Some responsibilities are tougher than others.  Some responsibilities deserve the word “onus,” a responsibility that is so big it is almost terrifying.
            I imagine the first time you really understood that word was when they put that tiny, squirming baby in your arms.  Suddenly you understood that it was your responsibility to care for another human being, one who was completely helpless and dependent.  It wasn’t like a friend who was having a problem so you spent some time with her and then went home to your own life again.  This was a responsibility that completely changed your life—your schedule, your budget, your chores, even your habits. 
            I bet you said, “I have to stop (blank)ing now.”  You didn’t want your child to develop those same bad habits you were always fighting and suddenly, you had the motivation to deal with them.
            I bet you sacrificed a lot of things.  Suddenly, spending an hour to put on makeup wasn’t quite so important.  Suddenly, you forgot to watch a few ball games on Saturday.  Suddenly, you didn’t need to eat out quite so often, or see so many movies, or go shopping as much.
            I bet you suddenly felt a love you never even knew existed before then, something nearly overpowering in its strength.  While the word onus means a “burden” of responsibility, I bet you never thought of it that way once.  You were happy to do those things for that precious child. 
            I was studying a few weeks ago and came upon something that put another onus on me.  Once I really understood what I was reading, I actually shivered a little and felt a peculiar sensation in the pit of my stomach.
            …That they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith in me, Acts 26:18.
            We are “sanctified” by faith.  Okay, so we are “set apart,” (yawn).  What of it?
            Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name, Matt 6:9. 
            The Greek word for “sanctified” is the same Greek word translated “hallowed.”  We are “sanctified” just like God’s name is “hallowed.”  Do you realize the burden that places on us in our behavior?  Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, Paul says in Phil 1:27.
            Suddenly, our lives should have changed.  We should have been anxious to rid ourselves of the bad habit of sin.  Worldly affairs should have found their correct place on the bottom of our priority list.  Sacrificing for a Lord who sacrificed Himself for us should have come naturally, and an overpowering love and gratitude should have overwhelmed us.
            That’s what should have happened.  Did it?  Maybe this little reminder will help.  God expects you to be as hallowed, as sanctified, as His name is.  We always told our boys, “Remember who you are.” 
            All of us need that reminder.
            As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy." And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 1 Peter 1:14-19.
            Now read all those underlined phrases one after the other.  That is the onus that is placed upon you.
 
Dene Ward

My readers under 40 have probably never heard of Jack LaLanne.  I know of him mainly from my childhood.  His story is the stereotypical 98 pound weakling, bullied most of his childhood, who almost overnight becomes the muscle man that many men dream of being.  Even Arnold Schwarzenegger said of him, "This guy is a machine, a real machine."  That might have been after 54 year old LaLanne beat 21 year old Schwarzenegger in a push-up and chin-up contest.
            LaLanne opened the first fitness club in Oakland, California, long before such things were popular.  He had a television exercise show for 34 years.  He became a motivational speaker on exercise and nutrition and was called "the Godfather of Fitness."  Over the years he performed various feats of strength that almost remind you of the Samson stories.  One in particular caught my eye.
            Most know of Alcatraz, the prison on an island in San Francisco Bay.  The prison was long considered unescapable due to the cold water and strong currents in the bay.  But on July 9, 1955, Jack LaLanne made the swim.  [I had to blow up a photo of a newspaper clipping to see the date because all I could find in various texts was the month and year.]  But this wasn't the only time Jack LaLanne made the swim, just the first.  He seemed to need to prove himself again and again.  At the age of 60 he again swam from Alcatraz to Fisherman's Wharf, handcuffed, shackled, and pulling a 1000 lb boat, a distance of 1.23 miles.
            How did he accomplish these things?  He made a religion of it.  He woke at 4:00 AM every morning for two hours of exercise.  He limited himself to two meals a day which included 10 raw vegetables, 8 egg whites, fruit and brown rice.  Period.  He said of his diet, "If it tastes good, spit it out."
            Not only did he treat his regimen like a religion, he spoke of it like one.
            "Billy Graham is for the hereafter.  I'm for the here and now."
            "Jesus…he was out there helping people, right?  Why did he perform those miracles?  To call attention to his profession.  Why do I do these incredible feats?  To call attention to my profession."
            Though his theology sounds a bit skewed and comparing himself to Jesus and his feats with miracles smacks of enormous hubris, he did have a point when he sad, "It's not what you do some of the time that counts.  It's what you do all the time that counts."
            Many of us tend to compartmentalize our Christianity.  That can easily lead to the Sunday morning Christian mentality, acting one way in the meetinghouse and another during the week.  But it also limits what the Bible calls godly service.  I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship (Rom 12:1).  Do I only present my body to God when it sits on a pew?  Or do I do it every day as I follow the principles of the New Testament in my home, in my workplace, and in my neighborhood?  I am supposed to be a Christian every minute of every day.  In this one area, at least, LaLanne was absolutely correct:  you are what you do all the time!
            And then we have the concept of actually working at Christianity "like a religion,"  regimenting my time so I can spend it serving, studying, praying, giving myself the spiritual nutrition and exercise to grow into a stronger and better servant of God.  What if we made sure we spent no less than 2 hours a day on those things?  What did the Hebrew writer say was the problem with those overgrown baby Christians?  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 (Heb 5:12-14).  Am I "trained by constant practice", or just a couple hours a week?  I can tell you that I never had a successful piano student who would not practice, or who only practiced a few minutes right before his lesson!
            Jack LaLanne once said, "I can never die.  That would ruin my image."  Well, he did die on January 23, 2011.  He had pneumonia.  He had been sick a week, but refused to see a doctor.  He also said, "The most important thing in your life is your health and your body."  He was wrong about that one, too.  That man needed the Great Physician more than he knew. 
            Yes, take care of yourself.  A Christian who has the traits of self-control and diligence can live a longer and healthier life in service to his God on the average, but if you leave God out of the mix, you are just delaying an existence that is anything but pleasant.
 
If you put the brethren in mind of these things, you shall be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished in the words of the faith, and of the good doctrine which you have followed until now: but refuse profane and old wives' fables. And exercise yourself unto godliness: for bodily exercise is profitable for a little; but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life which now is, and of that which is to come (1Tim 4:6-8).
 
Dene Ward
Quotes taken from the LA Times and QuoteFancy

Many years ago, I had to travel a thousand miles three different times to have sight-saving surgeries.  The hospital in that city had an arrangement with a nearby hotel that gave discounts to patients who had to stay a week or more.  On our first week-long stay, we found the accommodations nice and the free buffet breakfast above the usual in quality.  The waitress who served us was friendly and attentive.  We talked with her a few minutes nearly every time she stopped by with coffee refills, extra napkins, and other things we needed during the meal.
            The second surgery came six months after the first.  Once again we were there for a week, and surgery was on the agenda.  Our first morning, before we could say anything, the waitress popped out with, "I remember you.  You treated me like a person and talked to me.  Everyone else treats me like furniture."  We were flabbergasted; we really hadn't done anything special.  When we left the hotel restaurant, I left my purse sitting on the floor next to our table.  Back in the room, we discovered what I had done, and called the front desk.  "The waitress is on her way up to your room," we were told.  "She found your purse and asked for your room number."  We had not given her our name, but had mentioned the eye surgery, so that was how she described us and found us.  We opened our door, and sure enough, there she came walking down the hall.  We were not trying to get something out of being nice to someone, but it certainly paid off—all of our travel money was in that purse!
            A few years ago, Keith had to have a fairly serious and complex surgery.  He was in the hospital 5 nights and the surgeon had made arrangements for a private room so I could stay with him as a "medical necessity" to help him communicate due to his profound deafness.  When you don't feel well, the concentration required for lip-reading becomes next to impossible, and one cannot always wear over the ear hearing aids (the strongest ones) while lying in bed due to feedback from the pillow behind your head.  We never thought anything about how we were acting during those five nights and six days.  But on the fourth day, one of the nurses came in to say good-bye.  She would be off the next two days and we would be gone before she got back to work.  "I just want to know where you go to church," she said.  "You two are different."  Once again we were surprised.  Different?  How?  Because we treated the nurses like people, asked about them and their families, and actually said please and thank you.  "You would be surprised," we were told, "how other patients treat us--like personal slaves."
            We still are not sure exactly what we did in those two occasions except this maybe:  we are quick to spout, "Love your neighbor," but sometimes we don't know how to apply the rest of it, "Like yourself."  It's this—you treat them "as" yourself, and what are you?  A person, not a slave, not a robot, not an inconvenience or aggravation—a person, one who has feelings, rights, opinions, families, and the same sorts of problems you do, someone who deserves respect and consideration.  You train yourself to do that in every situation and then when circumstances are difficult, the kindness that has become second nature to you still comes out rather than a quick temper, irritation, ugly comments or name-calling.  You understand that you are part of God's plan to reach the lost and that means that even in a short moment of contact, you show them the love and grace and mercy that God has shown you. 
            I suspect most of you are doing this already. I learned it from my Daddy, who always made a point to know people's names and to ask about them and their lives away from whatever milieu he had found them in.  As this world becomes uglier and people are afraid to even look one another in the eye and smile, remember the Lord's oft repeated command.  Love your neighbor as yourself—as a human being—because that's what you were when someone found you.  You never know what might make a difference in a person's life, or in their hope of salvation.
 
If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it (Jas 2:8-10).
 
Dene Ward

Getting old is the pits or, as is popular to say among my friends, it isn’t for wimps. 
            I remember when I used to run 30 miles a week and exercise another 5 hours besides.  I lifted light weights and did aerobics and the standard floor exercises for abs and glutes and those floppy chicken wings on the back of your arms—triceps, I think they’re called.  I didn’t like the notion of waving hello to the people in front of me and having those things wave goodbye to the people behind me at the same time.
            Now, due to doctor’s orders, I have to limit how much I pick up, how long I bend over, and how much and how strenuous the activity I participate in.  Good-bye slim, svelte body (as much as it ever could be with my genes), and hello floppy chicken wings.  Now I can only do a little and boy, does it show—and hurt!
            I was doing a little step work the other day (very little) when a knife-sharp stab stopped me in my tracks.  Yeow!  What was that?  So I stepped up again and found out immediately—it was something deep inside my knee.  I stopped and thought.
            In all that exercising over the years I have learned at least a little bit about it.  For example, if you change the angle of your body, suddenly you feel the work in a different muscle, sometimes on a completely different part of your body.  When I took that step up, I was using nothing but my knee, a very fragile joint—how many professional athletes have had their careers cut short with a knee injury?  Lifting that much weight over and over and over, even for just the ten minutes I allowed it, was too much for that little joint to bear alone. 
            So I focused on changing the working muscle.  All it took was putting the entire foot on the step instead of just my toes, and pushing up from my heel on each repetition.  Suddenly, the large muscle mass from my legs and up through the small of my back was doing all the work (especially that extra large muscle), and my knee scarcely hurt at all.  Ha!  I finished my allotment of sweating for the day with no pain, and only a mild ache where it really needed to be aching in the first place.
            That’s exactly what happens to us when we try to bear our burdens alone.  All we are is a fragile little knee joint, when what we need is a huge mass of muscle.  Cast your burden on the Lord and he will sustain you, David said in Psa 55:22.  Do you think that strong warrior didn’t need help at times?  But David was greatly distressed…[and he] strengthened himself in the Lord his God, 1 Sam 30:6.  David was not too macho to know when he needed help and where to get it.
            Too many times we try to gain strength from everything but God--money, portfolios, annuities, doctors, self-help programs, counseling, networking, anything as long as we don’t have to confess a reliance on God.  It isn’t weak to depend upon your Almighty Creator—it’s wisdom and good common sense.  The Lord is my helper, I will not fear; what can man do to me? asked the Hebrew writer in 13:6.  Indeed, not only is what man can do to you nothing compared to the Lord’s power, what he can do for you is even less. 
            When life starts stabbing you in the heart with pain, anxiety, and distress shift your focus.  Remember who best can bear the weight of sin and woes, and let Him make that burden easy enough for you to handle.  I still had to use my knees that day, but they certainly felt a lot better than they did before, and even better the next morning.  By yourself, you will do nothing but ruin your career (Eph 4:1) with a knee injury, but you and the Lord can handle anything.
 
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:6-7
 
Dene Ward

In our old place, we had an 80 x 80 garden.  We purposefully planted over a dozen different kinds of seeds and that is the only reason those particular things grew.  But not everything works that way.  We didn’t plant the grass or the dandelions or the oak trees.  We didn’t plant the dollar weed or the stinging nettles or the slash pines.  Yet somehow, whether the wind scattering puff balls or the squirrels burying pine nuts and acorns, or the coats of furry animals grabbing onto burrs and pods as sticky as Velcro and depositing them yards or even miles from the original plants, those seeds were sown.  Planting is not always on purpose.  Sometimes it’s accidental.
            God expects us to plant the seed of the Word, recycling what was put into us.  “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,” Jesus said in Matt 28:20, followed immediately by, “teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you,” the first of which was to “Go make disciples.”  I am afraid we wait for personal evangelism systems to come our way before we even try; not realizing that we plant something every day, sometimes in spite of ourselves. 
            God has expected his people to teach the succeeding generations since the beginning.  Noah preached for 120 years while he built that ark, and achieved nothing, right?  No, he saved his family.  I have known preachers who were so busy preaching and holding personal Bible studies that they completely ignored the prospects in their own homes.  I have known Christians who expected the church to do their work for them, and then wondered what happened when their children fell away.  “Fathers raise your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Eph 6:4), not churches, not Bible class teachers, not even mothers—FATHERS.  That’s where the buck stops with God.
            Churches are taught to pass the gospel along. If we behave ourselves as we ought, even our mere existence “makes known the manifold wisdom of God” to the world (Eph 3:10).  The teaching is internal as well. The older women are to train the younger, and the older men the younger men (Titus 2:2-8).  Preachers are told to train others to preach (2 Tim 2:2).  God expects his people to be farmers, planting the seed year after year, on purpose.  Yet we plant accidentally too.
            You plant it in your children every time they see you make an important decision.  You plant it in them every time they see you study your Bible and pray.  You plant it in them with home Bible studies, with family prayers, and even with your comments as you live your life.  Do they see thanksgiving or griping?  Do they hear love and appreciation of other Christians or backbiting and gossip?
            You plant it in your friends and neighbors when they see you in the car every Sunday morning without fail.  You plant it in them when they see how you handle the trials of life, or even the small nuisances.  You plant it in them when you lend a hand, even unasked.  You plant it in them when you say good things about your church family.  You plant it in them when you invite them to a Bible study or a group service.  What kinds of things do you bother to invite your friends to except the things that matter most to you?  . 
            Even when we think we aren’t, we are always planting.  Even fallow fields do not stay empty.  Grass, weeds, and even volunteer vegetables spring up untended.  “Fallow” doesn’t mean bare, it means unused or idle.  A fallow heart simply doesn’t care what comes up.  Sowing the seed is a little bit like setting an example—you do it whether you intend to or not.  You are planting something with every word and action.  Make sure it’s the gospel.
 
Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. Gal 6:7-9
 
Dene Ward

Now that we have the inside of the house livable—not perfect, but so much better—we have been thinking about the outside. 
             The sod is in bad shape.  In fact, it is the wrong type of grass for the climate here, we were told by a professional landscaper, a brother in Christ.  And the shrubbery was unkempt and in need of a haircut.  The windows were half hidden, and most of the bushes were ragged or wilted from the recent drought, or left to grow in an unwieldy, leggy manner. The drainage put in by the original contractor had been wrecked by the previous owner's irresponsible planting to the point that rainwater stood along the sides of the house or seeped onto the back porch.  Then there is the color, which I have already ranted about in a previous post, so we will let that go this morning!
            So yes, there is a lot left to do, but some of that can wait without causing any harm.  After all, it's the inside that counts, isn't it?  At least, that's what we always say.  Woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, so that the outside may become clean too! Woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs that look beautiful on the outside but inside are full of the bones of the dead and of everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you look righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. (Matt 23:25-28).
            Even though we know that, or at least give lip service to it, I find that sometimes we go overboard just a little on "what something might look like."  Anyone with a smidgen of imagination can come up with terrible things that the most innocent action might "look like."  Let's just say that the men of the church decided to get together and take care of some much needed lawn and building maintenance themselves and save the church the cost of hiring someone else to do it (not that there is anything wrong with that).  About noon, the ladies of the church decide they will do their part by furnishing lunch for these hardworking men, so they show up with several kinds of sandwiches, bowls of potato salad, various sorts of chips, brownies, cookies, and beverages.  After a good meal, the ladies clean up while the men finish the work.  What in the world could possibly be wrong with that?  Good motives, good hearts, good attitudes all around, and saving the Lord's money to boot.
            I will tell you what someone said many decades ago:  "Why, imagine what that looks like!  Anyone driving by would think we were having a church picnic with the money coming out of the treasury.  We shouldn't be doing that!"  And so that person would deny people the opportunity to serve simply because of what it might "look like."  He would spend the Lord's money, money that could have gone to a needy saint or for preaching the gospel.  And all because of "how it might look."
            "How something looks" is not the source of authority for New Testament Christians.  Our source of authority is God's Word.  Period.  Paul regularly scolds those who would make ridiculous arguments and hinder the work and the saving of souls because of it.  If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ…he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people… (1Tim 6:3-6).
            So, as our Lord said, take care of the inside first, then worry about the outside.  Nothing those brothers and sisters did was wrong, but the heart of the one who complained certainly had something amiss to be able to make assumptions about passersby he did not know, and who probably never even noticed what was going on because the building is well off the road. 
           As for me and my new house, that might mean we look like a big cement block for a while longer, but inside, we should still strive to be a home of love, faithfulness, and godliness.  Soon enough, we can work on the outside.
 
I will ponder the way that is blameless. Oh when will you come to me? I will walk with integrity of heart within my house (Ps 101:2).
 
Dene Ward

If you have ever had your home photographed by your realtor, you understand what staging is.  Basically you make it look like no one has ever lived in it.  Everything is neat, in order, and decorated in perfectly unlivable ways.  No dishes on the kitchen counters, no shoes by the door, no bathrobes hanging on the hooks on the bathroom door and certainly no shirts, jackets or baseball caps hanging on the bedposts, no stack of reading next to the comfortable chair, no sweet child's drawing tacked on the refrigerator with a magnet that says, "Help me Lord, the Devil wants me fat!"  The idea is to make the place look so absolutely perfect that it will entice the viewer to buy it. I suppose it works.  At least we got a lot of walk-throughs after our photos went up on the internet.  And we sold in 4 days.  But we never in our lives lived in the house in those photos!
            Unfortunately, we have the same sort of mindset when we step into the meetinghouse on Sunday morning.  We want to look absolutely perfect, all put-together, handling easily the crises of life along with our perfect families.  Do we have any issues?  Is our family actually dysfunctional?  Are we battling sin and failing far too often?  In fact, do we have a closet full of skeletons that we do our best to hide with a smile, nice clothes, and perfectly coiffed hair?  And if we have all those things, why in the world are we trying so hard to keep them hidden?  How will we ever get the help we need?
            When I was growing up, I remember all those perfect looking people.  And I also remember how shocked everyone was when suddenly a marriage fell apart, one of the men had an accident and was charged with DUI, and one of the sons of a "pillar" suddenly stopped coming to church after his high school graduation.  What happened, we wondered.  How could this be?  They looked so perfect!
            And that is what happens when we forget why God made the church and why we are supposed to assemble together.  And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works (Heb 10:24).  Do you recognize that passage?  It comes right before the one we quote all the time: "…not forsaking the assembling…"  That is one of the main reasons for our assembling.  Then we have half a dozen or more in Romans, 1 Corinthians, Ephesians, and Thessalonians, and others I am sure telling us to edify, encourage, exhort, admonish, rebuke, and console.  How can we do those things if we do not share our problems with one another?  And who wants to open up to a person who puts on a perfect looking façade?  It is too depressing to think you might be the only one with real problems, and to wonder what in the world is wrong with you when everyone else looks like a perfectly staged house.
            A well-staged home is not for real living; neither is a Christian putting on a show.  You can never help someone in trouble when you pretend to have your books lined up on the shelf in alphabetical order, potpourri wafting through the air, and a gorgeous apple pie sitting on the kitchen island without a scattering of flour on the floor or a smear of pie filling dripping over on the countertop.  Be humble enough to help your brother or your sister.  Be approachable and easy to talk to, sharing your own failures and problems and the methods that helped or did not help you.  Who are you trying to fool anyway?  God knows exactly what is going on in your life and your home.  Be ready to help others and they just might be ready to help you too.
 
Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ (Gal 6:1-2).
 
Dene Ward

A few years ago Keith bought me a leaf blower for Valentine’s Day.  Yes, ladies, I know what you are thinking, but in this case you are wrong.  We don’t do diamonds.  We don’t do gold.  We don’t even do silver-plate.  We have always had to live so closely that any gift-giving occasion is treated as an excuse to buy what we need anyway.  Just ask the boys about the several Christmases when they got bedspreads, sheets, blinds, and even trash cans for their bedrooms.
            I had been spending hours every week sweeping the carport.  It was either that or spend even more time sweeping the house as the sand was tracked in.  With the blower I could get the job done in about five minutes, especially after I learned to handle the thing.  You never turn it on pointed down, unless you want a face full of sand, and be careful any direction you turn if you don’t want to blow on what you just blew off.  Even Chloe learned to keep her distance the first time I turned it on in her direction and for two days her fur looked like it had been caught in a hurricane blowing in the tail direction.
            Perhaps the most obvious point is to always blow in the direction of the wind.  I have quit trying to wait till the wind isn’t blowing, not out in the country in the middle of a field—I would never get it done.  So I settle for the couple of hours the carport looks nice afterward, and remind myself how awful it would have looked if I had just let the leaves and sand pile up.  But I have learned to test the wind.  It is much easier to blow the leaves the way the wind is blowing them anyway.  Otherwise it’s exactly like paddling upriver.  You can do it, but it takes a whole lot more work.
            I think that may be the best way to judge most decisions you have to make as a Christian—that is, conversely.  If it’s too easy, it’s probably the wrong decision.  If it doesn’t cost you anything, you are probably selling your soul. 
            God has always expected his people to make tough decisions.  By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward, Heb 11:24-26.  Moses chose God instead of wealth and power.
            Joseph chose prison instead of adultery, Gen 39:9.  Ruth chose a life of poverty (she thought) so she could worship God and be a part of his people rather than the comfort of her own culture, Ruth 1:16.  The apostles chose to follow an unpopular route that led to death, instead of staying in good graces with the powers that be and living a normal life.  For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake…we [are held] in disrepute. To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things, 1Cor 4:9-13.
            God’s people have always been challenged with this decision.  “Choose this day whom you will serve,” Joshua demanded of Israel, 24:15.  “How long will you go limping between two opinions?” Elijah asked in 1 Kgs 18:21.  Make a decision, they were saying.  We face the same challenge, and we face it every day. 
            If life has confronted you with a decision, I can almost guarantee you that the hard choice is the right one.  You have to blow against the winds of society, and even worse, the winds of self.  Christianity has never been the easy way out.  Yet, when you set your priorities correctly and think in spiritually mature terms, it’s the only obvious one.
 
I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life that you and your offspring may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days… Deut 30:19-20.
 
Dene Ward

When we moved, we met our next door neighbors on both sides within a short time.  One had hardly uttered a simple greeting before she said, "I won't say anything else, but I am very glad to have new neighbors."  As she came to know us better, she did say more, usually when we did something so completely different from her former neighbor that she was astonished.  And the same happened when we finally met the other neighbor—a cautious welcome soon followed by what can only be described as relief.
            My aim here is not to recount all the things we heard about the former owners of this house, nor to pat ourselves on the back for being better than they.  What came to me first was to wonder what our old neighbors were saying about us to the man who bought our property.  Were they relieved as well?  I hope not.  We tried to be good neighbors despite some serious annoyances at time, looking to smooth out problems rather than exacerbate them.  I hope they remembered that instead of some irritation they felt toward us.  Still, our new neighbors have made it plain that their former neighbor was not a hard act to follow as neighbors go.  Almost anyone, they thought, would be better.
            So perhaps the lesson for today is this:  as neighbors, we should always strive to be a hard act to follow.  When we are gone, people should have nothing to remember but kindness, generosity, consideration, and helpfulness.  Isn't that the neighbor Jesus taught about in Luke 10?  In Gal 1:23 and 1 Thes 1:7,8, Paul says that when you have true faith people cannot help but notice it.  All over the New Testament, that same faith is accompanied by love, peace, righteousness, godliness, and meekness (Gal 5:6; Eph 6:23; 1 Tim 6:11,12).  It stands to reason that, as people of faith, we should be known as good neighbors no matter where we live.
            And so this morning, consider your neighbors and what they probably think of you.  If you had to move tomorrow, would you be a hard act to follow, or would they sigh with great relief?
 
Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law (Rom 13:10).
 
Dene Ward
 

If you "grew up in the church," if you have been a Christian for 20 years or more, you certainly know Hebrews chapter 11.  Some people call it the Faith Hall of Fame, as good a description as any, I suppose.  If I asked you to list the names in that chapter, you probably could.  But even though we are all familiar with it, I am not sure very many of us really understand what it means to our lives.  After all, we aren't great heroes of faith are we?  We certainly ought to be!
           So I have taken a liberty or two—or three, or four—and with your kind indulgence present the following, hoping it will help not only me, but you also.

            By faith the young mother arises to another day of endless chores, sick babies, and not enough time to handle it all, knowing in her heart the importance God has set on her managing her home and teaching her family, and willing to work hard at it even when it seems to present no immediate rewards.
            By faith the father returns to a job he doesn't really like, among people who are godless, immoral, often foul-mouthed and intemperate because he realizes that God has given him a family to support and children to raise.  He won't quit because he doesn't enjoy the work or the boss doesn't treat him right, but will keep on working "as unto the Lord."
            By faith the teenager takes the mean teasing of his so-called friends and still refuses to participate with them in their filthy language, immodest apparel, drinking, drugging, and sexual immorality, valuing his purity as a vessel fit for God's use rather than his own comfort among his peers.
            By faith the single child of God serves even those who constantly pester him about his choices in life, making him feel useless or immature as a Christian, simply because he has not married.  He takes it all with equanimity and grace, accomplishing just as much or more than they do for the God he loves.
            By faith the widow arrives at the meetinghouse on Sunday morning, sits where she has always sat with an empty place next to her, and sings with even more spirit the songs of a loving Savior and the promises he has given us, planning to meet her life's love at the gate where she is sure he is waiting.
            By faith the woman whose husband has forsaken her, who now faces a life of hardship and perhaps even poverty, understands that she still has children to raise, and who, despite a life that has completely fallen apart, a broken heart, and endless, but hidden, tears, raises them to be good citizens, good servants, and even to respect a father who has deserted them because that is what God expects her to do.
            By faith the man who receives a terminal diagnosis faces it with strength because he believes in the hope God has promised, and sees it as his responsibility to set the example for others.
            By faith the couple who lose a child, despite the most horrible pain imaginable, teach their remaining children about a God who loves them and a sibling who will be with them again someday if they will only be as true and faithful as the example their parents are setting before them.
            I will let you supply the names to these people.  I know them all.  Some of them are you.
 
And what shall I more say? for the time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah; of David and Samuel and the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, waxed mighty in war, turned to flight armies of aliens. Women received their dead by a resurrection: and others were tortured, not accepting their deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: and others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, they were tempted, they were slain with the sword: they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves, and the holes of the earth. And these all, having had witness borne to them through their faith, received not the promise, God having provided some better thing concerning us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect. (Heb 11:32-40)
 
Dene Ward