Flight Paths

I remember those exciting mornings when, as a child, our parents woke us for an early start on a vacation trip.  It was dark and, even though it was summer in Florida, cool and damp.  Those were pre-seat belt days and often I would be carried straight out of bed and laid on the back seat, while my little sister got the back window.  Then we drove for several hours before the light finally woke us and we stopped for breakfast.

We didn’t do much in the way of vacations—we couldn’t afford them.  Usually they were visits to distant family.  My parents left early so we had more driving time and avoided a motel bill, but those trips were still exciting.  We could not afford weekends away or trips to resorts or amusement parks, so any sort of trip was special.  And that breakfast out was special too because it was rare.  But we weren’t unusual—everyone lived that way.  Rising early for something that special was common to us all.

We still have things we rise early for—work, school, a hunting trip, tailgating before a ball game, Black Friday, and yes, even leaving early for a vacation.  But do we ever rise up early for God?  Did you know that one of the hardest things for people to give up is their Sunday mornings?  At least it would seem that way when they skip the Bible study hour or at best swarm in at the last minute so they can get every extra minute possible of sleep.

We are not living up to our heritage.  God’s people have always risen early to pray, to meditate, to worship.  Abraham (Gen 19:27), Jacob (Gen 28:18), Moses (Ex 24:4), and Job (1:5) all rose early to make sacrifices and meet with God.  Elkanah and his family rose early to travel to the tabernacle for the feast days (1 Sam 1:19).  Jesus rose early to go to the Temple (John 8:2) and so did the crowds who went to hear him.  It may not have been early when Jesus went to pray, but it was by the time he finished, having “prayed all night” (Luke 6:12). 

David woke early to pray.  My eyes are awake before the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promise. (Ps 119:148).  The Jews recognized three night watches, beginning at sunset the night before and ending at dawn the next morning.  It may have been a bit hyperbolic but if not, David evidently awoke before each one began just to pray.  How many times have you or I ever interrupted our sleep to pray as often as that?  How many times have we done it even once?

Obviously, their prayers and their worship meant a lot to those faithful people.  Neither was viewed as a duty, but as a privilege and a pleasure, just as much a pleasure as that long awaited vacation trip that has us up and at it and ready to go before dawn.

More than that, we should be gratefully rising early to serve a God who rose early to save us.  And now, because you have done all these works, says Jehovah, and I spoke unto you, rising up early and speaking, but you heard not; and I called you, but you answered not: (Jer 7:13)  Those words to a faithless people can apply to us too.

Maybe the problem isn’t attitude, but a simple lack of preparation.  Maybe Saturdays should not be for wearing ourselves out and staying up late.  Maybe they should be, at least a little bit, about preparation for our worship together on Sunday mornings.  God went to a lot of trouble to prepare things for us.  It seems a small thing to ask to prepare ourselves physically and mentally for Him at least one day a week.
 
And…evening had come, since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, (Mark 15:42).

Dene Ward

I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. Phil 4:11
 
            As many times as I have read that verse it has only been recently that I noticed something about it.  Some people seem content whereas others are never satisfied, always ambitious, trying to fly higher, live higher, and be higher than they are at any given moment.  It’s just a basic personality difference, right?  No, Paul says that contentment is something you learn.
 
           Paul was certainly on the fast track that day as he walked toward Damascus.  He had had a prestigious education and was highly esteemed by the Jewish leadership even as a young man.  He almost certainly would have wound up on the Sanhedrin and lived life in at least the upper middle classes if not the aristocratic upper class.  And he gave it all up.  But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, Phil 3:7-9.
 
           So how did he learn to be content with less money, less comfort, less esteem, less of just about everything than he had planned and expected out of life?  He tells us himself.
 
           Paul rejoiced, not in fame and fortune, but in the Lord (3:7; 4:4).  He found happiness in his relationship with God and Christ, and with the knowledge of his salvation.  That is also why he considered dying to be “gain” (1:21).  Is there anything that should cause us more joy than knowing we will live with our God for eternity?  And being happy is perhaps the greatest key to contentment.
 
           He used the avenue of prayer (4:6,7).  That prayer gave him peace of mind because he was no longer anxious.  He had turned everything over to God and trusted him to provide.  It is easier to be content when you know someone else is in control.
 
           He was careful what he thought about (4:8).  I learned a long time ago to avoid looking at house plans and stop walking through model homes.  I never window shop for things I cannot afford anyway.  I never indulge in “What if I won a million dollars?” daydreams.  Those things don’t bother some people, but they are exactly the kinds of things that make me discontent.  As long as I avoid doing those things I am perfectly happy with my life.  What kinds of things do you need to avoid thinking about?   Fill your mind instead with Paul’s list:  whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
 
           Paul learned the lessons that life had to teach him (4:12).  Too many times we go through situations and events, completely missing the abundance of wisdom we could be learning and stowing away for the future.  We may be going through a particular trial for exactly that reason—God wants us to learn something.  Maybe it’s learning the relative importance of things.  Maybe it’s how to handle a problem so we can help others later on who have the same trial.  Pay attention to what’s happening and use it to grow, not to fail the test of faith.  When you know there’s a reason, even if you cannot figure out exactly what it is, it is much easier to be content.

            Paul also took advantage of the help he was given, not just any help, but Divine help.  I can do all things through him who strengthens me, (4:13).  With that kind of help you can learn to handle anything, or don’t you believe Christ is more powerful than the devil?  It’s one or the other.

            Paul tells us that we can learn the same contentment he had.  What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me--practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you, (4:9).  He says you can do it.  He says I can do it.  We can all learn to be content no matter what life throws at us, and in that learning, gain the peace that only the God of peace can give.
 
Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content, 1 Tim 6:6-8.
 
Dene Ward

Shortly after we married, my new husband informed me that to be a real Ward I needed to learn to play pinochle.  Pinochle marathons were standard family entertainment throughout the whole clan.  So he patiently taught me one of the most confusing games I ever learned how to play.

            First, you only played with part of the deck—nothing below tens.  Second, the ten was higher than the king.  What?  Who ever heard of such a thing?  Plus, you played with two sets of each suit, not one.  And that was just the beginning.

            There were two point systems you had to learn, how to count meld and how to count the playoff.  A jack in every suit was worth 4 points in the meld, but if you wound up with all of them after the playoff they were worth nothing.  Two kings in every suit were worth 80 points meld, but was not a particularly good thing to have in your hand.  You wound up giving about half of them to the other team—four points lost in the playoff.  A “pinochle,” from which the game gets its name, is a queen of spades with a jack of diamonds.  If you have one, it’s worth 4 meld points.  A double pinochle is worth, not 8, but 30 points, far more than triple the single.  Yet a triple pinochle is worth 90, exactly triple the double.  And in the playoff?  All three are worth nothing!

            And the bidding!  Figuring out how high to bid, especially when your partner was bidding too, was nerve wracking.  You practically had to learn a secret language.  Standard opening bid was 50.  If you were the one who opened and you said 55, it meant you had 50 meld points and you did NOT want to call trump.  If you had an ace in every suit plus another 20 points meld, you said “3,” which really meant “53,” unless someone bid before you, in which case you added three to his bid and left off the “fifty.”  Once you passed 60, you had to increase your bid by fives.

            And then there was the trump suit, which only the winning bidder could call, and he usually called his strongest suit, which was often his longest suit too, but not necessarily, because you could only count the meld points for a run in the trump suit, and if your meld was low, that was more important than how many were in the suit. 

            Here is the important thing about trumps:  a trump card, even just a jack, beat anything else in the other suits, including aces.

            Sometimes Christians stoop to playing what they believe is the trump card.  “That offends me,” has become the sure-fire way to get what you want when others want something else.  I wonder if people would do that if they realized what they were saying about themselves.

            First, “offend,” sometimes translated “stumble,” doesn’t mean “I don’t like it,” or, “That hurt my feelings.”  It means “to sin.”  If you are being offended, you are sinning.  That’s what the Greek word means, and that is why Jesus said if your hand “offends” you it would be better to cut it off than to go into hell with both hands.  You are much better off without anything that causes you to sin.  So if you are going to use “the trump card” you must admit that you are actively sinning about the issue under discussion.

            Second, the strong must always yield to the weak, so if you expect everyone to yield to you, then you must admit that you are the weaker, less knowledgeable brother.  I have yet to see any of my troublemaking brethren admit any such thing.  God was eminently wise (are we surprised?) to put it exactly that way—the strong must always yield to the weak.  Who is going to stand up and say, “I am weak and ignorant?”  No, everyone will want to be the wise one, whether he is or not, and thus everyone will be yielding to everyone else--at least that is the way it is supposed to work.

            So the next time you get your ego out of joint, or your feelings hurt, or you find yourself wanting things done your way and only your way because, after all, you are smarter than everyone else, remember those two things.  “That offends me” may be a trump card, but you only get to play that card if you admit that you are sinning and that you are weak and ignorant of the scriptures.  Any takers?
 
We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, "The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me." Rom 15:1-3
 
Dene Ward

The term “hermeneutics” comes from the god Hermes, the messenger and interpreter of Jupiter to man.  As such, it is a fitting word to describe the principles by which we interpret any piece of written material, especially the one from God.  The textbook I told you about gives a list called “Helps in Understanding the Bible.”  I think it is a remarkable list because we can all do these things.  It isn’t difficult.

            First, Professor Dungan says we should use plain old common sense.  I often find myself thinking that scholars try to muddy the waters just so they will be the only ones who really know what’s going on, but this one makes the specific point that the Bible was given to the common man to help him in his every day life, so it had to be practical.  Common sense in interpreting it is expected.

            Then he says something else you seldom see from a Biblical scholar these days, at least the ones on the Discovery and History channels—if you want to interpret the Bible correctly you must believe in its Divine inspiration.  I have often thought, “If you don’t, why bother?” and evidently the author agrees.

            He follows this with something that will be less popular—to interpret the scriptures you need “mental industry.”  By that he means the willingness to work at it, to expect something besides an easy-read comic book or pulp fiction.  Didn’t Jesus speak in parables for precisely that reason—so that the ones who cared enough to work at it would, and the rest, the unspiritual, would just ignore it?  You have to wonder about the sincerity of someone who always wants the easy way out.

            When I read the next one, I questioned him for the first time:  “spiritual purity.”  Not that I don’t believe we need to keep ourselves pure, but how can that help or hinder our understanding?  His reasoning reminded me of those same parables and the reason Jesus taught them.  “The gross mind will not apprehend the pure teaching of the Spirit of God.  Men may hear but not understand and in answer to the carnal wish, God may send a strong delusion, and the god of this world may blind the eyes of the unbelieving.”  That quote, alluding to Paul’s statement in 2 Thessalonians 2, makes excellent sense.  If I cannot understand the Bible, maybe it is because I don’t like what it says.  That passage should also scare me just a little.

            We are also told that we need a “correct translation.”  So many of these points build on one another.  If I want an easy read, I will probably wind up with an incorrect translation, and that desire for a no-work/easy-read probably says a lot about my lack of spirituality to begin with.

            Then he points out perhaps the most obvious thing:  if we want to understand the Bible, we should expect to understand it.  Would we ever read any other book expecting NOT to understand it?  In fact, I have put down books for that very reason—in trying to be “artistic” they have simply become incomprehensible.  The Biblical writers were not worried about “art.”  They all expected their readers to be better informed when they read their epistles.  “When you read this, you can perceive my understanding” Paul told the Ephesians (3:4).  The writer of my textbook says the Bible is “a sensible communication from God.”  To believe otherwise, turns God into a cruel and petty tyrant. 

            If you are having trouble figuring out what the Bible is all about, maybe you should check yourself against this list.  God wants a relationship with his children.  When my boys were young, they knew exactly what they could and could not get away with.  They knew exactly what was expected of them in any given situation.  They knew all of that was for their good, because we loved them more than our own lives.  Why would we ever think anything less of God?
 
Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. John 8:42-43
 
Dene Ward

That was my reaction the first time I heard the word, “hermeneutics.”  Then Keith told me what it meant: rules of interpretation.  Immediately I was skeptical.  Just who determines these rules, especially when we are talking about interpreting the Bible?  So he bought me my own hermeneutics textbook entitled, appropriately enough, Hermeneutics, A Text-book, by D. R. Dungan.  For a textbook written by a professor it is one of the most practical books I have ever seen.  I was thrilled to discover that no one has determined the rules of hermeneutics.  The author simply sorted out and listed the rules we all follow every day without thinking about it.

            Last year I received a letter that told me I was to receive $700.  I could have approached that letter in many different ways.  I could have said, “This is a hoax,” and thrown it away.  I could have said, “This must be from a friend who knows we have a lot of medical bills,” and kept it, eagerly awaiting the gift.  I could have thought, “Keith must have applied for a loan,” and then sat down with the books and tried to figure out how we were going to repay it.

            So what did I do?  I looked at the return address—Internal Revenue Service.  I looked at the date—two weeks after I had mailed in our tax return.  I scoured the letter for clues about why I was to receive this money—I had made an error and they caught it.  Then, and only then, did I decide what to do about it.  Let them send me the extra money!

            I applied the principles of hermeneutics to that letter.  I asked myself, who is this from, when did they send it, why did they send it, and let that determine what it meant.  I do it every day.  So do you.  So does everyone else.  But for some reason people think you aren’t supposed to do that with the Bible.  They treat it like some big book of riddles that is impossible to figure out, or that each one of us can interpret to mean whatever we want.  Tell me, just how capricious do you think God is?  Will He say, “You have to please me to get to Heaven so here is an enigmatic book of rules.  Good luck figuring it out!” or will He give us a perfectly comprehensible guide for success?

            God is not willing that any should perish, Peter tells us.  He loved us enough to plan our salvation before he even made us, several writers say.  The Spirit, who knows the mind of God, inspired men to write the things we need to know so that we can say with full assurance, “I am saved.”  No one ever needs to wonder, or wish, or simply dream about having a relationship with their Creator.  It’s all down in black and white.  You can apply the same principles you apply every day of your life, and correctly interpret how to please God and receive the reward.  It may have been a mystery once, but now we know “whodunit” and why.

            Tomorrow we will talk a little more about how to interpret.
           
But, as it is written, "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him"-- these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. 1 Cor 2:9-12
 
Dene Ward

             I will think I have it figured out. 

            I will say, “Yes, life is hard, but God never promised otherwise (despite Joel Osteen).  I can do this.” 

            Then suddenly something happens I did not expect, something that seems the opposite of everything I have prayed for, and I wilt.  That’s when it is all too easy to fall into the “Why me?” trap.  The “I’ve done all this for you and look what I get in return,” con.  Jeremiah fell too.

           The prophets never had easy lives.  Hosea, Ezekiel, Amos, and Jeremiah are prime examples, and maybe Jeremiah more than any of them.  Check out 15:10-21.  Because of the poetic and figurative language it can be difficult to get the full impact, so if you will allow, I am going to paraphrase for you.

              In many versions this is labeled “Jeremiah’s Complaint.”  That ought to give you a clue about what’s going on.

              Jeremiah says, “Everyone hates me [because of what I’ve preached on your behalf, which is implied not spoken] v 10.

              God says, “Haven’t I delivered you?” v 11.

              Jeremiah says, “I did just what you told me to and YOU have deceived me” vv15-18.

              Uh-oh, Jeremiah has gone a step too far.  God will always hear His children’s cries.  Elsewhere on this blog we studied the Psalms and discovered that there are far more lament psalms than any other kind (including praise psalms)!  But Jeremiah has accused God of sin against him.

              How do I know?  Because God tells him, “If you repent, I will restore you.  Do not become like the very people I have sent you to” v 19.

              There are two lessons in this conversation that we need to hear.  First, other people’s bad behavior never justifies bad behavior in us.  Somehow we think that we can get away with anything as long as we can say, “But look how he treated me.”  No, we can’t, and if we claim to be Jesus’ disciples, the one who When…reviled…did not revile in return; when he suffered…did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. (1Pet 2:23), then we should know that.

              And that last phrase, “entrusting himself” to God segues nicely into the second lesson.

              “I delivered you,” God told Jeremiah.  Somehow, Jeremiah missed it.  Maybe it’s because he kept winding up imprisoned or thrown into a muddy cistern and left to die, and threatened with death almost constantly.  But God did deliver him.  Someone always came to the rescue providentially, people who just happened to be there with memory and logic, or on one occasion a foreigner who somehow had influence over the king.

            Jeremiah’s problem was that God’s idea of deliverance didn’t match his.  Here I am up to my armpits in a filthy, dank well and this is deliverance?  Yes, it was.  Instead of being killed instantly, he was left to die, which gave his rescuer an opportunity to save him.  Eventually he was pulled out of that hole to relative safety so he could preach even more.  Do you see that?  He was delivered so he could continue a hard and dangerous mission, not so he could live in luxury.

            And for us, deliverance may not look like our version of deliverance.  It may not match what we have prayed for, but that’s because God’s version often involves things we haven’t even been spiritual enough to think of.

            Do you want an example?  If you know my eye story, you know it has been going on a long, long time.  Longer than any doctor thought possible.  No, my vision is not what it used to be, but I still have some!  And what has that done for me?  It has taken away a lot things that used to take up my time, and suddenly, I am able to write, to teach, and to speak.  I have done more of that in the past ten years than in the thirty years before combined.
 
           And even now, it appears that my remaining distance vision is dimming.  But with the aid of lenses and large print, I can still manage the close things.  I can still study.  I can still type.  I may not be able to see the individual features of the crowd of faces in front of me, but I can still see my notes and my mouth works just fine.

            God’s idea of deliverance cost me a few things, like a music studio and some independence.  But it also delivered me to do so much more.

            Don’t whine when your deliverance is not what you hoped.  Don’t mope when your plans don’t work out, when you feel used and abused, when you think all is lost.  You may be shoulder deep in the mire right now, but that will make the deliverance even more amazing when it comes.  Just stop expecting your version and look for God’s.  In the words of the old joke, “I sent a boat and I sent a helicopter.  It’s not my fault you didn’t take me up on it.”
 
Therefore thus says the LORD: “If you return, I will restore you, and you shall stand before me. If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you shall be as my mouth. They shall turn to you, but you shall not turn to them. ​And I will make you to this people a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you, but they shall not prevail over you, for I am with you to save you and deliver you, declares the LORD. ​I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked, and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless.” (Jer 15:19-21)
 
Dene Ward

A long time ago as we were packing for a camping trip, my frustration got the better of me and I snapped at the boys.  Nathan looked up and said, “I hate getting ready for a vacation.  You’re always so mad.”

            How is it that an innocent ten-year-old can make you feel an inch tall?  I beat myself with the guilt whip for the rest of the day, determined to keep my cool despite anything and everything that could possibly go wrong doing so.  A few days later, as we laughed and played on the side of a beautiful creek in the bowl of mountains where our tent was pitched, I gave myself a break.  Although during my childhood we could never afford what people now seem to expect in a “vacation,” we did visit family for a week or two each summer, and I remembered my parents behaving the same way I had in the stress of packing and leaving on time.  It must be written somewhere in some book called How to Be a Parent, that you must become so stressed out getting ready for a vacation that you make sure no one else really wants to take that vacation with YOU!

            It isn’t just vacations.  Why is that we can make every joyful occasion a trial to get through?  What did you do just moments before you said, “I do?”  Did you snarl at your mother?  Did you snap at the best friend who came a thousand miles at her own expense to be your maid of honor?  As a wedding musician I have been growled at more than once by the mother of the bride when I simply asked if someone could move the piano a foot to the side so I could see what was happening and know when to play what.

            What happened the day of your precious child’s first birthday party?  Did you forget that he won’t remember a thing about it and let yourself get so tired and stressed out you couldn’t even enjoy it?

            I wonder how many couples would have gladly given up their 50th wedding anniversary celebrations so they would not have had to hear their children bickering at one another about it.

            I am afraid this tendency of ours might also spill over into our preparation for that vacation we are all planning at the end of our lives.  How are you spending your life today?  Are you stressed out with a to-do list that gets bigger all the time, things that are good, that you feel you must do without fail or you are sinning because “To him that knows to do good but does it not to him it is sin?” Are you trying so hard to be all things to all people that you forget to be a wife or a mother or a friend?  Do you think that being right and doing right means there is no appropriate time to say, “No?” 

            Being a child of God and a disciple of Christ means we must suffer at times.  Yet as much as possible, God wants us to enjoy our lives.  In the beginning he made a perfect place for his children, a place where everything was “very good.”  That’s what he has always wanted for us.  Sin ruined it, but he still wants us to be as happy as possible, even if just a little while at the time.  But the only way we can is to recognize those times, and for goodness sake, don’t choose to ruin them!

            Today, while you run those errands and do those good deeds, while you feed and care for the family you love and see to the needs of your suffering brethren, remember to enjoy each moment.  You are packing for a real vacation, a time when things will once again be “very good.”  Don’t let Satan steal the excitement with annoying neighbors, aggravating drivers, and stressful situations at work.  Don’t give in to the temptation to whine and complain when things don’t go to suit you.  People are watching you.  Your children must deal with the effects of your frustrations.  After watching your preparations, will anyone even want to think about going on that trip with you? 
 
Then he said to them, "Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength." Neh 8:10.
 
Dene Ward

Today's post is by guest writer Lucas Ward.

God, rather famously, expected His people to be holy. The command is repeatedly repeated in the Law. Lev. 11:44-45 “For I am Jehovah your God: sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy; for I am holy . . . For I am Jehovah that brought you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.” Lev. 20:7-8 “Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy; for I am Jehovah your God. And ye shall keep my statutes, and do them: I am Jehovah who sanctifies you.”

To be holy is to be separate or to be set apart. Something that is holy is set aside for a specific use and is to be only used for that purpose. We usually think about this in religious terms, but the concept is universal. My mother has a special set of silver that rarely sees use. It has been set aside for special occasions. These utensils are not every day, common forks and knives. They are special and are only used when special company is over or on other special occasions. In a sense, they are holy to special occasions.

This is what God expected from His chosen people. They were to be special to Him and His use. They weren’t supposed to be like all the regular people across the world. They were supposed to be set apart for Him. They failed in this. Isa. 2:6 “For thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because they are filled with customs from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they strike hands with the children of foreigners.” They hadn’t set themselves apart for God, instead they were just like all the foreigners.

We, too, are supposed to be a holy people. Notice that when Peter gives us this instruction, he tells us that we are to be holy as children of obedience and sets being holy opposite of fashioning ourselves according to our lusts. Living according to our common desires is the opposite of being holy:

1 Pet. 1:13-16 “Wherefore girding up the loins of your mind, be sober and set your hope perfectly on the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as children of obedience, not fashioning yourselves according to your former lusts in the time of your ignorance: but like as he who called you is holy, be ye yourselves also holy in all manner of living; because it is written, Ye shall be holy; for I am holy.”

All rules of righteous living boil down to the concept of holiness. If we are set apart to be God’s people, we need to follow His will. Leviticus 19 illustrates this concept. In verse two the Israelites were told to be holy, as He is holy. Then verses 3-4 instruct them to obey their parents, keep the Sabbath, and abhor idols. Why? Because, He says, “I AM Jehovah”. Then verses 9-10 command them to take care of the poor. Why? Because, He says, “I AM Jehovah”. Then verses 11-12 tell them not to steal, lie, or swear falsely by His name. Why? Because, He says, “I AM Jehovah”. They are to be holy, as He is, set apart for His use. They are to do these things because He, for whose use they are to be set apart, so directs them.

I think we sometimes consider being holy as only abstaining from evil, and that’s just not true. As He is castigating the Israelites for not being holy, God makes this plea: Isa. 1:16-17 “Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well; seek justice, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.” He doesn’t just say “cease to do evil” but also implores them to “learn to do well”. Paul tell Christians the same thing: Eph. 2:10 “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them.” We are created for good works.

Mom’s silver isn’t used except on special occasions, but on those occasions it is used. It is set aside for a purpose and is used for that purpose. We, as Christians are supposed to be set apart for God’s use. Not just staying “unspotted from the world” but actively doing the works He instructs us to do. Paul tell Titus (2:14) that Jesus “gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” His people have been redeemed from lawlessness and are zealous for good works. Zealous for good works. Every time I read this passage I wonder if Christ would recognize me as one of His. It’s not that I spend my time doing evil things, it’s just that so much of my time is used for my own entertainment: football, web-browsing, movie watching, Netflix binging, etc. Occasionally I do something actively good. Does that raise to the level of being zealous for good works? If I am holy, set apart for His use, I need to be working toward the use He has for me.

As holy people we are set apart for His use, to do His will. This doesn’t mean we are fuddy-duddies or dull buzz-kills who never do anything fun. Rather we are busy people actively

Isa. 61:6 “but you shall be called the priests of the LORD; they shall speak of you as the ministers of our God; you shall eat the wealth of the nations, and in their glory you shall boast.”
 
Lucas Ward

I remember once when the boys came asking for something.  I don’t remember what it was, I just remember that the way they asked made it obvious they did not expect to receive a positive response from me.  It probably cost money, which was always in short supply in those years.  I vaguely remember that their father and I had already discussed this thing, and had decided it was worth it, that we would just sacrifice in another area.  So I thoroughly enjoyed answering in an offhanded way, “Sure.”

            Their hanging heads snapped back, their eyes widened, and their jaws dropped.  It was a moment before they could utter, “Reeeeeeally?”  Being able to give them what they wanted so much was a wonderful feeling.  Although I am certain that most children doubt this, most parents want to give their children everything their hearts desire.  They just have enough sense not to. 

            Sometimes I think we approach God in exactly the same way my boys came to me that day.  We have already decided what God will and won’t do.  Or maybe it’s that we have decided what God can and cannot do—a far more serious crime.  When we know the doctors have said the illness is terminal, for some reason we don’t think we can ask God to heal.  God can do whatever he wants to do, regardless of what the doctors say.  Don’t we believe that?

            Put yourself in the place of those Christians in Acts 12.  They were all in danger.  Herod had put Peter and James in prison, and had already killed James.  When he saw the public opinion polls swing in his direction, he planned to kill Peter too.  Yet those Christians risked life and limb to gather at Mary’s house and pray for him.  If it were us, I am afraid we would have prayed that his death be swift so he wouldn’t suffer.  We would have already given up on his life being spared. 

            After my first surgeries, the doctor told me it was the first time anyone had performed that operation on a nanophthalmic eye without losing the eye.  I am glad he didn’t tell me that beforehand.  It isn’t just the extra fear I would have felt.  I am afraid it would have changed my prayers because I, too, grew up with the idea that you must not ask God for the impossible.

            Mark records Jesus saying, Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that
you have received it and it will be yours, 11:24.  Did you catch that?  “Believe that you have received it.”  Your faith should be such that you know he has already said yes—asking for it is simply a formality. 

            Jesus died so we could boldly come before the throne of God (Heb 4:16).  Too many times we come before God with a hangdog expression, a forlorn hope that he will have any time to spare for us and that our requests will be too petty to catch his attention.  We remind him how many outs he has, we lower our expectations to something that won’t be too hard for him, and we always add a “Thy will be done,” not because of our humility and acceptance of his will, but because, like my boys that day, we really don’t expect to get a yes and our weak faith needs a prop.  Just exactly how much more insulting do we think we can be to our Divine Creator?

            When you pray today, pray “nothing doubting” (James 1:6), and remember that with God “all things are possible” (Matt 19:26).  Think about the gift he has already given you—his Son.  Why in the world do we think he would withhold anything else?
 
And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him, 1 John 5:14,15.
 
Dene Ward                    

Neighbors are different out in the country.  First of all, they are a whole lot further away.  Instead of zero lot line houses barely five feet apart, they are 5 to 50 acres apart.  You seldom even see one another to wave, except maybe at the lineup of mailboxes out on the highway.  In the country, if you want to see your neighbors, you have to make it happen.

              In the city a good neighbor often boils down to this:  he’s quiet and doesn’t cause any trouble.  There may be a particular neighbor or two you really become friends with, taking turns having one another over for dinner, going fishing together, loaning your lawn mower and babysitting once in a while, but the rest are confined to a nod when you pass one another on the street and a quick word over the backyard fence if you both happen to be out at the same time.

              In the country, because you are so far out of town and away from help, “neighbor” takes on a much larger meaning.  The very lifestyle means you have far more need of one another.  You pull one another’s vehicles out of the mud.  You tag team generators when the power goes out for more than a couple of hours.  You feed one another’s livestock when the other one has to be out of town a few days.  You swap garden tilling for tractor mowing and tomatoes for blueberries.  You help one another shell peas and shuck corn, and then work together one hot afternoon to get it all put up.  You help load sick, but heavy, pets in the pickup for a trip to the vet.  You trade shooting lessons for help wiring the shed.  You loan cars when one is in the shop, or chauffeur a sick neighbor to the doctor if you need it yourself.  If a widow is alone, you load up her woodstove and get it set, ready to light on a cold night.  If a husband is away and there is a household emergency—like the refrigerator door falling off!—you head down the lane immediately and screw it back on.  When a storm passes through and leaves a live oak half out of the ground leaning over a house, all the neighbors drop everything and run with their tractors, chains and chainsaws to help.  There is something a little more primal about being a neighbor in the country.

            We’ve had neighbors like that and we’ve tried to be neighbors like that in return.  I think it’s the sort of thing Jesus had in mind when he told the story of the Good Samaritan.  This isn’t a matter of borrowing a cup of sugar.  It isn’t about keeping the TV low in the wee hours or not parking on someone else’s property.  It’s about real life and death matters, real trials and suffering, and aiding in whatever way you can.

            Maybe the Levite and the priest were used to city neighbors.  This guy on the side of the road certainly wasn’t being a good neighbor to them, causing them all sorts of trouble and a delay in their schedules if they had stopped to help.  But the truth is, you can be a bad neighbor anywhere, country or city, and the Lord expects a whole lot more from us than that.  He expects us to do just as that Samaritan did, helping beyond the expected—just think what a couple night’s lodging would cost today—and yes, for a perfect stranger.  Was he a good guy or a good-for-nothing?  We don’t know and that’s the point.  If someone needs our help, we help, even a stranger and even when we don’t have time to check and see if we are being good stewards of our money.

            “Love thy neighbor as thyself” was recognized by Jews as the second greatest commandment.  Yet they argued long and hard over who exactly their “neighbor” was.  It most cases it boiled down to a good practicing Jew.  We’re big on castigating those Pharisaical Jews who knew the Law but explained it away.  I think we have the same problem.
 
For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Gal 5:14)
 
Dene Ward