Flight Paths

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            It must be a sign of age.  I find myself reminiscing a lot more lately.  When we walked the property with Lucas last Thanksgiving we talked more about the past than the present.  Certainly more than the future—which for us is suddenly so much smaller than the past.

            “Remember the wild myrtles by the fire pit?”
            “Yes, we sometimes hung a tarp on the branches so we could scoot under it and have a hot dog roast even in a drizzle.”

            “Remember the pine tree in the field?”
            “Yep.  That was first base.”

            “Remember how small these oak trees used to be?”
            “Yes.  I used to climb up limbs that are too rotten to trust any longer, what there are left of them.”

            I remember wondering what it would be like after the boys were grown, when we were living here alone in a quiet house and an empty yard.  No more wondering, only remembering.

            I have said to more than one who came seeking advice that looking back on our past can be helpful.  If you despair at ever becoming the Christian you ought to be, look where you were ten years ago.  Can you see any improvement?  Can you say to yourself, “I don’t act that way now,” about anything at all?  God meant for us to be encouraged, and I find nothing in the scriptures telling me I can’t take a moment every now and then to check my progress and use it as a gauge, both to spur myself on if I see none, and to invigorate my growth with any positive impetus it gives me.

            Many times we quote Paul’s comment to the Philippians, “Forgetting the things that are behind…” (3:13). In fact, I have heard preachers say we shouldn’t think about the past at all.  But Paul didn’t believe that.  He remembered all his life where he started, “the chief of sinners,” 1 Tim 1:16.  He used that memory to keep himself humble before others and grateful to God for the salvation granted him. It bolstered his faith enough to endure countless hardships and persecutions.  As a “chief sinner” he could hardly rail against God for the tortures he suffered when he knew he deserved so much more.

            God has always wanted his people to remember the past.  I lost count of the passages in Deuteronomy exhorting Israel to remember that they were slaves in a foreign country, and that God loved them enough to deliver them with His mighty hand.  Here is a case, though, where the reminding didn’t work as it did for Paul.  Still, God tried.  What is the Passover, but a reminder of their deliverance from Egypt?  What is the Feast of Tabernacles but a reminder of His care for them in the wilderness?  What was the pot of manna in the Ark of the Covenant, the stones on the breastplate of the ephod, and the pile of rocks by the Jordan but the same?  “Remember, remember, remember!” God enjoined.  It’s how we use that memory that makes it right or wrong.

            Paul says we are to remember what we used to be.  “And such were some of you,” he reminds the Corinthians in chapter 6, after listing what we consider the worst sins imaginable.  You “were servants of sin” he reminds the Romans in 6:17.  You once walked “according to the course of this world,” “in vanity of mind,” “in the desire of the Gentiles,” and in a host of other sins too numerous to list (Eph 2:2; 4:17; 1 Pet 4:3; Col 3; Titus 3.)  Those memories should spur us on in the same way they prodded Paul.  Nothing is too hard to bear, too much to ask, or too difficult to overcome if we remember where we started.  Be encouraged by your growth and take heart.

            And then this: let your gratitude be always abounding, overflowing, and effusive to a God who loves us in whatever state we find ourselves, as long as that growth continues.

Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called "the uncircumcision" by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands-- remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ, Ephesians 2:11-13.

Dene Ward

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[This was written a few years ago after a serious surgery with even more serious complications.  Just so you have the proper context…]

            When I was little and listened to the sick list at church, no matter where we went, there was always someone who was “chronically ill.”   All that meant to me was they were never at church.  I couldn’t fathom an illness that never got any better, that gave you good days and bad days, that made you careful not to “overdo” because of the adverse effects that might have on you.  Now I understand, and wish I didn’t.

            I no longer have any social life--my doctor is my social life.  I see more of him than any of my brothers and sisters in the Lord.  I talk on the phone more to his office help than to church folks.  I spend more hours sitting in his examining chair than I do in a pew.  In fact, they ought to rent me a room there. 

            And I know this will take a toll on my spirituality.  It becomes more and more difficult to keep a good attitude.   While I certainly have more time to study, not having a current class to prepare to teach makes it less a priority and easy to put off, especially when reading is so difficult.  Helping others is nearly impossible, especially when you don’t even know what’s going on with the brethren any more.  So yes, my spirituality is suffering.  I struggle to keep it every day.  But the circumstances cannot be helped.

            What I do not understand is people who do this to themselves on purpose:  those who darken the meetinghouse door only enough to keep the elders and deacons off their backs, and leave while the last amen is still echoing down the hall; who never take advantage of the extra Bible studies held in homes, a safe place to ask questions without embarrassment and learn from those who have wisdom and experience in life; who avoid all the social gatherings of the church scheduled between the services, while regularly finding time to be with friends in the world, not to teach, but simply to socialize; who never have a Bible lesson prepared—that’s only for the children—who never attend a wedding or funeral so they can “weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice,” those who are healthy enough to jog, to play tennis, to hunt or fish, to go to ball games and sit in the hot sun for hours cheering, but simply do not want more than they consider the bare minimum to get by as a Christian. 

            Here is the problem with that:  there is no such thing as the bare minimum.  If Satan can get you to believe that lie, he has sabotaged any chance you have to make it to Heaven.  God expects us to give our all, no matter how much that may be; more for some, less for others, depending upon the circumstances of life.  It is difficult enough when the minimum IS your maximum, but doing that to yourself on purpose will only make you miserable in both lives, this one and the one to come.

            The early Christians understood that they were spiritual lifelines for each other; they would not let go for anyone or anything.  They spent time together, strengthening one another from the beginning, and because of that they were able to withstand horrors we can only imagine.  If you wait till the horror is upon you to reach out for that lifeline, it is probably too late.

And all that believed were together and had all things common…And day by day continuing steadfastly with one accord in the Temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they took their food with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people.  And the Lord added to them day by day those that were saved, Acts 2:44,46,47.

Dene Ward

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Today’s post is by guest writer Lucas Ward.
 
           I often hear people pray, “Forgive us our sins because we know we sin everyday.” This bothers me a lot, not because I believe they sin everyday, but because I believe that they believe they sin everyday. That kind of perpetual guilt and depression leads to dismay and causes one to wonder why he should even bother to try. I should know, because I used to believe that I sinned everyday, multiple times daily. It wasn’t that I was evil; it was a misunderstanding of what sin and temptation are, and the boundary between them.
            We all know that being tempted isn’t the same as sinning. Temptation isn’t sin. This is evident because Heb. 4:16 states that Our Lord was tempted just like we are, but he didn’t sin. So there must be a difference between the two. James 1:14-15 is a step by step breakdown of temptation and sin and how the first becomes the latter, and so is the best place to start any discussion of what it means to sin.
            Each man is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed. Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin; and sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death.
            So temptation is a product of our own lusts. In the original Greek, there is no difference made between the English concepts of good “desires” and evil “lusts.” The translators tried to fit the English concepts by using the contextual meaning of the original inspired writers. Technically, it would be correct to translate Our Lord’s speech as he instituted the Lord’s Supper as, “I earnestly lusted to eat this with you” or Paul’s admonition as “Flee youthful desires.” Desires/lusts are not wrong in and of themselves. All the desires/lusts we have are creations of God and all have good, God-given means of expression. It is only when we allow sin to debase our desires/lusts and pervert their expressions that they become sinful.
            So, notice that in verse 14 there is no mention of sin. All that is spoken of is temptation, which James has defined as the desire/lust to do something one knows is wrong. Therefore that desire/lust, in and of itself, is not sin. Let’s make this as clear as possible. James, as the inspired writer of God’s Word, gives us this definition of temptation: the desire to do something one knows to be wrong. Then turn to Heb. 4:16 where the inspired writer of God’s Word says that our perfect Lord and Savior was tempted just like we are, but without sin. This means that on occasion Our Lord must have desired/lusted to do things that he knew to be wrong, but he exercised self control and overcame. He remained perfect. Being tempted to do something isn’t wrong. Wanting to do it, having desires/lusts, isn’t wrong.
            So where does sin come in? Vs 15. Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin; and sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death. Sin enters the picture when lust conceives. Conceive is a verb; it implies action of some kind. So sin happens when one decides to take that desire and do something with it. The desire isn’t wrong, only the action.
            Wait! How do we square this with Matt. 5: 28 where Our Lord says, “I say unto you that every one that looks on a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.” It sure seem like he is saying that the sin is in the lust/desire, not the action. This is where understanding the original audience can help a great deal in understanding the point being made. Our Lord was speaking to a people who made a great show of righteousness while not caring at all about their inner man. They would speak of purity and fantasize about every woman who walked by. They would condemn murderers while holding grudges and slandering enemies. Our Lord was trying to get them to understand that great importance should be placed on who they were inside: that the heart matters. That is why he says in vs 22 that being angry with a brother is sin, though we read elsewhere that it is possible to be angry without sin. In verse 28 the lesson is that the intention is as good as the deed. Look at the verse again. Why did this hypothetical man look at the woman? “Everyone who looks on a woman TO lust after her in his heart. . .” The reason he looked was to lust, to fantasize perversely about her. The sin here is not being attracted to members of the opposite sex; it is the decision to actively fantasize or to pursue a tryst with that person. If being attracted to members of the opposite sex were a sin, then all you married people sinned the whole time you were courting your spouses! (Either that or you were courting someone you found physically repulsive.) Sin does not occur until we allow that healthy desire to conceive something perverse, whether it be the actual deed or just the fantasy. Being attracted is not the sin. Wanting to get to “know” the person is not the sin. Carrying that beyond the basic impulse into involved fantasy is a sin, as would be the attempt to actually carry out the fantasy, whether or not the other person said yes. Being angry with a brother is not a sin. Fantasizing about how you would love to knock him down a peg is a sin, as would be the attempt. So would be slander or malicious gossip. Wanting something you can’t afford is not a sin. The decision to steal it is, even if you back off when you notice the store management watching.
            Once I came to understand how James 1 and Matt 5 interacted, and understood that desires/lusts are not sinful in and of themselves, my faith was greatly strengthened. I actually came to have a Hope instead of a Dread. I began to understand that His yoke really is light, not the horrible burden I had thought it to be. My days became much more joyful. With the proper understanding of the difference between temptation and sin, that being tempted is not sin, I am happy to say that I DON’T sin everyday, and that the periods between sins are continuing to grow as my strength in God increases. I hope this discussion helps someone else as much as the years of meditation eventually helped me.

Lucas Ward

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            I was looking through Galatians 6 the other day and came across that verse that perplexes so many scholars; See with what large letters I write unto you with my own hand, v 11.  If scholars do not know what it means, I certainly don’t, but this is the way my mind wandered that day.

            Is Paul talking about writing something with large letters?  Did he have a hand injury?  I had surgery on my right hand when I was in college.  For two months I took notes in classes with my left hand.  As a right-hander, I had to write larger than usual in order to maintain any control and be able to read the product.  Still, it looked like a kindergartner’s printing, but at least I could study for my finals.

            But what if, as is more in keeping with my predicament these days, he had to use large letters so he could see what he had written?  Maybe that was the case and maybe not, but it made me think of the day I discovered how to change the font size on my PC.  What a wonderful day!  By upping the font to 18 or 24 point I could actually write emails and articles I could proofread myself.  Hurray!

            And then I thought, what if poor vision was his problem?  In spite of that, without a PC, without a mouse to click on a larger font, without even a typewriter for all that, he managed to write (or dictate) epistles that still leave us studying more and more deeply.  That might not have anything to do with Gal 6:11, but you can see how my mind kept traveling, because that led me to wonder about all those first century brothers and sisters of ours.  Without copy machines, they managed to copy those epistles and send them on to the next church.  Without airplanes or automobiles, they managed to travel miles and miles on foot, or risk life and limb in a boat no one could possibly mistake for a cruise ship, and carry those messages and minister to those evangelists.  Without television, telephone, or radio, without film strips or DVDs, tracts or lesson books, they managed to teach their neighbors and families. 

            And what happened?  Within 30 years they spread the gospel to the entire world according to Col 1:5,6, and 23.  Those people, who had every excuse we don’t have, turned the world upside down, Acts 17:6.

            And here we sit whining because of what we’d like to do if only we could.  How many churches, after thirty years, have the same number or less members because they have not managed to spread the gospel to just the town they are a part of, much less the whole world?  Those people toiled for hours a day just to survive, and still managed to spend time on the WORD.  When we finish “just getting by,” we spend our time on the WORLD.  Only one letter difference in those two words, but it certainly is a “large letter,” isn’t it? 

            What will you spend your spare time on today?

And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an ensample to all those who believe in Macedonia and Achaia.  For from you has sounded forth the Word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith toward God has gone forth, so that we need not to speak anything,  1 Thes 1:6-8.

Dene Ward

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            In the winter sparrows invade my yard, swarming the feeders like ants.  It is nothing unusual for 15 or so to cover the trough by the window, while half a dozen more sit in the azaleas waiting for an opening.  Meanwhile, thirty to forty hop along the ground, flitting back and forth to the smaller hanging feeders, which sway from the impetus of their continual take-offs.  After several frosts the brown and black grass successfully camouflages their drab brown and gray feathers.  I can only tell they are there because frosted off grass doesn’t ordinarily move, but that grass literally writhes.

            Brown and gray—drab colors compared to the brilliant red cardinals, the bright yellow goldfinches, the contrasting red and yellow bars on the blackbird’s wing.  Even the brown of the Carolina wren is comparatively bright, and the stark contrasts of the zebra-striped black and white warbler perched pecking at the suet cage draws your eye far sooner than the mousy little sparrow.

            But someday you should sit at my window when one of them lands on the trough not six inches from your nose.  Up close the intricate patterns on their wings suddenly turn those drab colors into a source of wonder and delight.  Like delicate lace, the brown and gray sections, outlined by white and spotted with black, will keep your attention for a half hour or more as you struggle to discern the pattern God has placed in their tiny feathers.  No artist could have created anything so exquisite, especially using those colors.

            And what about you?  God can take your drab colors and create a creature far beyond your imagination.  He can take a miserable life and give it purpose, a sorrowful spirit and make it joyous, a selfish heart and tenderize it with compassion.  He can take a soul overwhelmed by the darkness of sin and make it bright with the reflection of its Savior.

            There is nothing drab about the life of a Christian.  God can make even the most ordinary person extraordinary.  We have no need for garish colors, for manmade ornament, or the laurels of worldly praise.  We know who we are—new creatures, “created in Christ Jesus for good works,” each of us beautiful in His glory.  If all you see are drab colors, you just haven’t gotten close enough.

…Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and…be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and…put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness, Eph 4:22-24.

Dene Ward

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            I don’t know how many times in my life I have heard unbelievers make fun of the scriptures, but they obviously do not realize what they show themselves to be when they do.  Most of them would call themselves intellectuals, but the statements that come out of their mouths prove they are simply ignorant—at least of the thing they have chosen to ridicule. 

            Have you ever heard them talk about “the God of the Old Testament” and “the God of the New Testament?”  They do this to “prove” that our beliefs are based upon our society, subject to change just as society does, which means that it is all an invention of man.  Everyone knows, they affirm, that the God of the Old Testament was a cruel, angry God who punished indiscriminately for even the most minor infraction, while the God of the New Testament is a mild, friendly, grandfatherly sort who forgives anything whether we repent of it or not.  Study the two paragraphs below for a few minutes this morning.

            And Jehovah passed before him and proclaimed, Jehovah, Jehovah, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness and truth.  / Jehovah is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression. / Know therefore that Jehovah your God, he is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and lovingkindness to those who love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations. / The earth is full of the lovingkindness of Jehovah, / Your lovingkindness, O Jehovah, is in the heavens, your faithfulness reaches to the skies. / Great are your tender mercies, O Jehovah. / Jehovah is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works.

            And these shall go away into eternal punishment. / where their worm dies not and the fire is not quenched. / with angels in flaming fire rendering vengeance on those who know not God and obey not the gospel. / It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. / Our God is a consuming fire. / But the fearful and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their part shall be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

            If you know your scriptures, you probably recognize that the first paragraph is taken entirely from the Old Testament and the second from the New.  In fact, I found that the Old Testament uses descriptions of God like “merciful, gracious, and lovingkindness” 312 times, while the New Testament only uses them 200 times!  Considering that a good portion of the Old Testament is history rather than teaching about God, that seems significant.  So much for the intellectuals and all their theories about God. 

            Do you want to see a God full of compassion and mercy?  Read the book of Hosea (an Old Testament prophet) and hear the ache in God’s voice as He describes His people, first as a wife He loved who betrayed Him (2:19) and then as a son He cared for and taught, who turned against His father (11:1-4).

            Remember Jonah, that Old Testament prophet who tried to run from his mission to preach to the wicked city of Nineveh?  What did he say about why he ran?  I hasted to flee to Tarshish because I knew you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness, and would repent of the threatened judgment, Jonah 4:2.  Jonah knew God would forgive, and he didn’t want those people saved!

            God has not “changed with the times” because He was not invented.  Look at the Greek gods through their mythology and see what types of gods men create.  The true God could never have come from the mind of any man, no matter how intellectual he thinks he is.  A God who gave His creatures the freewill to reject Him?  A God who gave up His Son for creatures who did not deserve it?  A God who lowered Himself to become human, and allowed those same creatures to torture Him? 

            Don’t let the ignorant fools of the world steal your faith.  They have no answers at all for what they believe.  Our God loves us—look at what He did for us.  But our God will only save those who trust Him, obey Him, and live faithfully.  His prophets have been speaking this message for thousands of years--the same message, an unchanging message, a message so far above the intellect of man that no man anywhere could have made it up.

Where is the wise?  Where is the scribe?  Where is the disputer of this world?  Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?  For seeing that in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom knew not God, it was God’s good pleasure through the thing preached to save those who believe.  Seeing that Jews ask for signs and Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, unto Jews a stumblingblock, and unto Gentiles foolishness; but unto those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, the wisdom of God.  Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men, 1 Cor 1:20-25.

Dene Ward

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            A few weeks ago I got out the dust rags and the polish and went to work.  It had been over two months since I had dusted anything at all and it was showing, not just on the furniture, but in my nose and lungs—I have a dust mite allergy. 

            I knew it would take awhile and it did, dusting every flat surface and every item on them, including a large dinner bell collection, vases from Bethlehem and Nicaragua, and those shaped like bootees that flowers had come in when the boys were born, figurines inherited from grandmothers and great-aunts, a wooden airplane Keith’s grandfather whittled inside an empty whiskey bottle, candles, telephones, a small piano collection, a metronome, fan blades, jewelry boxes, and beaucoup picture frames.  I dirtied up four rags in an hour and a half, sneezed a couple dozen times, and required a decongestant in order to breathe the rest of the day.

            When I finished I looked around.  The pictures all reflected brightly in the wood they sat on, the porcelain shone, the candles looked a shade brighter, and the brass gleamed.  What a difference it made to dust things off.

            So what do you need to dust off in your life?   Sometimes we become satisfied with our place in the kingdom, happy with where we are in our spiritual growth, comfortable in our relationships with others and our ability to overcome.  Sometimes we sit so long in our comfortable spot, be it a literal pew or a figurative one, that we soon sport our own layer of dust.  Maybe we aren’t doing anything wrong exactly, we have just stopped stretching ourselves to be better and do more. 

            “Dusting off” seems a good metaphor for “renewal.”  Paul tells the Colossians we have “put off our old selves” (past tense) but that the new self is “being renewed” (present tense), Col 3:9,10.  Being renewed has not stopped and never should.  Every day is a new beginning for the child of God.  When we forget that, the dust starts to settle, and our light is dimmed with a layer of uselessness that builds every minute.  Soon, as the light weakens, no one will notice us, or is that the point?

            When did you last dust yourself off and get to work, “transforming yourself by the renewing of your mind?” Rom 12:2.  The longer it’s been the more rags you will dirty, but it will only get worse if you don’t start now.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me, Psalms 51:10.

Dene Ward

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            I happened to think the other day, what if someone followed me around with a tape recorder all day, on any given day, and then made me listen to it in the evening?  It popped into my mind after I had said something I should not have said to someone, and they wisely stood there and said nothing back.  You know what happens when someone does that?  All of a sudden you actually hear yourself.  And boy, are you embarrassed.

            So just imagine for a moment that you answer a knock on the door late one evening, just after you brush your teeth and put on your pajamas, and there on the welcome mat lies a tape of everything you have said all day long.  Exactly how welcome would it be?  What would you find yourself listening to?  Griping?  Gossip?  Slander?  Nagging?  Petty arguments?  Insults?  Snide comments?  Bitter resentment?  Boasting?  Cruel comments?  Foul language? Deceit?  Insincere flattery?  Excuses for all the above?  Just who are we trying to fool?  …for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks, Luke 6:45.

            How loud would it be?  How cold would it sound?  What would come after each thing I said?   Someone laughing, or someone crying?    

            I have a feeling that no one is really aware of exactly how he sounds.  We do not realize that the things we say are as often and as whiny as they are, that most of our complaints are petty and selfish, that the majority of our comments about others are negative instead of positive, that the impression we give others about our marriages, our families, our church brothers and sisters would make those around us want to avoid those relationships altogether. 

            Maybe this idea is not so horrible after all.  Maybe we all need to pretend today that the tape recorder is running, and do our best to make it “good listening.”  Someone is listening after all.  For there is not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Jehovah, you know it altogether, Psalm 139:4.

Dene Ward

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            We just spent a week with the grandkids.  When it comes to food, they are just like mine were at that age.  They prefer their oranges out of a can, their macaroni and cheese out of the blue box, their chicken cut into processed squares, and their potatoes long and fried.  Forget the complex and strong flavors of Parmagiana Reggiano, feta, and blue—they want American cheese, thank you.  And all their sauces must be sweet—about half corn syrup.  True, these two enjoy olives—but they need to be canned and black.  A strong, briny kalamata is summarily thrown across the table.

            Children have immature palates.  For the most part strong flavors are out and bland ones are in.  Sugar, salt and fat make up their favorite seasonings.  And it must be easy to eat.  When you can barely hold a spoon and get the food on it and into your mouth, you prefer things that are solid without being hard and which fit the hand.  We would never give a child a fresh artichoke to eat, with instructions like “Peel off the leaf, dip it into lemon juice and melted butter, put it between your teeth and pull it out of your mouth, scraping the good part off as you pull, then discard the leaf.” 

            One day they will understand the pleasure of different tastes and textures.  Their palates will become educated to appreciate different foods and even different cuisines.  Even the pickiest of childhood eaters usually learn as adults to eat new things, if for no other reason than to be polite or keep harmony in the home.  When a woman spends hours a day cooking, she wants more than a grunt and food being shoved around the plate in an attempt to disguise the fact that very little of it was eaten. 

            But sometimes people become set in their ways.  They decide they don’t like something, even if they have never tried it.  They won’t entertain the possibility that their palates have changed, and so won’t keep trying things as they become older.  When I was a child I hated every kind of cheese, raw onions, and anything that contained a cooked tomato.  Now I eat them all.  Imagine if I had never found that out.  No pizza!

            What about your spiritual nourishment?  Are you still slurping down canned oranges and packaged mac and cheese?  Do you still think instant mashed potatoes are as good as real ones, and Log Cabin as good as real maple syrup?  What if the Bible class teacher taught a book you had never studied before?  Would you learn with relish or complain because you actually had to read it instead of relying on your old canned knowledge?  What if he showed you a different interpretation of a passage than you usually hear?  Would you chew on it a little and really consider it, or just dismiss it out of hand because it wasn’t what you already thought you knew?

            Keith and I have both experienced complaints from people because our classes were “too deep” or “too hard” or “took too much study time.”  Really?  It’s one thing to have an immature palate because you are still a babe.  It’s another to have one because you haven’t grown up in twenty, thirty, forty years of claiming discipleship. 

            The spiritual palate can tell tales on our spiritual maturity in every other area.  Jesus expected his disciples to mature in just a few short years.  “Have I been with you so long and you still do not know me?” he asked Philip (John 14:9).  If we don’t know his word, we don’t know him.  If we don’t know him, we have no clue how to behave as Christians.

            An educated palate for spiritual food is far more important than whether you have learned to like liver yet.  Become an adventurous spiritual eater.  You will find this paradox: though you become hungrier for more, you are always satisfied with your meal.

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. Hebrews 5:12-14.

Dene Ward

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            “That was your kind of game!” Lucas texted a few weeks ago when the Gator basketball team tromped its opponent by nearly 30 points.  Indeed it was, my favorite kind of game.

            The boys have taught me well, not only strategies and terms, but who to root for in football, basketball, and baseball.  The Gators, the Rays, the USF Bulls, the Miami Dolphins, the Buccaneers, sometimes the Jags if they aren’t thoroughly embarrassing themselves, and any SEC team that is not playing Florida at the moment. 

            But if any of those teams are playing, I do not enjoy what most people call “a good game.”  Why would anyone enjoy something that causes heart-burn, heart palpitations, and heart-ache?  I cringe until the score becomes outrageously unbeatable, and then sit back and enjoy the rest.  That’s my kind of game.

            And though it certainly isn’t a game, that’s the way I like my contests with the Devil too.  It ought to be that lopsided a score.  We have a Savior who has already taken care of the hard part.  We are already so far ahead, even before we start, that a comeback by the opponent should be unthinkable.  We have an example how to overcome.  We have help overcoming.  We have a promise that we CAN overcome if we just try.  We have every possible advantage, including coaches and trainers and all-star teammates, and a playbook that is infallible. 

            We have the motivation too.  As we said, this isn’t a game.  There is no next season, and defeat is an unthinkable consequence that should spur us on to adrenalin-boosted, nearly superhuman feats.  And the trophy is far better than anything offered us in this life.  Every athlete exercises self-control in all things.  Now they do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable one, 1 Cor 9:25.  That crown is called a “crown of life” in several passages—an eternal life with our Creator. 

            Do not make your game a close one.  Don’t sit back and let the Adversary make a comeback.  Don’t fumble the ball, or commit an error, or make a turnover out of carelessness and apathy.  Victory is not handed to you on a platter.  You still have to want to win, and fight like that every minute.  My kind of game may not appeal to you when you watch your favorite teams play, but it should be the only kind you want when your soul is at stake. 

            We are “more than conquerors” with the help of God (Rom 8:37).  His game plan involves a rout, running up the score, and rubbing the enemy’s nose in defeat.  And it can go exactly that way with just a little effort on your part.

For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?"...But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:53-55, 57

Dene Ward