Flight Paths

When we bought our paint, it might have been the first time I realized that every can of paint in the store was white.  No matter what color you want, it starts out white.  Then the man at the counter will look up something or other on his computer screen, open the can and squeeze a set number of color squirts into the can.  (Don't you love my technical vocabulary?)  After it's shaken the requisite amount of time in the paint milkshake machine, you have the color you asked for.  Works every time.
            But notice—even for the lightest colors, one squirt and the paint is no longer white.  That's the case with purity, folks.  One sin, and your soul is no longer white.  Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commands and teaches people to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven…(Matt 5:19).  We do our best to get around that, labelling some big and some little, even calling some sins "white," as in "little white lies," but the paint is no longer pure white no matter what we may call it.  It doesn't matter if you grew up going to church and never doing the big, bad sins as we like to say.  It doesn't matter if no one knows about them.  It doesn't matter if we are blind to our own faults.  None of us is pure white any longer and we need to recognize that sooner rather than later, and stop judging others before we recognize our own.
            As dire as that may sound, the amazing thing is, regardless the properties of paint at the paint store, God can make your soul white again, as white as you were before.  Not because you are still white, nor because of the false label you have put on your own sin, but because you have admitted those squirts of sin, no matter how few or how small in our own eyes, and done your best to change—to repent. 
            We were all pure white once, but somewhere along the way we failed.  The only way to get it back is to add the bright red blood of Jesus and, even more amazingly than the paint store, we will once again be a whole can of white paint.
 
For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God (Heb 9:13-14).
 
Dene Ward

Although I had done my best to clean our home before we left it to the new owner, the favor had not been returned on this end.  We came into dirty floors, filthy baseboards, and dusty shelves in every cabinet and closet.  Add to that the general wear and tear, scuffs and scrapes, of twenty plus years of living in a place.  Dingy was a mild word for it and that was after I had been on my hands and knees scrubbing with every cleaner I could think of in turn.  Painting was an option, though I feared it would have to wait for a year because of all the other expenses.  Enter my beloved children who handed us a gift card specifically for paint as a housewarming present, and we were in business.
            But that meant I had to choose colors.  I am not an interior designer of any stripe.  All our married life we had to live so closely that the idea of buying something to "decorate" our home was foreign to my thinking.  We only bought what we absolutely needed and that after we had repaired and mended and come up with every jury rig we could think of.  And that included painting—we had never painted anything because we had never been able to afford paint.  I felt like someone had thrown me into the deep end of the pool without teaching me how to swim.  But, I sat and looked at paint cards and thought about every HGTV show I had ever seen and how they chose paint colors.  I have to admit though, some of the things I saw were hideous to this untested paint palette of mine.  Still, I was proud of myself when I looked at our new, but small, office space and thought, all by myself, "It's not a room for the public so it doesn't matter whether it looks bigger or roomier.  It has two big windows on the east side so it gets plenty of morning light and there are no trees to shade those windows in the afternoon.  That means I can go with a darker color."  So I did—Lakeshore Blue by Sherwin Williams, if you want to look it up, and we love it.
            But the larger living/dining area was woefully dark due to the lack of windows.  And since it served two functions, it was somewhat cramped.  So it needed a light color.  I finally chose what looked to me like a very, very pale tan; but for some inexplicable reason, at least to uneducated me, it was included in the "whites."  Whatever it is, I like it.  Elegant comes to mind.  But we wondered if one coat would do with such a light color.  Mr. Williams—or is it Mr. Sherwin?--says it is a one coat paint so we trusted him and measured accordingly.  It is indeed one coat paint, but it did not cover the amount it promised so we had to return to the store for more.  I had never even looked at the name, just pointed to the color, but now I needed the name.  Imagine my surprise when I found it:  "Patience."  After going through a difficult move with every glitch imaginable, I laughed out loud.
            And of course, it also got me to thinking.  Don't we all need a good coat of patience every day of our lives?  Whether it's putting up with difficult people or enduring the usual trials of life, endurance—the Biblical meaning of patience—is sometimes more than a little challenging.  Yet we have example after example of people who waited on God far longer than we seem to think we should have to.  Abraham who waited till he was 100 for a child, 25 years after the promise of one.  David who not only waited, but ran for his life for about 11 years after he was anointed by Samuel and promised a kingdom.  And then he waited another 7 years until the whole country united behind him.  Zacharias and Elizabeth prayed for a child for around 50 years, and kept praying for that child long after it was physically impossible for them to have one.  The Jewish people as a nation waited a few millennia for their promised Messiah.  Yet these people never gave up on God.  They had patience.
            And me?  I'm more like the little kids in the backseat screaming, "Are we there yet?" till they drive their parents crazy.  I think that maybe one coat of Patience isn't enough for me yet.  Shame on me that I might need two, or even three coats.  And so I will keep on trying until finally I live up to my billing, "One coat covers it all," because with the help of my Maker, it will.
 
Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience [endurance] the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that hath endured such gainsaying of sinners against himself, that ye wax not weary, fainting in your souls (Heb 12:1-3).
 
Dene Ward

When we first moved to our place in the country, nearly 40 years ago, I knew I wanted azaleas around the house.  And I wanted as many different colors as possible--none of this all white or all purple or all pink business.  We planted about two dozen and once they started blooming, I discovered why some people stick with one type and color—they all bloom at once that way.  You don’t have spots of color here and there, with blank, green places in the middle of the row.  So I have learned to live with those spaces, and to accept that some will bloom before others—first the white and the coral pink, followed by the lilac and pale pink, then the red and purple, and finally the bubble gum pinks, the two that frame the front door.  I was a little disappointed at first, but it no longer bothers me.  This is just the way it is when you have different varieties of azalea.
            That’s the way it is when you have different people in the body of Christ as well.  None of us are at exactly the same stages in our growth.  Sometimes it is because we are just starting and have little or no background in the scriptures.  Sometimes it is because we have brought a lot of mistaken beliefs to the table that we have to overcome.  And some of us are just a little slower than others to grasp new ideas, either from lack of comprehension or cautious skepticism.
            God never expected us all to be in the same place at the same time.  He spent quite a few chapters in the New Testament epistles telling us to respect one another regardless.  Jesus told a whole parable about accepting the late-comers without resentment.  After all, who is accepted is God’s business not ours. 
            Some of us seem to have a problem with this.  I have heard far too many comments about “them” lately, referring to the ones we see as holding us back.  It usually comes in a tone of disdain, while making of ourselves some elite spiritually mature group that ought to be looked up to and heeded automatically.  After all, look how much more knowledgeable we are.  The epistles talk a lot about that attitude too.  Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant, (1 Cor 13:4), comes quickly to mind.  We all know the word “longsuffering,” but we seem to ignore the “long” and home in on the “suffering,” which we don’t think we have to do for “them.”  After all, “they” are holding back the progress of the gospel.
            Truth be told, when stubborn self-will enters the picture, that may be the case.  In that instance, the wisdom of the elders decides when it is time to move on, even if some get left behind—or in fact, leave.  That is why we have those men—to be strong enough to make those unpopular decisions and wise enough to know when to. 
            Far more often, God expects us to “wait for one another” in all its various applications.  He expects us not to “set at nought” the one who just can’t quite get it yet.  Check your other translations of Rom 14:3.  That phrase means to despise, to disrespect, and to count as nothing.  It means we think his opinion is worthless.  The words may not have been used, but the contempt in them says exactly the same thing.
            God would certainly expect better of those who are supposedly so much more advanced.  Of all people, they should be tolerant with the many varieties of azalea among us.  We all bloom in our own time.  We are all beautiful to God, if not to each other.  As long as everyone is striving to grow and serve the Lord to the best of their abilities, we are all equal in God’s eyes, and certainly should be to one another.
 
Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand...Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written, "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God." So then each of us will give an account of himself to God, Rom 14:4,10-12.
 
Dene Ward

Today's post is by guest writer Laurie Moyer.
 
This world is full of amazing diversity. I have to smile at the nature books which claim to be a “Complete book of” anything because even when they seem packed with accurate information, they still end up leaving some things out. This serves to illustrate how varied the people around us can be. Even identical twins are not alike in every way. Romans 12 details how Christians, as many different members, still form a unified body that functions together. This was no accident. Ephesians 4 tells us that these differences are placed there in order to strengthen the body of Christ when each part does its share. It should not surprise us that variation in judgment also occurs between and even among families.

You were raised with certain rules and experiences that have made you into the person you are today. Some things you want to copy in your own life, and others you may have chosen as deliberate differences in an effort to change the outcome for your children. Your spouse most likely was raised with different applications of some of those same rules, if not different rules, altogether. The two of you must come to an agreement on what the guidelines and practical applications will be for your own family. Many grandparents would like to have a say in what those rules will be, but in the final picture, you are the ones who have the right to determine what happens in your house. Wise grandparents will respect the fact that these are your choices. You do not have the experience to know how all those decisions will play out, so listen to the advice of older parents who have been there, done that, and have an end result you wish to copy. This is also a mark of wisdom. Do not, however, allow others to intimidate you into pleasing them if you have a clear focus for your own family unit.

Conversely, the decisions you make for your family will probably not be just the same as those of your friends. For different reasons you may choose to make other applications, but neither of you should feel you owe the other a defense or issue debate propositions to justify the judgment call you have made. Be careful, not arrogant. Don’t be stubbornly unmoving but be steadfast in the things you are prayerfully convinced of. This does not need to spoil friendships.

Having said all of that, do not rush to judgment regarding the parental standards of others. Each family has the right to determine what they will and will not allow their children to do. Each family has the right to set standards for punishment as a teaching tool. I would not be justified in calling CPS (Child Protective Services) because I disagree with another’s standards when the life of the child is not at risk. I know that sounds harsh, but I can see it no other way. Some parents are foolish in their judgments, but that is not criminal. They may not act consistently with their intentions, but that also is not criminal. Sometimes I cry over what thoughtless parents do, but if those individual parents do not have the right to choose the rules that govern their own household, then who does? We do not live in a fascist state where those decisions are made for us. As much as I hate the unfortunate times that this has negative results, I am far more grateful in the long-run that each of us possess those rights individually.

You can have nightly devotionals with your children because that is your right to determine. You can teach them to pray, sing Bible songs, memorize Scripture, and do all the things an activist atheist hates to know you do. You can do this because of your liberty. Value the right you have to lead the spiritual education of your children. If you do not it may not remain your call to make. To be sure there are plenty of child psychologists who believe you are doing harm. They would love to be given clearance to “fix and protect” your children from “fanaticism.” I pray God will never allow that to happen. It is the age-old problem of free will all over again. If someone has the ability to make the correct choice, then they also have the ability to make the wrong one.

What can you do? Speak kindly to those you fear may have misjudged the appropriateness of what they do. Do not condemn them or impugn their motives. Try to calmly persuade. Pray for them and the children involved. Protect life but allow parents to parent their own children.

Laurie Moyer

Taken from Searching Daily, a blog by Doy Moyer

I am often amused by our insistence on certain words to the point that we are willing to make them a test of fellowship, while making up our own words and phrases which can be found nowhere in the scriptures.  In fact, the thing we are describing often has scriptural phrases that we steadfastly avoid.  By imposing our words on the concept we often miss connections that had a profound impact on the people who first heard them. 
            I grew up hearing the phrase “rolled forward.”  Imagine my surprise when I checked half a dozen translations and could not find that phrase in any of them.  Because we understand that “the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sin,” someone created this phrase to try to explain how sin was dealt with under the Old Covenant.  Why do we do that when the scriptures explain things plainly enough?
            Thus shall he do with the bullock; as he did with the bullock of the sin-offering, so shall he do with this; and the priest shall make atonement for them, and they shall be forgiven, Lev 4:20.
            And all the fat thereof shall he burn upon the altar, as the fat of the sacrifice of peace-offerings; and the priest shall make atonement for him as concerning his sin, and he shall be forgiven, 4:26.
            And the priest shall burn it upon the altar for a sweet savor unto Jehovah; and the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven, 4:31.
            And the priest shall make atonement for him as touching his sin that he hath sinned, and he shall be forgiven, 4:35.
            And he shall offer the second for a burnt-offering, according to the ordinance; and the priest shall make atonement for him as concerning his sin which he hath sinned, and he shall be forgiven, 5:10.
            And the priest shall make atonement for him as touching his sin that he hath sinned in any of these things, and he shall be forgiven, 5:13
            And the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the trespass-offering, and he shall be forgiven, 5:16.
            And the priest shall make atonement for him concerning the thing wherein he erred unwittingly and knew it not, and he shall be forgiven, 5:18.
            Funny how I grew up thinking the word “forgiven” was found nowhere in the Old Testament.  Guess what?  I found it well over a dozen times before I decided that was enough for me to understand that those people were forgiven, just not forgiven the way we are.  They understood that, too, without someone thinking he had to improve on God’s words with a manmade phrase. 
            For the law having a shadow of the good things to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect them that draw nigh. Else would they not have ceased to be offered?... But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance made of sins year by year, Heb 10:1-3. 
            Those worshippers understood that forgiveness in their time would not last forever, that every year God would once again remember them.  And not only did he remember the sins of the past year for which they had offered sacrifices, he also remembered the year before that, and the year before that, and the years and years before that.  Every year that weight grew heavier and heavier on every soul.   
            That made the promise of the New Covenant much more precious.  Behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt;… But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Jehovah: I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people… for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more. Jer 31:31-34. 
            Now forgiveness would include forgetting. That weight of guilt would be lifted forever.  Imagine the relief they must have felt.  If there were no other spiritual blessing under the New Covenant, that one alone would make serving God worthwhile.  How often do we completely miss the importance of that blessing by refusing to use the words the Holy Spirit did?
            It is not that we cannot comprehend an Old Covenant forgiveness that does not forget.  We have a habit of practicing that very thing. We practice Old Covenant forgiveness when we say we forgive yet every time a certain person’s name comes up we say things like, “I’ll never forget what he did to me.”  The remembrance of their sins against us gives us away.
            Jesus told his disciples they were to expect the same forgiveness from God that they gave to others.  His blood of the New Covenant has power beyond the power those Old Covenant people experienced.  But New Covenant forgiveness only works on us when we practice New Covenant forgiveness to others.
 
Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Col 3:12,13.
 
Dene Ward
 
 

When you have sat in the offices of doctors ranked in the top five worldwide in their fields, you often see some very sick or horribly injured people.  When they call the top gun out of surgery to look at you, or three of them squeeze you into their schedules at a moment’s notice, each running the same tests over and over, then staying late to discuss your case, you become more than a little frightened.  When two doctors have presented you at half a dozen medical conferences and another is writing a paper about your case for a journal, you are grateful not only for getting this far, but for every morning the light seeps through the blinds and you can see it.

When you need a specialist of that caliber you learn words with entirely too many syllables, and you enjoy instant name recognition at the clinic with a direct line to the doctor.  You find out just exactly what horrible things they can do to you while you are awake and still live to tell about it.  Once they put you to sleep, you really don’t want to know too much about what they are doing.  And you discover that no matter how tough your situation is, someone else always has it worse.

There is one disease we all suffer from, no matter how beautiful, how wealthy, how popular, how healthy we are; no matter how many times we manage to twist events so it looks like we are always right; no matter how many times we pat ourselves on the backs for keeping all the “rules;” no matter how many we visit or homeless we feed.  Sin has infected us all and only one Specialist has the medicine we need.

This is a time of year when we customarily take a moment to examine ourselves and try to become better people.  Take that time today to check your vitals, to honestly assess whether you need to see the Doctor.  The good news is that there is a 100% cure rate for those who take their medicine and alter their lifestyles as He orders.  You do not need insurance because His fee is more than reasonable—it’s free.  The same is true for those affected by a relapse-even a second or third—or hundredth.

As amazing as it sounds, not everyone takes advantage of His care.  Perhaps they do not understand that this is a terminal disease.  Maybe it’s denial, maybe it’s pride, maybe it’s sheer perversity.  Whatever it is, do not let it describe you.
 
As I live, says the Lord Jehovah, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn, turn from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel? Ezek 33:11.
 
Dene Ward

Today's post is by guest writer Keith Ward.
 
“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church” (Col 1:24).
 
One is immediately struck with the thought, "What could be possibly be lacking in the afflictions and anguish that Christ bore on the cross?"  As a person, he was mocked and humiliated and held in contempt to a degree that would destroy all self-esteem in most.  As a man, he was literally beaten to death with vicious cutting scourges that likely bared the bones of his back.  Then, he was nailed to the cross where he must scrape that abraded back up the rough wood, pushing on the spike through his feet, in order to relieve the strain on his lungs and gasp life-giving breaths.  When the agony in his feet became too great, he would scrape painfully back down to hang on the spikes in his wrists—over and over and over... 
 
As the Son of God, Holy, Blameless, he felt the crushing weight of all the horrifying filth of sin as he was “made to be sin on our behalf” (2Cor 5:21).  A gang-raped virgin was never so defiled as he was by our sins.  Having been in fellowship with the Father from eternity before time was, he was ripped from the presence of the Father by MY sins, by YOUR sins and screamed out, “My God!  My God!  Why have you forsaken me?” (Mk 15:34).
 
What could Paul possibly be referring to that was lacking in such suffering?  We are the answer, in that he rejoiced in his sufferings for the Colossians’ sake.  Jesus was not in the world suffering that they might have the gospel.  Paul was doing that in Christ’s stead.  This was as God intended, that we may have the privilege of sharing in Christ’s sufferings.
 
So, this meal, this bread and juice, are not merely a memorial to his sufferings so long ago, they also are a commitment to fill on our part, that which is lacking in Jesus’ sufferings.
 
It should be obvious that this suffering does not refer to cancers, blindness, disasters, as these also happen to the wicked and are not “for his body’s sake.”  What are we committing to suffer when we take this bread and drink this cup?  Paul was imprisoned for preaching the gospel, suffering much to carry the gospel to the lost and to see that churches grew from infancy to self-sufficiency (2 Cor 11:21-32).
 
Our opportunities to suffer for the sake of the gospel in behalf of Christ are not likely to be so dramatic. It seems trivial to place giving up a favorite television show, my privacy, my precious routine, the big game, and other such things alongside Jesus’ suffering or Paul’s work to fill up the lack in them, until we consider that we seldom manage to accomplish even these small things on behalf of the body.  Just what, if anything, have we managed to give up at all for the sake of his body this past week?
 
Perhaps when we step it up, when giving up even these smallest things becomes second nature to us, God will grant the privilege to genuinely join in with Paul in filling up that which is lacking in the suffering of Christ.
 
"For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.…Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation… All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; …entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. (2Cor 5:17)." (2Cor 5:14-15).
 
Keith Ward

“Just like my tattoo, you’ll always be with me.” 
            Is it just me or do today’s love songs leave you a little cold?  I nearly laughed out loud at the lyric above when I heard it on the radio a few years ago.  Then I realized it was supposed to be a serious sentiment and I wanted to cry.  What has become of romance?
           
            She walks in beauty like the night
                        Of cloudless climes and starry skies,
            And all that’s best of dark and bright
                        Meet in her aspect and her eyes.
 
            Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
            Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
 
            How do I love thee?  Let me count the ways.
 
And now we have the tattoo song?  Surely Lord Byron, William Shakespeare and Elizabeth Barrett Browning are doing the proverbial grave roll as today’s “love songs” waft down through the loam.
            Did it ever occur to you that we are to be singing love songs to God?  For some reason we focus on the father-child relationship when the scripture also emphasizes the husband-wife bond. 
             You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate, but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married; for the LORD delights in you, and your land shall be married. For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you, Isa 62:3-5.
            Maybe we feel a little uncomfortable talking to God as if he were our “beloved,” especially the gentlemen among us.  Yet David several times uses that term in his psalms.  Certainly romantic love isn’t the only metaphor used of the relationship between God and his people, but each one has a particular emphasis, and perhaps by avoiding this one, we miss an important point.
            What kinds of things do we say to our spouses?  Just think of the love songs from your own decade.  I would climb the highest mountain, swim the deepest sea; Until the twelfth of never I’ll still be loving you; I can’t help falling in love with you; You mean the world to me, I know I’ve found in you my endless love; All I ask for is one love, one lifetime, say the word and I will follow you.  All of these emphasize the point of marriage—a love for someone that causes you to change yourself, to give up anything and anyone, and be willing to bear the tribulations of life together, “ for better or for worse, until death do us part.”  Isn’t that a good description of the commitment you once made to the Lord?
            And what is it Jesus says is the greatest commandment?  Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy strength and with all thy mind, Luke 10:27 (Deut 6:5).  I hope at least once in your life you have said to your spouse, “I love you with all my heart.”  If you haven’t, you had better make tracks and do so right now!
            Then there is the matter of fidelity in marriage.  Just as one today might put away an unfaithful spouse, God in righteous indignation will put away a people who make commitments to anything or anyone besides him—Isa 50, Jer 3,11,12, Ezek 16 and 23, and Hosea 1-3 to name just a few passages where the figure is used.  Any who have had to deal with it firsthand know that divorce is a painful experience; that one grieves after it just as if they lost a spouse by death.  Certainly we do not want God to put us away in a similar way—yet he most certainly will.
            So today, think about God as your beloved, the one you love most in the world, the one you have changed your life for and plan to live with forever.  Don’t take that relationship for granted, as you sometimes do your earthly marriage.  Sing a love song to God.
 
O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.
Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.
So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.
My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,
When I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
For you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy. Psalm 63:1-7.
 
Dene Ward

Now that I have tried to encourage the late beginners, it’s time to work on the rest of us—the ones who have been there, claiming to lay hold on the hope of life eternal from childhood.
            I once had a 6 year old piano student who progressed faster than any other that age.  Her mother had limited her children to one extracurricular activity and this one chose piano.  Because she was limited in how thinly she spread herself by a wise parent who knew that even children can suffer from stress, she regularly practiced more than I asked of her and could pick up on concepts that often had older students completely stumped.  She had “trained her powers of discernment by constant practice.”  Is it any wonder that I was ready to put her in a competition her first year, instead of waiting a year as I usually did?  Is it any wonder that she won first place at her level at a state competition the first time she went?
            When I was a child, people in the church were known for their Bible knowledge.  What has happened to us?  People who have been Christians for thirty or forty years cannot find their way through the Old Testament.  They cannot quote standard proof-texts.  When they try to recall those basic old stories, Jacob winds up married to Rebekah and Isaac to Rachel; Moses builds the ark and Daniel gets tossed into the fiery furnace.  You hear them introducing the preacher as either the Pastor or THE Minister of the church, as if there were only supposed to be one person serving in God’s family.  Hosea’s warning rings frighteningly in my ears--My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, 4:6.
            When I was young, children actually came home from school every afternoon.  Families actually ate their evening meals together.  Television time and content was limited by parents who were home to supervise their children. 
            As we said last time, we apply the passage in Heb 5, what it takes to learn and grow, in every aspect of life BUT the one it was meant for.  We know what it takes to get a promotion at work, or to keep a job.  We know what it takes to pass a written driving test.  We know what we must do if we hope to learn anything new, whether a sport or art or subject we are interested in.  There is no excuse for not doing this with the subject we claim to be more important than any other in our lives.
            I find myself wondering what would happen if we made it a point to limit our children’s activities like the mother of my young student, so that there would be time for family Bible studies every night.  What if we turned that television off just one night a week, or turned it off one hour earlier every night so that we could study?  As a teacher, I can tell you what would happen.  We would KNOW God’s word, and with it in our hearts we could not help but BE better people.
           
With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!
I have stored up your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
Blessed are you, O LORD; teach me your statutes!
With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth.
In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches.
I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.
I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.  Psalm 119:10-16
 
Dene Ward

I taught piano from the time I was 16 years old, and earned a degree in music education (piano and vocal) with a stress on piano pedagogy.  It seemed the ideal way to help with our family income without leaving my children.  Indeed, my children were also my students, and any time I had to go out of town for a competition they went too.
            I had students ranging in ages from 4 to 80, and I usually found that the students on the extreme ends of that range were the ones who took most of my energy.  I once had a 70 year old from a town 30 miles distant.  He was a real joy because of his intense interest and zealous practice.  He studied his theory lessons so hard that he regularly came to his lesson with a list of questions that took nearly half his allotted time to answer. 
            Once, when we were studying chords, he despaired at ever being able to instantly play one from its symbol alone.  Memorizing the difference between an A7, Am7, Adim7, AMaj7, as well as the standard A, Am, A+, and Adim took him several minutes and a lot of concentration. 
            “You do it!” he once said in exasperation, pushing the theory book my way on the rack, and I calmly played them one after the other simply by reading the symbols.
            “How long till I can do that?” he grumbled.
            I reminded him that I have been at this since I was 7, and had four years of college theory under my belt, too.  It would be a shame if I couldn’t do it.
            That reminded me of Heb 5:12-14:   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.
            We apply that principle to life without thinking, as he did to his music lessons, but we want to make excuses when it comes to spiritual matters.  My student, because of his diligent practice and meditation on the theoretical aspects of music and harmony, had come a long way in a short time.  Though he might have been impatient with himself, when I asked him to go back to a piece he had struggled with the year before and he found it simple to play, he could recognize his growth and improvement.  He “trained himself with constant practice” and was ready for some pretty solid food in the way of piano compositions and music theory.
            It is easy to look down on yourself when all you see is your failings and others’ abilities.  If you became a Christian later in life, not having grown up with the Bible narratives taught in every children’s Bible class, not having heard sermon after sermon for years, it will be a struggle for you to catch up.  If you have simply sat on a pew handed down as if it were an inheritance, and only wakened to your commitment to the Lord as an adult, you might be behind, too. 
            There is a wealth of information in the scriptures, and as you get older, learning seems to take far more effort.  For me numbers especially become more and more confusing.  I remember passages because I memorized them as a child.  Start calling out numbers to me now and they will leave my mind immediately, or, if somehow remembered, will come out transposed. 
            Don’t give up—just practice more.  If a 70 year old man can learn chord symbols, if he can play thirteen major scales, and thirteen minors in all three variations, if he can become one of the best music students I ever had, you can certainly do the same for God.  And if you ever despair, take a look back a year or so ago.  Don’t you see the improvement?  Don’t you see the fruit of your effort?  You know more, you understand more, you can even answer questions you could not have comprehended when you first started.
            That is, you can, if you have been working at it.
 
Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress, 1 Tim 4:15.
 
Dene Ward