ask God to make the truth of the verse real in my mind. “All things work TOGETHER for good.” Not all things are good. I am asking God to help me camp on the fact that He has a plan for me, for you, for those you love, for our country and our world. All the while knowing that Hill Difficulty must be traveled in the here and now.  Do I understand how this works? No. But I take it by faith because of the cross and the resurrection. And you know we can never really project into the future. But it’s hard not to try.

As you know God gives strength for today and for what we are going through today. He will be there for each of us whatever comes next. Like manna I cannot stack up His grace for what will be, but I can remember His track record that got me through back when it was hard the last time. And, sweet friend, we have an enemy who plays us like a fiddle with either the world, the flesh or evil. We also have a Redeemer who is fierce in His love for us. Stuff will happen. But no matter what. Nothing can separate us from that love. Nothing within me and nothing without can separate me from God’s love. (Romans 8 again.)

We’re still in the middle of the story. But we know Who wins in the end. And we know the good He has laid up for us with an extravagant celebration and reunion that will never end. All the good things I long for the most or have tasted here will be magnified there. Nothing good will be lost but redeemed and amplified.

I may not be ready to wear my dancing shoes today (there is still weeping), BUT I do need to keep them polished. And I need to look at them often with hope so that I can endure like Jesus. For the JOY set before me.  (Hebrews 12: 1,2.) And we know all things work TOGETHER for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28

With love and prayers,
Carolyn