“Hi!  My name is Moe and I will be your server today.  What can I get you to drink?”

            We had received a gift card to an Italian restaurant we had never been to before and were using it after a doctor appointment one afternoon.  Moe was slightly shorter than average, but a dark-haired, good looking young man, probably working his way through college, it being a college town.  We enjoyed our meal and Moe served us well.  Our first course came lickety-split and when the second took a little bit longer, he stopped to tell us we were “next” and to see if we needed anything else while we waited—like another loaf of warm bread, an offer we were happy to take him up on.  All through the meal he checked on our progress, on whether we were happy or not, and whether things were prepared to our liking.

            When we had finished and were sated enough to turn down dessert, he stood another moment and said, “Is there anything else I can get you?”  Then a half second later, “I really mean that.  You are the kindest table I have waited on all day and I would do anything in the world for you.”

            I had noticed that the booth behind Keith had called him over half a dozen times, and another table had sent something back.  No one raised a voice, but evidently their words and manner showed they might as well have. 

            And us?  We didn’t really think about what we were doing or how we were acting.  We were just—us.  Maybe it’s that we learned a long time ago that people in the service industry are often mistreated and verbally abused, made to pay for someone else’s failures—in this case, maybe the chef’s—and treated just like furniture as far as any personal interaction goes.  Maybe I learned it from my daddy—he always called people he dealt with by their names, and waiters and waitresses, car salesmen and mechanics all remembered him.

            But Moe’s words of gratitude have made me actually think about what I am doing and saying, trying to be even kinder than usual, and maybe even developing a short—but sweet—relationship with those people.  Isn’t that the way Christians are supposed to treat those who serve them?

            Masters, treat your servants justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven…and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him. Col 4:1; Eph 6:9

            Why shouldn’t those passages apply to how we treat waiters and waitresses, plumbers and mechanics, cashiers and pizza delivery guys?  These people serve us as part of their daily work, and we can make or break their reputations with their bosses and even cost them their jobs.  We can also brighten their day if we treat them as we ought to, and who knows, maybe someday we can help bring them to Christ. 

            My boys have worked in service industries over summer semesters.  Even all these years later they can tell you stories about certain customers.  Do you really think it is Christlike to be a customer remembered for his sour disposition and rude words over twenty years later?

            Did you go out to eat yesterday?  How would your server remember you?  If you walked in again today, how would he feel?  How does your cashier at the grocery store greet you?  Does she ignore you unless you go through her line, or does she smile and wave when she sees you walk through the door? 

            So thank you, Moe, for reminding me that we are supposed to be reflections of our Lord to everyone.  Thank you for reminding me that my actions and attitudes can glorify or shame Him.
 
You shall not rule over [your servants] ruthlessly but shall fear your God. Lev 25:43
 
Dene Ward

I sat by the window today and marveled at the birds that had come to my feeder—the usual cardinals, titmice and chickadees, plus two kinds of doves, a wren, four catbirds, dozens of sparrows, a small flock of brown-headed cowbirds, a painted bunting, two goldfinch couples, a few pine warblers, a yellow-rumped warbler, new to the group this year, and a hummingbird buzzing above them all at his own special watering hole.  All these on the same day and that’s not all just in the past week.  We even had a ring-nosed gull drop by yesterday.

            What may be the most satisfying is seeing those we can recognize from times past.    Remember the cardinal with the broken wing?  (Check the July 2014 archives.)  He kept coming back for well over a year.  It has only been the past month or so that we haven’t seen him and it may well be he has lived out his lifespan, but he lived it far longer and better for coming here to fill his plate, heal, and grow strong again.  His wing was never quite straight after his mishap, but it grew plenty strong enough to fly him where he needed to go. He wasn’t the first sad and sick bird we have had.  If you have been with me awhile, you may remember the one-legged sparrow, and the brewer’s blackbird that was left behind when her flock flew northwest again—she was too sick to join them.

            I wonder what God sees when He looks out on His “feeder.”  We forget, I’m afraid, what our lives were like when we decided to take Him up on His offer.  It is too easy, when life has taken a good turn and we are so much healthier in spirit, to think it might possibly have been our own doing.  He is the one who comforted our mourning, who gave us a “garland” to replace our “ashes,” who took away our “spirits of heaviness” and gave us the “oil of joy” and a “garment of praise” (Isa 61:2,3) to replace the sackcloth life had thrown on us.

            The Lord came looking for us at the worst time of our lives, and because of that we now live in the best times, no matter what our physical circumstances may be.  We were all bruised reeds, but with tenderness and care He granted us the greatest of gifts, a spiritual healing that is eternal.  It is right to praise Him, to stand in awe, and to marvel.  But once in a while it wouldn’t hurt to remember the broken wings, the near fatal spiritual illnesses, the missing pieces of our hearts that He restored and what it cost.  Maybe our healed wings stay a little bent just to remind us where we were and what might have been without His amazing love.

            And always, we need to look for the others who need Him too.  There is room on the feeder for as many weak, sick, and dying birds as we can bring with us.  And then He can look with satisfaction one day on those who laid their burdens on Him, who allowed Him to care for them, who accepted His offer of love and grace.  And together we can marvel for Eternity.
 
Behold, my servant, whom I uphold; my chosen, in whom my soul delights: I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. He will not cry, nor lift up his voice, nor cause it to be heard in the street. A bruised reed will he not break, and a dimly burning wick will he not quench: he will bring forth justice in truth. Isa 42:1-3
 
Dene Ward

If someone were to say to you that Jesus had to learn some things when He came to earth, I think your first response might be the same as mine.  “What do you mean?  This is Jesus we’re talking about!  He already knows everything and always has.”  Yet the Hebrew writer says it in black and white:  Though he was a Son, yet he learned obedience by the things he suffered, 5:8.

            Obedience is a tough thing to learn, and we all probably learned it the same way Jesus did, by suffering a little.  Already my little grandson Silas is learning those lessons.  It’s difficult to learn because doing what you are told to do, even when you don’t want to, takes humility and self-control.  That in turn takes maturity.  And that is why an attitude of rebellion is so wrong.  A person who refuses to toe the line, who seeks to always find a reason NOT to obey, and who questions authority simply because it IS authority is arrogant and self-willed.  Period.

            That sort of person would not have paid the temple tax as Jesus did.  Of all people, He told the apostles, the Son does not have to pay, yet He sent Peter to find the shekel in the fish’s mouth to pay that tax “lest we cause [others] to stumble,” Matt 17:24-27.

            He told the people to obey the scribes and Pharisees because “they sit on Moses’ seat,” even though those same men did not follow the very law they taught so rigorously, Matt 23:1-3.  Others’ disobedience is no reason for yours, He seemed to be saying.

            He purposefully made Himself subject to temptation, Matt 4, then overcame it.

            He put up with hardheadedness, petty squabbles, and pride to teach the disciples so He could leave His church in the hands of good leaders.

            He went to a cross He did not deserve, even though He really did not want to (“let this cup pass from me” and “thy will be done”).  He did it because he was an obedient son.

            Jesus would never have said, “You can’t tell me what to do.”  He would never have fomented rebellion in the parking lot.  He would never have planted seeds of doubt and discord among the weak and immature.  Jesus learned obedience.  If we are truly His disciples, isn’t it about time we did the same?
 
And hereby we know that we know him if we keep his commandments,  He who says I know him and keeps not his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps his word, in him truly has the love of God been perfected.  Hereby we know that we are in him.  He who says he abides in him himself also ought to walk as he walked, 1 John 2:3-6.
           
Dene Ward

When we first moved onto this land, no one else lived on the parcels anywhere around us.  Everyone else bought for the investment and planned to sell later, and with the titles unclear (except for ours) the plots remained empty for a long time.  With no fences in place, the boys literally had their own version of the Hundred Acre Woods to play in. 

            When the first hard rains showed us how the land around here drained, and that we would soon be washed away if something weren’t done, the owners to the north of us plowed a ditch along that side to help us out.  It was required by law, but they were compliant and even stopped to make sure we were satisfied before their rented equipment went back to the store.  Yes, we were.  The ditch worked fine and we stayed dry.

            We assumed the ditch ran right along the northern edge of the property and used all the land up to it for our garden, for our yard, for flower beds, even for a post to hold guywires for our antenna.  When the land around us began to sell and people moved in, we finally had to put up a fence.  Imagine our surprise when we discovered that we had been using as much as five feet more land along the north boundary than was actually ours.  But of course, the surveyors were correct.  They had sighted along the boundary markers, white posts set on all four corners of our five plus acres.  I even had to dig up half of a lily bed one morning and transplant them elsewhere so they could put the fence along the correct line.

            The Israelites were aware of boundaries and the landmarks that outlined them.  “You shall not move your neighbor's landmark, which the men of old have set, in the inheritance that you will hold in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess. Deut 19:14.  It was a matter of honesty and integrity.  “‘Cursed be anyone who moves his neighbor's landmark.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ Deut 27:17.  And this is just talking about land.  Imagine if someone moved a landmark that showed something even more important than that.

            The princes of Judah have become like those who move the landmark… Hos 5:10.  The wicked kings of God’s people had blurred the lines between right and wrong, between good and evil.  The standard became which will make me wealthier or more important among my peers, rather than which is right in the eyes of God?  Which is more convenient, which is easier, which do I like the best, which appeals to my lusts?  All of these have been used to move the boundaries of right and wrong in people’s lives for thousands of years.  When the government does it too, we have an instant excuse.  After all, it’s not against the law, is it?

            Do you think it hasn’t happened to us?  What do you accept now that you would never have accepted thirty years ago because you knew that the Bible said it was wrong?  Now people come along and tell you the Bible is a book of myths or the Bible only means what you want it to mean.  They have moved the landmark, and many have accepted it.

            God does not move landmarks.  What He says goes—then and now.  He may have changed the rituals we perform in each dispensation, but basic morality—right and wrong--has not and will not change.  Even Jesus used the argument, “But from the beginning it was not so…” (Matt 19:8). 
We can move the landmarks all we want, but we will still wind up on the Devil’s property, and God will know the difference, whether we accept it or not.
 
​Do not move an ancient landmark or enter the fields of the fatherless, for their Redeemer is strong; he will plead their cause against you. Prov 23:10-11
 
Dene Ward

In Florida “winter” means very little, but a year or so ago we had a different sort of winter—long cold spells with lows below freezing and highs only in the 40s, and frosts as late as April.  Snow fell in the panhandle and in the north central peninsula.  Usually we are sorry to see the heat return, but that year we were longing for it.

            The spring was different too.  The azaleas bloomed two months later, and all at the same time, so profusely you couldn’t even see the branches.  The blueberries had more fruit on them than any time in the five years past.  The hostas not only came up again but multiplied, sending up four plants where each one plant sat the year before.  The spring wildflowers were beautiful, turning fields first into blankets of blue and lavender, then red and maroon, and finally pink and white.  The oak pollen fell so thickly the lawn looked like wall to wall brown carpeting.  And the garden produced better than it had in years.

            I wondered, could one thing have to do with the other?  Could a long, hard winter be the cause of good crops and beautiful flowers in the spring?

            And they arrested [Peter and John] and put them in custody until the next day because it was already evening.  But many of those who heard the word believed and the number of men came to about five thousand, Acts 4:3,4.  That is not the only case in the New Testament where rapid growth of the kingdom followed hard on the heels of persecution.  A long hard winter of trial always seemed to make for a springtime of growth among God’s people. 

            Then there is the personal aspect.  I have seen so many times how a personal trial has led to spiritual growth in a Christian.  I have experienced it myself.  Something about trial inures us to the pains that might otherwise cost us our souls.  We grow stronger little by little, gradually learning the lessons of faith, endurance and strength in the service of God.

            That may be why I cringe when I see a young mother turn every little scrape on the knee or cut on the finger into a life-threatening crisis worthy of the loudest wails, instead of helping her child learn to laugh it off.  I have seen too many of those children grow into men and women who complain about everything that does not go their way.   If it’s okay to whine and cry like the world is ending when you fall and skin your knees, why isn’t it okay to scream at other drivers who get in your way?  If it’s okay to pout and mope when you don’t get to play your favorite video game, why isn’t it okay to complain long and loud when the boss asks you to work overtime?  If it’s okay to pitch a fit when some mean adult tells you to straighten up, why isn’t it okay to stand in the parking lot complaining about the church, the preachers, the elders, and anyone else who doesn’t see things your way?

            God needs people who are strong, who can take pain and suffering for His sake, who understand that their way doesn’t really matter if it is not His way, and that the good of the kingdom and its mission may have nothing to do with them having an easy, perfect life here in this world, but everything to do with a perfect life in the next. 

            Just as with everything else, our culture is affecting us.  The strong silent type who can take the worst the world has to offer and keep going is no longer the hero.  Instead we reward jerks and boors and idolize intemperance.  Prodigality and lavish lifestyles are our measure of success; striking back is our measure of character, and throwing tantrums is our measure of strength. 

            I see a day coming when the church will once again be in the middle of a long, hard winter of persecution.  The way we are going we may not survive it at all, let alone have a bountiful spring, because trials and persecution only work to build strength when you learn from them.  They only produce character when you have the toughness to take the bad with the good without whining about it.

            What kind of spring will you have next year?
 
And not only so but we rejoice in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation works steadfastness; and steadfastness approvedness; and approvedness hope; and hope puts not to shame, because the love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit which was given unto us,  Rom 5:3-5.
 
Dene Ward

The second in a series by guest writer Lucas Ward.
 
When I first started studying the topic of anger in the Bible and decided to see how it is discussed in the Wisdom Literature, I thought I would find just a few passages. Was I ever wrong! This is a topic that Solomon gives quite a bit of time too. So, let’s see some of what the wise man says about anger:

Prov. 21:24 “The proud and haughty man, scoffer is his name; He works in the arrogance of pride.”
The first thing you probably notice about this passage is that it doesn’t mention anger. However, the word arrogance here is the same Hebrew word that is translated “wrath” in Prov. 14:35. That passage specifically discusses the king’s wrath. The concepts of wrath and arrogance are linked in the Hebrew language. And don’t we often become the most angry when we begin to think too highly of ourselves? “Don’t you know who I am?” “How dare he do this to ME?” A person with a little more humility wouldn’t become angry in those situations. So, humility can help us avoid anger. Look at the company this word keeps: proud, haughty, scoffer. Those aren’t good traits. That is where anger and arrogance will take you. Again, caution is needed.

Prov. 16:32 “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; And he that rules his spirit, than he that takes a city.”
Obviously, this is referring to value in the eyes of God. He is much less concerned with how great a warrior a person is than with how that person rules himself. But isn’t this trait also valued by men? However great a warrior someone might be, if he has no self –control, he is no fun to be around. This passage also hints at the idea that it is easier to conquer a city than to rule one’s spirit, and easier to be a mighty warrior than to be slow to anger. So, while the wise man repeatedly tells us how important it is to be in control of one’s emotions, he also acknowledges that this isn’t the easiest thing in the world. Like all aspects of being a servant of God, it takes work.

Prov. 15:18 “A wrathful man stirs up contention; But he that is slow to anger appeases strife.”
This only makes the best type of sense: no one ever started a fight when he wasn’t angry, but people who are angered quickly cause all sorts of issues. Meanwhile, the guy who is breaking up the fight, who is trying to keep things from getting out of hand is the one who is in control of himself. And this is a trait valued not only by men, but by our Father. Remember the beatitudes. Matt. 5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called sons of God.” Those peacemakers are the ones who are “slow to anger.”

One thing you will notice if you search the wisdom literature for passages on anger is how often anger is paired with foolishness. I think it would be fair to say, based on the writings of His wise man, that one of the major traits of a fool in God’s eyes is a lack of control over his anger. A few passages:


Prov. 12:16 “A fool's vexation is presently known; But a prudent man conceals shame.”
Notice here that the parallel of vexation is shame. The prudent man conceals his, but the fool lets it all hang out for everyone to see. When he’s angry, everyone knows. (It’s not that the prudent man is never vexed, he just controls and conceals his anger.)


Eccl. 7:9 “Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry; for anger rests in the bosom of fools.”
Given the association here, we should see that anger isn’t something we want to hold onto. It belongs in the bosom of fools, right, so if it is in my heart what does that say about me?


Prov. 14:29 “He that is slow to anger is of great understanding; But he that is hasty of spirit exalts folly.”
Here wisdom is partially defined as a control over angry impulses. You have great understanding if you are slow to anger. On the other hand, foolishness is partially defined as being hasty of spirt. It’s not looking good for those of us with temper control problems, is it?


Prov. 19:11 “The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger; And it is his glory to pass over a transgression.”
This passage flat out says that it is wisdom, or discretion, that leads to controlling one’s temper. So if I don’t have a handle on my anger, what does that say about my general discretion? And notice that forgiving an insult adds to the glory of the forgiver.


Really, the only thing to say about this is that the wise have control over their tempers and those who fly off the handle are foolish by God’s definition. Not a pleasant thought for those of us who “lose it” more often than we’d like to admit, is it?

One thing that needs to be pointed out, though, is that what is being universally condemned in these passages is not the emotion of anger, but rather the actions taken because of the anger. Remember:
– Prov. 15:18 “stirs up contention” -- An action.
– Prov. 14:29 “exalts folly” -- Another action
– Prov. 12:16 “vexation is known” How? by what he did.
– Prov. 27:3 “A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty; But a fool's vexation is heavier than they both.” -- It is the consequences of the fool’s actions because of his vexation that are weighty, not merely his emotional state.

And this jives perfectly with New Testament teaching: Eph. 4:26-27 “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: neither give place to the devil.”
This teaches that it is possible to have anger without sin. The emotion isn’t wrong, it’s what we do with the emotion. (Just like attraction to the opposite sex isn’t wrong, it’s what we do with that attraction.) So, then, anger is the temptation to go too far. How do we combat it? Notice that there is a parallelism in this passage. “Let not the sun go down upon your wrath” is parallel to “neither give place to the devil”. So that would mean that holding on to anger is giving the devil an opening. If feeling angry can be a temptation to go too far, then holding onto that anger, stoking it and feeding it, is to remain in the arena of temptation. It is to give Satan chance after chance to attack at our defenses. It is dangerous. The answer, the way to defeat this temptation, is to let go of the anger. I know, that is a whole lot easier to type than it is to do, but that is what the Holy Spirit is teaching us to do, through His word. When something raises our choler, when our ire is aroused, we have to keep those feelings in check and let them go as best and as quickly as possible.

Otherwise, we are fools.
 
Lucas Ward

Jesus told a story that even the most Biblically ignorant people in the world have heard.  We call it “The Good Samaritan.”  Most of us have never actually been in the shoes of either of these men.  Oh, we may have been on the side of the road with a flat tire or a broken fan belt or an overheated radiator, and maybe someone even stopped and helped us, but I guarantee you we have never filled every variable of this example.

A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ Luke 10:30-35.

Understand this:  Jew and Samaritan was even worse than black and white, and maybe even Jew and Gentile.  “On all public occasions, Samaritans took the part hostile to the Jews, while they seized every opportunity of injuring and insulting them…they sold many Jews into slavery…they waylaid and killed pilgrims on their road to Jerusalem.  The Jews retaliated by treating the Samaritans with every mark of contempt; by accusing them of falsehood, folly, and irreligion; and…by disowning them as [being] of the same race or religion, and this in the most offensive terms of assumed superiority and self-righteous fanaticism” (Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah). 

These two men not only disagreed politically, they disagreed religiously as well.  Their people hated one another, mistreated one another; they were violent and malicious in every way possible.  Yet here is one who finds himself in need and his “enemy” takes care of him.  And not just minimally.  The Samaritan left “two denarii” to care for the Jew.  A denarius was a day’s wage for a skilled laborer—think carpenter, plumber, or mason in our day, and now think of what those men make an hour and multiply it out for two days’ worth of wages.  That is the equivalent of what the Samaritan left for a complete stranger, and an enemy at that.

Now think today of someone who fits that description—a stranger who is a member of an enemy nation, one that is violent, who hates us, and who is also of a different religion.  Do I have to spell it out?

So you drive by and see someone on the side of the road who is obviously one of those people by his looks and dress—or maybe at the last rest area you saw him on his prayer rug looking to the east so you know exactly what he is.  What are you going to do?  If Jesus’ story does not apply here, it applies nowhere.
The posts I have seen by some of my brethren on facebook appall me.  I do not see a kind people who would care even for those we disagree with, as Jesus did when he healed Malchus’s ear, but an angry people who would wish them harm.  What are we thinking?  “Stop this!” Jesus told Peter when he drew his sword.  “Any who take the sword will perish by the sword. Matt 26:52.
​
Jesus also described the citizens of his spiritual kingdom this way:  You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ​so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. ​For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? ​You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matt 5:43-48  

I never thought that passage would actually mean something to me someday.  I don’t have enemies, at least none who might wish me harm, but that possibility is becoming more and more real, and that means that passage is becoming one we may have to use one of these days.  Do not become like the unbelievers who ignore the entire Bible by ignoring this one verse in your own life.  The same God wrote it all.

In the Roman Empire Christians often gave themselves away because they were kind not only to their own, but also to their pagan neighbors, even those who had been unkind to them.  Everyone knew, “Only Christians do that.” 
Is that what they would say about you?
 
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them… Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Rom 12:14-21
 
Dene Ward

A couple of years back one of my “world’s first” surgeries left me seeing spinning black and silver pinwheels, especially in bright light.  My Cincinnati doctor was convinced I had a congenital brain blood vessel malformation which would require brain surgery to correct.  The only way to know was an MRI, something I had never had before.  I left the house with little concern.  As much as I had already been through, what could be worse?

            So I was not prepared for the nurse to put a helmet on me that completely covered my face, stuffing it with dark gray foam to keep my head still.  In about 5 seconds I was clawing at it, grunting, “off, off, off, off, off,” increasing in volume and speed as I went.  She took it off immediately.  “Are you claustrophobic?” she asked. 

            Yes I am.  One of the worst parts about many of the procedures I have had to go through with these sick eyeballs is the sheet over my face.  The only way I manage is to prepare beforehand, then steel myself all the way through the procedure for as long as three hours at a time.  But in this case no one had warned me so I was not ready.
           
             I remembered that episode recently when I was studying 2 Cor 5:11.  Knowing therefore the fear of the Lord, we persuade men… Lately it has been anathema to talk about fear and God in the same sentence.  “Fear” has become “reverential awe,” or the even more mealy-mouthed “respect.”  “God doesn’t want us to be afraid of Him,” pops up in every conversation on the subject.  So I decided to check this word out.

            As I often do, I checked several translations.  The King James gave me a big clue in the above passage.  Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord…  Somehow “terror” does not easily lend itself to the idea of simple respect.  After that I looked up the word in a concordance.  “Fear” in the Greek is “phobos.”  Do you see it?  We get our English word “phobia” from that one.  The definition in Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words is “that which scares you enough to make you run away.  In the gospels it is always associated with dread and terror.”  Do you have a real phobia?  Would you call that horrible feeling that turns you into a whimpering coward, “respect?”

            Next step in study--how else is it used in the Bible? 
Matt 10:28--And fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell.
Matt 27:54-- Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God. If you suddenly figured out that you had just killed the Son of God, would you be feeling respect or terror?

            And in the Septuagint?

Psalm 55:5--Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, and horror has overwhelmed me.

Isa 19:16-- In that day shall the Egyptians be like unto women; and they shall tremble and fear because of the shaking of the hand of Jehovah of hosts...

            I found many, many more passages that clearly show the meaning of phobos.  So when Peter tells us to “fear God” in 1 Peter 2:17, the fact that the word is the same one, helps me to understand that real fear, the kind that makes you run away and hide, is an appropriate reaction to God, even from His own people.

            Yes, God does want a relationship borne of love as motivation, but there is nothing second rate about the fear motivation.  Just in case the love is not enough, for the times when temptation is strong and we are weak, remember the fear.  Paul did in the passage we started with.  He knew the terror that awaited those who do not know God and it motivated him to preach.  Are we any better than that great disciple? 

            If you do not “get it,” if you do not understand who and what God really is-- our Creator, the most powerful Being, the one who, with one thought, could cause you to cease to exist--you will never really have the proper respect either.  It most certainly is not the same respect you have for your earthly father.  Even your “reverential awe” will be incomplete, and you will certainly never understand how amazing it is that such a Being could ever love us like He does.
 
A man that has set aside the law of Moses dies without compassion on the word of two or three witnesses: of how much sorer punishment, do you think, shall he be judged worthy, who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing, and has done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For we know him that said, Vengeance belongs unto me, I will recompense. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, Heb 10:28-31.
 
Dene Ward

Look at what is before your eyes. If anyone is confident that he is Christ's, let him remind himself that just as he is Christ's, so also are we. 2Cor 10:7.

            We’ve been examining all the repeated lessons in the New Testament, the ones the writers felt needed a rerun because they were that important.  Usually we look at the passage in context.  This one we will take squarely out of context.  The message still works and it is rerun again and again, in every context imaginable.  We obviously need, as the passage says, reminding.

            Some of the Corinthians were still having difficulty accepting Paul as an apostle.  In this short verse he reminds them of what should have been obvious:  We both belong to Christ.  That should have had an impact on them when they considered what he was telling them and how they received him.  Don’t you judge the motives of a brother differently than anyone else?  You ought to because you know he has sworn allegiance to the same Lord as you, the one who demands a lifestyle that abhors sin.  He isn’t a pagan.  And that kinship creates an instant bond no matter where you may run into one another.

            This lesson has been taught in the scripture since the beginning.  The fact that Cain killed his own brother made that murder even worse.  When Lot and Abraham began having difficulties, Abraham came to him to work things out.  It shouldn’t be like this, he told Lot, because, “We are brethren,” Gen 13:8.  When Moses saw the two Hebrews fighting he said to them, “You are brothers.  Why do you wrong each other?” Acts 7:26. 

            Yes, if we are brethren, if we both belong to Christ, it should make a difference in how we treat one another.  Peter goes so far as to say that obeying the truth should have the effect of producing in us not just cold, formal love for each other, but an intense and passionate love, one that never pretends.   Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, 1Pet 1:22.  If I do not feel that way about my brothers and sisters, he seems to be saying, then maybe I haven’t really “obeyed the truth.”

            John agrees.  He says if we do not love our brethren, we are in darkness and in death; that we are liars and murderers, 1 John 2:9-11; 3:14-19; 4:20,21.  Christ died for us all.  If he loved me that much, he loved you that much, too, which means I should love you that much and you me.  We are instantly bound together in the same emotional context of gratitude and wonder and unity. 

            I know, I know.  You’ve heard these “love” lessons all your life.  When you hear another starting, you almost sigh and roll your eyes.  “Again?  What else is there to say?”

            Nothing.  It’s a rerun, but it’s a rerun found in nearly every book of the Bible.  That means it’s worth our hearing again.  And again.  And again. 

            Unless you think you’ve already got this one whipped?
 
With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Eph 4:2-3.
 
Dene Ward

Squirrels have distracted me a lot lately.  I am in the middle of folding laundry and suddenly one appears on the bird feeder at the window.  Instantly I am up to scare him off.  The little stinkers are persistent.  Not five minutes later he is back and I am up again.  Over and over all morning we go at it, and a chore that should take 10 minutes has suddenly taken more than a half hour.

            Other times I am walking through the kitchen toward yet another chore—paying bills, making beds, studying for Bible class—and there he sits again, looking right into the window while he munches on the birdseed, almost as if he is taunting me.  So I am off again on this merry-go-round ride and many times I even forget where I was headed in the first place.  More than once I have ended the day with things undone because of those aggravating, bushy-tailed rodents stealing the food right out of my birds’ mouths.

            We do the same thing in our efforts for God.  Some petty, relatively unimportant event can distract us and God’s mission goes undone. 

            What kinds of things?  Usually things that appeal to our pride.  I get my feelings hurt, I become aggravated with an annoyance of life, someone provokes me and that becomes the only thing I can think about.  It takes up my thoughts, my time, and my energy.  Suddenly I am no longer the messenger of God, but the messenger of my own sufferings.  I have to stop and tell everyone else how unfairly I’ve been treated, and what happens with whatever God wanted me to do?  Absolutely nothing.  I am too busy worrying about myself.

            Every righteous person under the Old Covenant was engrossed with God’s plan to send a Messiah.  Every decision they made had to do with fulfilling their part of God’s plan.  Even some of the bad decisions they made came from that good intention.

            Abraham left behind a home in the city and lived in tents for the rest of his life, wandering in a land he never owned.  He and Sarah tried to help God with the servants Eliezer and Hagar when, to their eyes, things were not going well with The Plan.  Abraham and Isaac procured special wives for their sons to help them with their parts in The Plan.  Rebekah deceived her husband because she was afraid he would pass the blessing of God’s purpose on to the wrong son.  Jacob’s blessings on his sons ensured a righteous tribe for the Messiah’s lineage.  The songs of David and Hannah show their own recognition of the redemption of man as God’s ultimate objective. 

            Remember that the people in the Gospels also lived under that old law.  Anna spoke of the infant Jesus “to all who were looking for redemption,” Luke 2:38, evidently more than one or two.  Simeon, a man “looking for the consolation of Israel” had been promised he would see the Christ, and then proclaimed, “Now let me die in peace,” Luke 2:25-29.  He could die happy not because he had gained great wealth, not because he had lived a life of luxury, not because he had succeeded in a prestigious career, but because he had seen that God’s plan had come to pass.

            Joseph of Arimathea, a wealthy man of the Sanhedrin, was willing to lose it all because he “was looking for the kingdom of God,” Lk 23:51.  Cleopas and another who walked on the road to Emmaus told the stranger they encountered, “But we hoped that it was he (Jesus) who should have redeemed Israel.” 

            Those people lived and breathed the plan of God in their lives.  They were willing to give up everything to see it come about.  Do we think the plan is finished, that now we can just worry about ourselves and our own petty concerns?  Paul actually had to tell the Corinthians that they should be willing to be defrauded to keep from harming the reputation of the church, God’s kingdom here on earth.  We aren’t even willing to give up parking places and favorites pews to visitors whose souls might be saved! 

            It’s time to stop putting ourselves forward and, like our righteous brethren of old, remember the reason for it all—salvation.  If Almighty God can put us first in his thoughts and plans, why are we so presumptuous and arrogant to believe that we don’t have to put His purpose first in our lives?  We are no better than the idolaters who rejected Him when we allow anything to divert us from the object at hand.

            I must stop being distracted by the “squirrels” in my life, and work on the job I have been given today and every day, for as long as I possibly can.
 
But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 2 Cor 11:3
 
Dene Ward