Guest Writer - Dene's Blog

Friends of God

12/31/2014 2 Comments

Today's post is by guest writer Keith Ward.

To have friends, one must be a friend. I have had a little success with this axiom of interpersonal relationships, but I am not a good practitioner. I became more concerned when I considered that Abraham was called the friend of God (James 2:23). How does one act to become known in truth as God’s friend? Developing friends takes time; one must have time to listen, time to help out, time to “be there,” etc. How can one do these things for God?
   On one occasion, Jehoshaphat called Abraham “thy friend” as he prayed for God’s help (2 Chron 20:7). But, of more significance, God himself referred to “Abraham, my friend” (Isa 41:8). Does it not send thrills through your soul to consider the possibility that God might refer to you in that way? Friendship is a two-way street. We can readily understand what God did for Abraham, but find only question marks when we consider what Abraham might have done for God.
   I think I might be described as a good servant of God, but friend? How do I move up to that level?
   Friends do more than obey; friends do more than ask. Abraham talked with God, he did not just make requests.
Abram complained to God because he did not have offspring and God responded with clarification of the Promise and renewal of the covenant. They talked back and forth. When God came down in person to promise Isaac, Abram laughed and proposed that Ishmael be the one (17:22).   Rather than smite him, God reiterated the promise. Abram then expressed his faith by circumcising himself and his house.
   Later, when Sarah laughed, she evidently did not know the guest was God, but by the time Abraham spoke on behalf of Sodom, he knew.   He bargained with God, not as an equal but as one who had the right to so speak plainly. And God honored his pleas, and as a friend, went beyond them to rescue Lot from destruction.
   Yet, Abraham did not presume on his friendship to think he could disobey. When God said, “Go offer,” he went and only the hand of his Friend kept him from fulfilling his obedience. Friends do great deeds for their friends.
   So, today, how do I become a friend of God? Just praying the standard prayers is clearly insufficient. That is just asking/thanking. Where is the exchange that comes with friendship? To love the Lord with all my heart and soul and might involves more than an act of teeth-gritting determination to will it so. Being a friend involves much more than simple obedience. I must like God. More than worship him; more than obey him, God wants me to like him. He is not coming down to man’s level, he is asking me (and you) to step up and to consider him and to like him and be his friend.

Keith Ward

Tabitha/Dorcas/Gazelle

12/15/2014 0 Comments

Today’s post is by guest writer Lucas Ward.

We are introduced to this lady in Acts 9:36. Her name in Aramaic was Tabitha, which translated to Dorcas in the Greek. If we translated it to English, it would be Gazelle--a beautiful name for a woman who shone with spiritual beauty.

Dorcas, described as being full of good works, died, and was mourned greatly. Peter was called, apparently to offer some comfort to the brethren. Instead, he raised her from the dead, and as the story went out, many believed. But there is more to it than just that.

She was full of good works. (Would anyone describe me that way? Even half full?) What type of good works? The mourning widows showed Peter that practically all they wore was given to them by Dorcas. Widows back then were, almost by definition, destitute. There were almost no jobs that a woman could do. A widow was reliant upon the charity of others. So Dorcas, finding people who could not afford to buy decent clothes for themselves, did what she could for them. She bought cloth and sewed garments for these widows and gave it to them so they would have something decent to wear. That reminds me of something. Here it is:

Mat 25:35-40 "For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I WAS NAKED AND YOU CLOTHED ME, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.' "

Tabitha/Dorcas exemplified the qualities that Jesus said He would be looking for on Judgment Day. She literally clothed those who couldn't afford decent clothes. And notice, it wasn't the great preachers or miracle workers who were raised from the dead; it was a quiet lady who did what she could to help those less fortunate than herself.

When we got to this point the other night in Bible Study, I told my class, "Being a Christian is much more than what we do in here [the church building]. In fact, being a Christian has almost nothing to do with what we do in here. Being a Christian is how we live our lives everyday of the week out in the world." When people saw Dorcas/Tabitha on a day-to-day basis, they knew from her actions that she loved and feared God. What do people think when they see me?

I doubt Peter would have bothered raising me from the dead. What about you?

Lucas Ward

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Hell Is Real

11/12/2014 0 Comments

Today’s’ post is by guest writer Helene Smith.

People are going to Hell. Literally. Look around. That guy who sits down the table from you at lunch, the lady behind you in the line at Walmart, that cute family who visited at your church last week, your Aunt Susie, they could all be headed for Hell.

Do I have your attention?

Recently my husband and I read a pair of books by Thom Rainer, Breakout Churches: Discover how to make the Leap and Surprising Insights from the Unchurched and Proven Ways to Reach Them. The books had a lot of startling conclusions. But perhaps the most surprising of all was this - churches that preach a clear doctrine of Hell are churches that are likely to be growing.

I'll take counterintuitive for a 1,000, Alex.

I'd have supposed that itching ears were happy to hear some less Biblically rigorous doctrine. Perhaps they are, but still the churches who are "intolerant" and "exclusive" (notice I did not say harsh or unloving) are the churches that are growing. The survey concluded that if the leaders and the followers in a church don't believe with all their hearts that Jesus provides the one and only way to escape eternal punishment in Hell, the church will be remarkably ineffective in terms of evangelism.

And I think I know why. Churches grow evangelistically (not by sheep rustling- stealing members from the church down the road) when the whole church is involved in telling their friends about Jesus. And that's a high stakes game. When our friend says, "I've got NO life. Not a thing going this weekend! You?" And we say, "I'm going to church, wanna come?" We're really putting ourselves out there. When our friend says, "I just feel like there's something missing." And when we reply, "I used to feel that way too," proceeding to tell them the story of how we became a Christian, we've left our heart naked before them. No one likes being branded, no one likes being rejected. So what on earth is a strong enough motivator to get Joe Christian to step out like that? Why would we pay the cost?

Love.

I know. You thought I was going to say fear, as in a fear of the lake of fire.

But see, if my coworker is going to hell, and I don't love them, I don't care. Seriously, I might be sorry but not sorry enough to stretch out my neck. A good hellfire and brimstone sermon might bring ME to Christ but it is not nearly enough to make me tell someone I couldn't care less about.

But love? Love is a whole different story. Love will keep us up at night. Love makes our stomach hurt. Love makes us say things, hard things, honest things, because we care more about that person's well-being than peace in the relationship.

Moreover, loving God drives us to love people. He fashioned them. They are his spitting image. He DIED so that they could live. When we love him, really love him, when we know how much he loves them, we can't help but love them too. John puts it like this, "for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also."

Churches grow when each and every person sees the world in two categories: redeemed and redeemable. Churches grow when Christians look at their work-a-week coworkers, family members, and friends with Jesus' eyes. They see sheep without a shepherd (Mark 6:33-35), and their hearts are moved by compassion. Churches grow when we believe that hell is real, people are lost, and that if we love them at all we have to tell them so.

Helene Smith

More of Helene’s writings may be found at www.maidservantsofChrist.com

Incomplete Evangelism

11/5/2014 0 Comments

Today’s post is by guest writer Melissa Baker.

The Plan of Salvation. The steps to salvation. The Roman Road. Personal testimony. Are these familiar to you? As people who are already Christians, we memorize these in an attempt to learn to share the gospel with our friends. All churches seem to have one version or another they stick to. When I was a kid, I even had a bracelet with different colored beads to help me remember. While none of these things are wrong, I recently read a book that challenged me to believe that many of these methods of evangelism don't go far enough in letting people know what being a Christian is all about.

In his book The Gospel According to Jesus, John MacArthur explores the way that Jesus evangelized and compares it to modern church evangelism. While I must say that there is a whole host of things I disagree with the author about in this book (he is a staunch Calvinist), he made a strong argument that our simple plans of salvation don't come to the heart of conversion as Jesus taught it: someone who becomes a Christian must acknowledge through their actions the lordship of Christ.

The New Testament is replete with the image of slavery, the idea that a Christian is a slave to Christ. Our culture doesn't like to speak of slavery, most likely because of our relatively recent history with slavery in the Unites States. Many versions of the Bible even omit the word "slave," exchanging it for the more politically correct word "servant." But Mr. MacArthur points out that the Greek work doulos isn't talking about a hired man. "It describes someone lacking personal freedom and personal rights whose very existence is defined by his service to another. It is the sort of slavery in which 'human autonomy is set aside and an alien will takes precedence of one's own.' This is the total, unqualified submission to the control and the directives of a higher authority -- slavery, not merely service at one's own discretion."

Jesus himself is the one who began to use this term, and he never softened its edges (Matthew 10:24-25; Matthew 25:21; Luke 9:57-62). In fact, many times his hard teachings drove would-be followers away because they were unwilling to follow them. The rich young ruler, for example, put his money before Jesus and would not follow Christ if it meant giving up his wealth (Matthew 19:16-22). How many times have we made absolutely sure our Seekers know the cost of following Christ before they make a decision? Jesus told a whole crowd of people exactly what they would have to give up.
Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, "If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'" (Luke 14:25-30)

No simple plan of salvation I've seen has ever contained the enormity of these words, yet Jesus over and over again let people know that he was calling them to a changed life. Not just a life of salvation, but a life of obedience to Him above all else.

There is a man in my life whom I love dearly and pray for every day. Because he intellectually believes everything about Jesus, he thinks his soul is secure. I was understandably concerned because he had not put Christ on in baptism. I thought if he would only do that, then I would be able to sleep at night knowing his salvation is secure. But his refusal to be baptized is a sign of something much deeper. He is unwilling to submit to the Lordship of Christ in any way, and because of the "easy believism" prevalent in the church today, he thinks he is safe. My letter urging him to be baptized should have been a long conversation urging him to become a slave of Christ.

What about you? What do you think of when you think of evangelism? An easy, five step process? A path through the Scriptures? That's the way I used to think about it, but The Gospel According to Jesus has challenged me to share my faith the way Christ, the Author of that faith, did. In turn, I challenge you to do the same.

Melissa Morris Baker
- See more of Melissa’s writings at: http://www.maidservantsofchrist.com/

Everyday People

10/31/2014 0 Comments

Today's post is by guest writer Keith Ward.

Before I retired, often on a cool morning I built a fire of twigs before I left for work to have a few moments, “Just God and me”. I’ve been thinking quite a bit about the ordinary things in Jesus’ life. How many times did he sit around a fire in the evening with the apostles? What did they talk about? It was not all religion, I bet: “Did you see the size of that viper under the bush this afternoon?”

Those desert nights get cold. They might have built more than one fire so that when they bedded down, there would be enough for all of them to be near one. Even when they were near a town, there would be difficulty finding enough rooms for all. Jesus, twelve apostles, up to half a dozen women who ministered to him (probably not all there all the time, but maybe there were others occasionally who were not listed as they were not there often); from the 120 in Acts 1, they selected two that had been with him all the way, and once he sent out seventy in pairs of two, so they had to have journeyed with him some of the time. It was a small army -- never less than thirteen; often more than a hundred. Firewood would be a problem, as would food. Jesus might wake up in the morning to the sound of the women getting the fires re-started and breakfast on. (NO BACON!! No sausage gravy. What would be the point of even having breakfast? )

If Jesus came to me, at my morning fire, what would he say? I have imagined several conversations centered around my perception of my problems and needs. I do wonder, though, if I have faced myself well enough to even be in the ballpark.

Then, I was working in the garden one day and wondered, “Did Jesus garden?” Surely, he must have. Most homes had what our parents called “kitchen gardens.” The wife cared for those, and the young children helped. Think about Jesus pulling weeds, planting seeds, watering. “Mom, I finished, can I go play now?”

He was a carpenter taught by his father. Joseph demonstrated, corrected, helped. Or do you think he formed furniture and houses by fiat?

That first century generation had great difficult seeing that this everyday man was in fact, God. For many generations, we have over-taught deity so that we have difficulty seeing him as a real man.

The reality of this overemphasis is that many dismiss his example and do not try very hard to measure up—after all, he was deity, I cannot do that. The truth is that no one, especially they of Nazareth who knew him best, saw him as being any different than any other child, teen, adult. Obviously, after he was 30, he did miracles, but in no other way was distinguished from any other man in anyone’s eyes.

So, when we read Peter and others urging us to follow his example, to be what he was, to let him live in us, it is possible. He was tempted like we are, He “in like manner” partook of flesh and blood that he might deliver us. We can live like he did because he lived “in like manner” as we do (Heb 2:12). Take hold of the power of that example.

Keith Ward

Jesus' Four Comments During His Trial

10/15/2014 0 Comments

Today’s article is by guest writer, Lucas Ward.

Just as it was prophesied in Isaiah, Jesus didn't speak much during His trial(s). In fact, He never once responded to any of His accusers. Not the false witnesses at the Jewish sham trial, not the Chief Priests before Pilate or the Jews before Herod. In all these cases, He stood mute. His silence enraged the High Priest and astounded Pilate. (Mt. 26:62-63, 27:12-14) In fact, the only times Jesus spoke were in answer to direct questions from the prosecutor/judge in reference to His identity. Even then, His answers weren't what one would normally expect from a defendant. Let's examine each of the four times He spoke and then see what conclusions we can draw.

Mat 26:63-64 "But Jesus remained silent. And the high priest said to him, "I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God." Jesus said to him, "You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven."" Notice that Jesus didn't merely answer in the affirmative, He went beyond that. "Seated at the right hand of Power" can only mean with God and in fact is a claim that He not only was the Christ the son of God, but that he was fully divine and equal to God. Who else could sit with Power? He adds to that statement that they will see Him coming in the clouds of heaven. Throughout the literary prophets, God coming in the clouds signified God coming in judgment to destroy a city or nation. Jesus is saying, not only am I the Christ, I'm God and I'm going to come in judgment on you! Immediately, the Sanhedrin declares that He is worthy of death for blasphemy. (A charge which would have been true had anyone else uttered those words.)

Luk 22:67 ""If you are the Christ, tell us." But he said to them, "If I tell you, you will not believe, and if I ask you, you will not answer. But from now on the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God." So they all said, "Are you the Son of God, then?" And he said to them, "You say that I am."" One of the proofs that this session is separate from those recorded in Matthew and Mark is that the whole line of questioning here is different. There are no false witnesses, and Jesus' answer to their question is a bit different. This is the formal "official" trial, and they need to get His "blasphemy" on record. This time when they ask, He tells them there is no point in answering, because they are too stubborn (and stupid?) to believe. He then continues to say that He will be seated with God and finally confirms that He is the Son of God. They again condemn Him to death.

Mat 27:11 Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" Jesus said, "You have said so." John gives a much fuller account, but this is sufficient. Jesus claims to be a king to the Roman governor.

Joh 19:10-11 "So Pilate said to him, "You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?" Jesus answered him, "You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin."" While there may have been some slight compassion for Pilate on Jesus' part here – after all, Pilate was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, unjust and self-interested as he was -- He seems also to be thumbing His nose at Pilate. He tells Pilate that Pilate's power and authority count for nothing when dealing with Him, that Pilate would have no authority over Him except that God had so arranged it.

Do you see a theme threading through these statements by the Lord? In every case, He said precisely what would enrage His questioners most. Before the Jews, He not only claimed to be the Christ, the son of God, but fully divine Himself and promised that He was coming in judgment upon them. He later repeated most of that while hinting that they were too stubborn to believe the truth. Before Pilate, He claimed to be a king. What was the primary responsibility of the Roman governors? To keep the peace and stamp out insurrections before they could get started. The fastest way to earn a death sentence was to claim to be a king and to gather followers around you. John records that not only did Jesus confirm to Pilate that He was a king, He also said that He had servants who would be willing to fight if He ordered it. While Pilate seems to have considered Jesus a harmless crazy person, this claim would have caused his antennae to twitch. Finally, Jesus tells Pilate that he holds no true power over Him. For a power hungry bureaucrat, this was a serious insult. All of Jesus' answers seem to be designed to upset His judges in the worst way.

Unlike the case for most defendants, victory for Jesus entailed being convicted. His purpose was to be condemned to die. Always the master of what was going on around Him, He said exactly what He needed to in order to ensure that His condemnation came to pass. He wanted to be crucified and made sure that it happened, because that was the only way He could save us.

Lucas Ward

Seven Things Not to Say to a Missionary

10/10/2014 0 Comments

Today’s post is by guest writer Helene Smith, who has been a missionary’s wife in Asia for several years.

Over the years I have had the pleasure of knowing lots and lots of people, young and old, single and married, male and female who are or have been missionaries. When their hair was down and they were talking shop, they talked about you, the folks at home. Sometimes they talked so gratefully about the cards you sent, the love you showed, the hospitality and kindness you showered them with while they were in America. But other times they talked to me frankly about things that people say, things that were often meant in the kindest spirit but that nonetheless frustrated or hurt them. So on their behalf, I'd like to share these statements with you so you have a chance to encourage them better.

7. When are you coming home?

This was mentioned many times. Each missionary understood that the speakers were trying to say that they were loved and missed. Yet what they longed for was encouragement. Where were the cheerleaders? Who could understand that in many ways they were making a new home?

6. When are you going to come back to your real life?

The missionaries I spoke to were baffled by this question. They lived for months, years, decades in their host countries. They married, had children, and made friends they'd never forget. They had worked, sometimes two jobs, a secular one and a religious one. They had taught Bible classes, hosted one on one Bible studies, prayed, cried and rejoiced. It hurt to have others minimize their "real life."

5. How can you take your kids into... situation?

There's no good answer to this question. The missionary who mentioned this told me that he met with a lot of ignorance, but informing people about the realistic dangers in his host country didn't help. Every missionary parent has the same concerns about their kids that you do about yours. Every missionary parent entrusts them into God's hands just like you do. If you're genuinely curious, ask genuinely; it won't be hurtful. But if you're thinking, "I don't care what God wants, I wouldn't do that to MY kids," don't say it out loud and discourage others!

4. I could never do what you're doing. Never.

This statement, the missionaries I interviewed told me, came from one of two kinds of hearts. Sometimes the speaker thought he was talking to a super-Christian. However missionaries are ordinary Christians called to an unusual lifestyle. They don't think of themselves as any different from you, spiritually speaking. No matter how flattering, life on a pedestal is life separated from your fellowship. The other people who say this sentence seem to fear the idea of going abroad (especially to a dangerous or underdeveloped country). They really DO think that they couldn't do it.

3. We have lost people here too. I don't know why you have to go all the way to...

Once again there's no good answer. I talked with missionaries who tried to explain exactly why they felt that they were being called by God, missionaries who tried to explain the statistics and the weight of people who would die without the opportunity to hear the name of Jesus, missionaries who tried to talk about the great commission and how they were trying to fulfill it. However, it seems none of the answers was particularly successful. Each missionary felt frustrated because they couldn't communicate the power and burden of their call. While the people in America had Bibles, local churches and people just like the one asking the questions, the people in their host country might have no chance to hear the gospel if the missionary didn't go.

2. When are you going to get a real job?

See number 6. Being a full time missionary is a real job. Missionaries are responsible to two congregations not one. They have administrative, teaching, studying, evangelistic and other duties. It's a real job.

1. Well over there...

Whether its true or not, no one likes to hear criticism of a place or a people they love. Finding reasons to complain about their host country's politics, policies, economics, crime or culture is likely to upset them. Although they may well agree with you about the problem, as they identify more and more with their host culture it hurts to hear outsiders comment negatively. It's like hearing a stranger say something bad about your child. You can say what you like, you're his or her mom but when a stranger does, it hurts! If you want to talk about it, ask what they think instead of repeating what the talking heads on TV said.

I'm not suggesting that you should start treating your missionary with kid gloves. Just take a minute and think about how your comments sound. Make sure that you tell them that you're proud of them, acknowledge that they have a tough but blessed job, and find out what they'd like to be prayed for. And I can't emphasize enough, ask. Missionaries home on furlough often would like to tell about their host home but feel that they are boring others. They'd love to share their victories, terrors and defeats; they'd love to tell you what they've learned. They'd love to encourage and be encouraged by you.

Helene Smith

See more of Helene’s writings at www.maidservantsofChrist.com

Compassion

9/29/2014 2 Comments

Today’s post is by guest writer Keith Ward.

“In other words, compassion in ministry is not so much the characteristic of a certain type of personality, as the characteristic of the person with a certain set of priorities.” D. A Carson in Jesus’ Confrontation with the World.

This is true, not because a scholar said it, but because it summarizes the Bible truth on the subject (1 Pet 3:8, 1 Jn 3:17).

A number of conclusions/observations follow:

First, if I am not compassionate, it is not because I was born that way or “just the way I am.” It is because I choose to not have the proper priorities in my thinking about others.

Next, Jesus’ compassion on the woman at the well illustrates. He was hungry, tired. He saw her need and was so energized by helping her that the Twelve were amazed and he said, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” The apostles learned a compassionate heart in three to five years. Think on that the next time a class teacher says they were slow to understand. I have walked with Jesus about 50 years and find myself somewhat short of where I need to be in this regard. How about you?

We do not need a personality transplant. We need to re-set our priorities. A lot less than 5% of the NewTestament concerns the worship and work of the church. Yet we spend most of our time and energy as Christians there! Jesus’ compassion flowed when among the people: sinners, workers, crowds, the infirm. WE NEED to get out of the building.

Peter summarized Jesus’ life, “He went about doing good.”

Certainly, Sunday worship must be right, by the pattern. But Christianity is the life everyday and must be marked by doing good for those who do not deserve it just as we did not deserve God’s goodness.

Our priorities fuel our compassion…or lack thereof. When much of our energy, time, and conversation concerns house, health, career, the kids’ ball schedule, and social engagements, even if we are engrossed with teaching a wowser of a Bible class in order to impress folks with our ability, compassion is a sometime thing. When our priority is people: to show kindness, to help, to listen, to reprove the works of darkness, to shine a light to guide; when we commit each day to greet each person with the love of God which was shed in our hearts, then compassion flows naturally as it did from our Lord and example.

What is your priority?

Whose end is perdition, whose god is the belly, and [whose] glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things. (Phil 3:19)

Put on therefore, as God's elect, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, longsuffering; (Col 3:12)

Keith Ward

Faith in God If...

8/29/2014 0 Comments

Today's post is by guest writer Keith Ward.

Sometimes we tell more than we intend about our (low) level of spirituality. “I could not believe in a God who…….” Less obviously, many seem to place their faith in a God who answers their prayers the way they imagine a God who is love must answer. My fear for them is that if their answer does not come, not only will their lives be devastated, their faith in God will be shattered.

“Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him for righteousness.” He did not believe a theology of facts or logic. He believed God. When God said, “Offer Isaac,” he did not reason that God could not mean that because the promise was through Isaac. He did not whine that God was asking too much and it was too hard. He did not bargain that if God would raise him, he would. He simply went to the place and offered Isaac.

God said, “Now I know that you fear God.” Paul comments, “Before HIM whom he believed.” Abraham’s faith was in God. No attached stipulations, no ifs.

We may never have such a crisis, but when you look into the muzzle flashes, or fear the loss of a loved one, or fear the sightless darkness, do you believe in God or in God-if-he-fixes-the-problem?

UNCONDITIONAL FAITH: Less often achieved than claimed.

For I know him whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to guard that which I have committed unto him against that day 2 Tim 1:12

Keith Ward

Exercise!

8/18/2014 0 Comments

Today's post is by guest writer Lucas Ward.

We are all familiar with Paul's statement concerning his conscience in Acts 23:1 "Brethren, I have lived before God in all good conscience until this day." Usually we discuss whether he was being literal, if he included his pre-Christian life, and what this means, but I recently discovered that this is not the only time Paul mentions his conscience. (How many times have I read Acts and I'm just now noticing this?) In Acts 24:14-15 Paul says, "having hope toward God, which these also themselves look for, that there shall be a resurrection both of the just and unjust. Herein I also exercise myself to have a conscience void of offence toward God and men always." Note here that Paul says that he had to exercise himself to keep his conscience "void of offence". His lifelong good conscience did not just happen.

I've gained quite a bit of weight over the last few years. Now that I’m back in school I find it really hard to come close to replacing 50+ hours a week on my feet, moving quickly around, unloading trucks, storing freight and stocking cases. Add to that being on the wrong side of 35 and I'm roughly 40 pounds heavier. I've recently begun, again, to try to get back into exercising regularly and being more reasonable in my diet. You know what? Exercising is hard. I'm riding my bike a lot and walking on the beach -- and walking on that loose sand for any distance is very good exercise -- and I get really hot and sweaty. My muscles cramp and my lungs burn. I'm spent when I get done. But that's what exercise is! As soon as we get into good enough shape that those symptoms stop, we've got to up the resistance/distance/time until the symptoms return if we want results.

Exercise is hard. And this is precisely the word Paul uses to describe his efforts to keep his conscience clean. Exercise. Keeping his conscience clean wasn't easy. He faced the same types of temptation that we so often fall to and yet Paul kept his conscience clean. How? He worked at it. He didn't just give in whenever the temptations got very, very tempting. He exercised himself to keep that clear conscience. And I'm sure that sometimes, in a spiritual way, the sweat ran into his eyes, his muscles were cramping and his lungs were burning. But just like I feel like the effort of exercising is worth it when I notice my wind coming back and my energy levels up (and my weight down), I'm sure Paul thought all the effort to stay pure was worth it when he could say that he had "lived before God in all good conscience".

Make no mistake, though, it is hard work. Besides exercise, Paul describes his efforts at self control as "press[ing] on" (Phil. 3:14) and "buffet[ing] my body, daily" (1 Cor. 9:27). It is work. It isn't easy. But we can have clean consciences too. Paul was just a man, no different from you or me. He kept his conscience clean through hard work. I can too. I just have to care as much about the conditioning of my spiritual self as I do the conditioning of my physical body.

Lucas Ward

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