Walking Around in Whitewashed Tombs

Picture a friend inviting you over to her house for dinner, promising a sumptuous meal. Upon arrival, she directs you into the backyard and points to an old garbage can.

 

“Dinner’s in there, take as much as you want,” she says. “Oh, don’t worry. We hammered out some dents and put a fresh coat of paint on the outside. Almost as good as new!”

 

How would you respond? Would you have trouble suppressing your gag reflex? Would you suddenly announce a fast-food restaurant is calling your name? You’d probably think your friend was out of her mind, right? The outside of the garbage can might look shiny and clean, but who knows what’s been inside the thing?

Interestingly, Jesus Christ used a similiar metaphor in dealing with some of the high and mighty, holier than thou religious leaders of His day. Jesus didn’t mince words. He called things as He saw them. He wasn’t angling to become a prime example for the classic book Dale Carnegie would someday write, How to Win Friends and Influence People.

 

On one particular occasion, Jesus expressed how fed up He was with the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and Sadducees, men who commanded – and demanded – reverence whenever they showed up. Several times in Matthew 23, the Lord decried how outward appearances could disguise spiritual filth lurking inside.

 

Can you imagine being there as He rebuked them, opening with, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!...” This certainly got their attention, but not in a good way. But just in case, Jesus switched His terminology: “Woe to you, blind guides!... You snakes! You brood of vipers” (Matthew 23:13-33). How would you react if someone spoke to you that way?

 

While He didn’t refer directly to a garbage can, Jesus’ message clearly conveyed the same idea: He called out these esteemed pillars of the community, labeling them as, “whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness” (Matthew 23:27-28).

 

Tough words, no doubt. But let’s take a step back: Have you ever been to a cemetery where the remains of some of the deceased had been placed in tombs or mausoleums? These might be proud architectural structures outwardly, but we can imagine the decay that was going on inside. The mere thought of it grosses us out, but Jesus had no intention of sugarcoating His rebuke.

 

He closed by extending the metaphor, declaring, “…you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean” (Matthew 23:25-26).

 

If we’ve read much of the New Testament at all, we’ve probably come to regard the Pharisees as the bad guys, the uptight legalists who were quick to judge everyone but themselves. So, how does that relate to us – or to people we know?

 

We probably don’t have to think too hard, because we’ve all encountered folks who would fit these descriptions. Individuals skilled at putting on the very best of outward appearances, ones we’ve learned from experience and observation that are very different on the inside.

 

Certain groups of people might quickly come to mind – entertainers, celebrities, politicians, even religious leaders today – who could be found guilty of such hypocrisy. Shame on them, right? Unfortunately, doesn’t this also describe each one of us, at least part of the time?

 

I’d like to think I’m the most caring, compassionate person around. And at times I’ve probably appeared that way. But I regret to admit that many times I’m not. I’d like to consider myself as “Christlike,” but my family and friends could tell you of times I’ve not been like Christ at all.

 

Some people excuse they’re reluctance to become part of a church family because, “The place is filled with hypocrites!” That’s true, but that just means they’d fit right in. Hypocrisy seems embedded into our human fabric.

 

But there’s good news! We might struggle with hypocrisy, at least at times, But Jesus offers the remedy, and it’s available to anyone and everyone willing to accept it. As pastor J.D. Greear stated recently, “Christianity is not turning over a new leaf; it’s the power of a new life. It’s not a resolve to live better but a resurrection to life in Christ.”

 

He probably had 2 Corinthians 5:17 in mind, which says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

Instead of walking around like old garbage cans disguised with a fresh coat of paint, in Christ we can become “new creations.” We can put our old selves – our sinful behavior and tendencies – behind us and living life as God intended through the power of Christ and His indwelling Spirit. Sounds better than being “whitewashed tombs,” doesn’t it? 

Key to Spiritual Success – Know Your Job Description

Anyone who’s spent any time at all in the business and professional world is familiar with a document called the “job description.” It’s for both employer and employee, recording in written form the duties, responsibilities and expectations involved with a particular job. It enables them both to be on the same page – in a literal way – for understanding what the employee’s expected to do and how it’s to be done.

I remember years ago, upon being hired by CBMC, reading with delight that my job description included editing the ministry’s magazine and co-authoring a book with the president at the time. Until then I’d never written a magazine article; writing a book had long been one of my personal goals. So, I couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity or a more wonderful challenge. The subsequent 20 years with CBMC and its sister ministry, CBMC International, exceeded my greatest hopes.

 

However, job descriptions aren’t fail-safe. When supervisor and worker misconnect on what the job’s about, problems can arise – even serious ones. I remember the head of a different organization once describing the time he got sideways with an employee, simply because he and she weren’t in accord on what was expected.

 

One day, the supervisor decided he’d had enough. Very dissatisfied with the work the employee was doing, he called her in and prepared to gently convey the bad news that her services would no longer be required. 

 

To soften the blow, he asked, “How do you like your job?” “Oh, I love it!” she replied enthusiastically. “Really?” he reacted, barely concealing his puzzlement. “Well, tell me how you think you’re doing.” With gusto the employee responded not only by stating how well she was doing but also proceeding to describe in detail the tasks she was performing.

 

For a few moments the supervisor sat in stunned silence. Then he realized this employee was doing a very good job – except not with the work he’d been expecting her to do. The problem wasn’t the job description, but his failure at the onset to ensure they were both in agreement about what was expected.

 

The meeting didn’t end with him firing her. Instead, he felt a need to commend her – and give her a pay increase – along with a thorough review of the job he was expecting her to perform. This was what they call a failure to communicate.

 

Did you know that, if you’re a follower of Jesus Christ, you have a job description?

 

This “job description” has many facets. We find them throughout the Scriptures, although Jesus encapsulated them neatly in Matthew 22:34-39. Responding to a group of religious leaders who cagily asked Him to identify “which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus’ reply was simple: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

 

These two indeed sum up God’s expectations for us, His “job description” for everyone who follows Him. But the question might arise, “How do I do that?” The “how-to” unfolds as we read the Bible. For instance, as the apostle Paul declared in Acts 17:28, “For in him we live and move and have our being.” From the moment we awaken in the morning to the moment we return to bed at night, our heart’s desire should be to experience His life and presence – and to reflect it to everyone we meet during the course of the day.

 

On many occasions, Jesus instructed His disciples to “preach the gospel,” but He wasn’t referring to words alone. We see this emphasized in His final “commission,” recounted in Matthew 28:19-20, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations…teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” Jesus wanted His disciples to reproduce spiritually, to make other disciples who also would make disciples, folks who would live and breathe – and yes, communicate – the reality of who He is and what He can do in the lives of those who trust in Him by faith.

 

We could point to many other passages for help in understanding our “job,” what the Lord expects of us. But one Old Testament verse in particular conveys God’s central requirement for His chosen people.

 

In Micah 6:8 we’re told, “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

 

That’s it. If someone were to ask, “What does God require of you?” we could rightly answer, “To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with my God.” Direct and profound, and yet an assignment that takes a lifetime to fulfill.

 

Micah the prophet was responding to a challenge when the people of Israel were pointing proudly to their elaborate and extensive religious practices and traditions, things like burnt offerings and animal sacrifices. Surely those were sufficient to make them acceptable in God’s sight, they reasoned. But Micah reacted with, “Not so fast, folks!”

 

As one commentator, Dr. John MacArthur, has explained, “Spiritual blindness had led them to offer everything except the one thing [God] wanted – a spiritual commitment of the heart from which right behavior would ensue.” We find the same sentiment in Proverbs 21:3, which states, “To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.”

Justice. Mercy. Humility. Volumes and volumes have been written about each of those words. They’re simple, yet life-changing for those willing to understand and pursue them seriously. If God were to ask you, how would you write your “job description”? 

Quit Reminding Yourself Not to Forget

Years ago, I enrolled in a brief but intensive course on time management. The term itself is a bit of an oxymoron because we really can’t “manage” time. All we can do is strive to utilize our minutes and hours effectively and productively, not to squander them. But what I remember most from those two days was a commonsense recommendation.

 

What was the recommendation? Simply, it was to write things down so you won’t forget them. The instructor cited a study that indicated much of our mental energy is expended trying to remind ourselves not to forget something. 

 

Whether it’s an appointment, an errand we need to run, an item we’ll need to get at the grocery store, or in my case, an idea for an article or book I’m working on, write it down. The sooner, the better. Then we won’t need to worry about our memory failing us. “Now what was that I wanted to be sure not to forget?”

 

I’ve lost count of the times I’ve awakened in the middle of the night with an intriguing idea rattling around in my mind. “I’ll have to write that down in the morning.” But when the next morning comes it’s gone, perhaps lost forever in the graveyard for great ideas that were forgotten. Now, if I wake up with “the best idea since sliced bread,” even though it’s a bit of a nuisance I get out of bed and write it down on a notepad. Then I can return to sleep, unencumbered by, “Remember, don’t forget….”

 

I’ve found this a valuable strategy for spiritual growth as well. When I hear a particularly memorable concept during a sermon or a speaker offers a clever insight during a conference, I write those things down immediately. Someone once said something about how physically recording what we hear reinforces the impact of the concept: “From the lips, into the ears, and out through the fingertips.” 

 

Otherwise, I might find myself perplexed trying to recall whatever it was I thought was so significant at that moment. Without jotting it down with my pen, it’s in one ear and out the other.

 

This is one reason we have the Scriptures compiled as they are today. Early Jewish tradition was to pass important ideas along orally, but by writing them down they could be recorded with exactitude – as well as more easily remembered. In 2 Peter 1:20-21 we read, “Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of men, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

 

The ancient yet timeless prophetic words we find in the Bible weren’t only spoken and then written to be read by the prophets’ peers but also for countless generations to follow. We have thoughts, reflections, and observations about Jesus Christ that His disciples witnessed firsthand. They spoke these wherever they went, but apostles like Matthew, John and Paul also put them in writing to be preserved for posterity.

 

Writing down what we’re trying to remember is also helpful in memorizing Bible verses. I’ve had many people tell me, “I can’t memorize things,” but in fact they do – stuff like phone numbers, addresses and other information important to them. Probably because they initially wrote them down. When I’ve been attempting to memorize a passage of Scripture, especially a long or difficult one, writing it down has greatly enhanced the process. 

 

Studies of communications have shown that the more senses involved in conveying a message, the greater the likelihood that it will be received successfully. For instance, when we hear someone say something of note, if we physically write it down and then look at it, we’re involving three senses – hearing, sight and touch.

 

I think of this when I read passages like Psalm 119:9-11, “How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to Your word…. I have hidden Your word in my heart that I might not sin against You.” And there’s no better way to “hide” the Word of God in our hearts than not only to hear it, read it and intentionally try to commit to memory, but also to write it down so we can see it and create a mental image of the truths we desire to possess.

When we write down what we don’t want to forget, all we need to remember is to look at what we wrote. 

Did You Know God Wants Us to Love Him?

Do you own a pet? I’ve never been a fan of cats, in part because of their aloofness. Too independent. You arrive home and their response largely depends upon their mood at the time. Dogs are different. You walk in the door and they’re right there, tails wagging, sometimes barking, jumping up and down. Your own personal canine welcoming committee.

 

Some “experts” claim dogs don’t feel true love, at least as we humans understand it. But you could fool me. The dogs I’ve had communicated lots of love, not only in their “So glad you’re home!” greetings but also their eagerness to sit by your side or on your lap. (That’s why I’ve been partial to small dogs. With large dogs, there’s not enough lap for the dog.)

 

It’s been a few years since we had a dog, but it was always nice to have them demonstrate their affection, no matter how long we had been gone and no matter how bad our day had been otherwise. It’s nice to be loved, isn’t it? Nothing wrong with that.

In a far more profound sense, the love of a child for its mother or father is amazing. When babies are born, the first few days they struggle to focus but once they can, their eyes latch onto another pair of eyes – usually those of mom or dad. Then the parent eagerly awaits the moment of the first smile, the instinctive recognition by the infant of “That’s my Mommy!” or “That’s my Daddy!”

 

It’s been a long time since our children were little, but it still thrills me when we’re babysitting our younger grandkids and their mom or dad comes home. The kiddos rush to the door with delighted cries of “Mommy!” or “Daddy!” with arms outstretched for a hug. Their parents return the inevitable smiles, reveling in the spontaneous welcome. It’s nice to feel loved, right?

 

Have you ever considered that God wants us to love Him in a similar way? The Scriptures are replete with expressions of His love for His children. Probably the best-known is John 3:16, “For God so loved that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” 

 

However, the concept of God’s love for His children didn’t start with the birth of Christ. It also was a key Old Testament truth. The prophet Jeremiah wrote, “The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness’” (Jeremiah 31:3).

 

Recounting how God delivered the Israelites from bondage in Egypt, Moses spoke numerous times about God’s love. Here are two examples: “Because He loved your forefathers and chose their descendants after them, He brought you out of Egypt by His Presence and His great strength” (Deuteronomy 4:37). And similarly, “…because the LORD loved you and kept the oath He swore to your fathers, He brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt” (Deuteronomy 7:8).

 

Jesus Christ affirmed the depth of God’s love for His children when He said, “Greater love has no one that this, that a person will lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). This is exactly what Jesus, God incarnate, did for us on the cross, dying in our place and paying the incomprehensible price for our sins.  

 

However, what about God’s desire to receive our love? Jesus addressed this as well, quoting Deuteronomy 6:4, when He said the greatest commandment is, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30). 

 

Of course, He doesn’t want our love expressed out of grudging obedience. But if we take even a few moments to seriously consider all that the Lord has done for us – not only on the cross and, through His resurrection, promising us eternal life, but also the blessings He bestows on us every single day, how can we not give Him our love and gratitude in return?

 

The apostle Paul referred to this when he wrote, “If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For Christ’s love compels us, because…He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again” (2 Corinthians 5:13-15).

 

Okay, if we accept that God desires to receive our love just as He freely gives His love to us, what does that look like? Much could be said about that, but we find simple guidelines in both the Old and New Testaments. 

Deuteronomy 30:19-20 admonishes, “Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to His voice, and hold fast to Him.” The apostle John stated it this way: “This is love for God: to obey His commands. And His commands are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3).

A parent demonstrates love for a child not only through words but also through actions. Love for one’s spouse is expressed in the same way. In like manner, our love for God is to be shown by both our words and our deeds. If we truly understand what He has done for us, that shouldn’t be hard to do. 

Truly, Truly I Say to You: The Bible Is True

If you’re a parent, you probably know the drill. You ask your child to do something, but he or she pays no heed. They seem to have become hard of hearing. Or your child is engaged in unacceptable behavior, and you want their attention immediately. What do you typically do? 

You might figuratively pull out their birth certificate and with a loud voice, recite their complete given name: “Joseph Thomas Smith!” or “Heather Elizabeth Williams!” During non-stressful moments they answer to “Joe” or “Beth,” but when they hear their full name, ears perk up because they know you’re saying, “Hey, listen up. Right now!”

 

In especially teachable moments, Jesus Christ utilized a similar strategy. Except His go-to phrase was, “Truly, truly I say to you….” If you’re most accustomed to the original King James Version wording, it reads, “Verily, verily….” Some modern translations put it this way: “I tell you the truth….” Whichever way you prefer, Jesus was emphasizing the veracity of what He was about to say.

 

Not to suggest that He wasn’t speaking truthfully at other times, because the One who declared, “I am the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6) always spoke the truth. But there were times when Jesus wanted to be certain His hearers were paying close attention, that they knew what He was preparing to say was crucial.

 

This particularly occurs in the gospel of John. One example concerns when Nicodemus, a Pharisee, came to Jesus at night to ask some very pressing questions. Pastor J.D. Greear refers to this visitation as “Nic at Nite.” Jesus had the religious leader’s full attention right away when He said, “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again” (John 3:3).

 

We can imagine Nicodemus’s jaw dropping before he responded, “How can a man be born when he is old? Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!” To which Jesus replied, again with emphasis, “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit” (John 3:4-5).

 

Several other times during the evening conversation, Jesus began His statements with “Truly, truly” to assure the inquiring Pharisee that He was speaking in utmost seriousness, making assertions that were certain to shake him to his ecclesiastical core.

 

However, it wasn’t with Nicodemus only that the Lord found it necessary to be so emphatic. Earlier, the first time He encountered Nathanael, who would become one of His followers, the skeptic-turned-believer had said, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.” To which Jesus replied, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that. Truly, truly (I tell you the truth), you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man” (John 1:49-51). As if to say to Nathanael, “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”

 

In the gospel’s fifth chapter, Jesus again was interacting with religious leaders who challenged His credentials to say what He was saying and to perform the miracles He was doing. Jesus’ response was, “Truly, truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; He can do only what He sees His father doing…whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned” (John 5:19,24). 

 

Jesus Christ used this phrase repeatedly, His way of putting a stamp of authenticity on His declarations, many of which astounded His hearers. To those who, like Pontius Pilate, would ask, “What is truth?” (John 18:38), Jesus stalwartly stood, stared straight at them and declared, “I am Truth.”

 

These days, everyone seems eager to espouse “my truth,” but few are actively and openly seeking The Truth. The greatest source for this, I’m convinced, is the Bible. As it asserts in 2 Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.” 

 

And to those who would argue the Scriptures are at best archaic and irrelevant for today, we have this rebuttal from Hebrews 4:12, “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and matter; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

 

I think Jesus would plainly state to us today, “Truly, truly, I say to you – the Bible is true!”

What to Do with Eternity in Our Hearts

I’m old enough to remember the haunting tune sung by Peggy Lee, “Is That All There Is?” Numerous times over the years I’ve heard successful businessmen refer to it in describing their climbs up the corporate ladder and discovering how unfulfilling that had been for them.

 

But we don’t have to be in the business or professional world to occasionally have similar thoughts. We get married, filled with dreams of happily ever after and then, when the honeymoon glow has long faded, we might begin to wonder, “Is that all there is?” Sooner or later, idyllic imaginings about the joys of parenthood are similarly dashed when we suddenly realize that our children aren’t perfect – and as parents, neither are we. “Is that all there is?”

 

I’m sure there are many athletes and actors, once their aspirations for fame and fortune have been fully realized, have reached the “Is that all there is?” stage. Reports of alcoholism, drug abuse, divorce and suicide give us clues that the so-called “good life” isn’t necessarily as good as it’s hyped up to be.

 

The question takes on even more profound meaning when we start to recognize the brevity of life. In our younger days, we seem convinced we’ll live forever. That’s why many young people take an approach to life that’s both carefree and careless. Feelings of invincibility can do that. But then we start to see lives of loved ones and friends coming to an end. “Forever” has an expiration date.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The timeless, eternal God, who has no beginning and no end, desires for our grip on this life to be a loose one. In the Scriptures we read, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end” (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

 

It says the Lord has “set eternity in our hearts,” a deep-down sense that as we appraise our existence on earth and wonder, “Is that all there is?” we have the assurance that no, it’s not. There’s more to come.

 

Years ago, I interacted quite a bit with a hardened atheist – unsuccessfully, I must admit. In his words, after this life has reached its inevitable conclusion, “all we are is dust in the wind.” A refrain from a different song – sung by Kansas, not Peggy Lee.

 

The skeptic I talked with certainly wasn’t the only person to hold those sentiments. But even a child knows, “Eternity is a REALLY long time,” making our temporal lives less than a blip on the screen. This being the case, even the most productive life doesn’t amount to much. That is, unless there’s indeed hope for life beyond the one we’ve come to know and love.

 

Earthly life and eternal life. These make up a recurring theme in both the Old and New Testaments. They’re such pressing concerns that in his first letter, John the apostle wrote these encouraging words to believers in the first century: 

“And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son does not have life.” Then John added the clincher: “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God [Jesus Christ] so that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:11-13).

 

How important is it that we can know for certain that we have eternal life? If you’ve ever walked past or driven by a cemetery, it’s a solemn reminder that as Ecclesiastes 3:2 states it, there’s “a time to be born and a time to die.” Is that all there is, living out whatever time we’re allotted and then coming to an absolute dead end, whether it be a grave, tomb, mausoleum or crematorium? 

 

There’s not much that can top the hope and confidence that for those of us who are followers of Jesus Christ, when we draw our final earthly breath then, to quote yet another popular song, “We’ve only just begun to live.” (Thank you, Karen Carpenter, for that lovely thought.)

 

But what can knowledge that we have eternal life do for us, other than assure that our existence won’t dissipate like steam coming out of a teapot? It can give us meaning and a sense of purpose, far beyond our strivings for a promotion and pay raise at work, a better golf score, or any of the many other things – tangible and intangible – that tend to occupy our time and attention. Because all of those will be forgotten eventually, perhaps sooner than we think.

 

During His “sermon on the mount,” Jesus gave a description of the impact having eternity in our hearts can make: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Matthew 6:19-20).

We’ve often heard it said, “You can’t take it with you,” but as Jesus promised, we can send it on ahead. 

Prayer: Not Only for Crisis Management

Players and coaches kneel in prayer for their injured teammate.

Last week sports fans across the nation hit their collective pause button as they watched emergency personnel frantically working on Damar Hamlin, an athlete seriously injured in an NFL game. Stunned commentators could only manage words like “scary” and “chilling” and “frightening” as they observed EMTs and physicians on the field attending to the stricken Buffalo Bills defensive back.

Most of the time in football when a player’s hurt, timeout is called, the telecast goes to commercial, and then the game comes back on and play resumes. The injured player has either walked off the field under his own power, been assisted by trainers or teammates, or taken by golf cart to the locker room for treatment. Not this time.

 

When any athlete at any level suffers injury, an ambulance isn’t expected to be driven onto the field. Especially not to remain for a prolonged time. So, the scene was at once surreal, chilling, and scary. Football players and coaches, engaged in a sport some regard as the modern equivalent of the ancient gladiators, weren’t looking mean and tough. Many were in tears, hugging and consoling one another, and kneeling in solemn and silent prayer for Hamlin.

 

This unaccustomed scene was distressing, and we do continue to pray for Hamlin’s recovery. In one respect, however, what we saw was also heartening. For the last few of years, football players and other pro athletes had taken part in the controversial “taking a knee” to protest perceived injustices in our country. This time, those kneeling weren’t protesting – they were praying.

 

There’s something about major crises, especially ones of a life-and-death nature, that motivates people to pray. Just as they say, “there are no atheists in foxholes,” times of crisis have a way of dismissing atheistic thoughts, if only temporarily. When all else fails, pray.

 

Even the game commentators, struggling to find words, spoke repeatedly about praying for the young man and his family. Whether they did so from faith conviction or not didn’t matter. They were tacitly acknowledging that in moments when all seems beyond our control, we hope and want to believe Someone greater than us indeed is in control and fully capable of doing what we cannot.

 

The following morning one commentator, Dan Orlovsky, a former pro football player himself, went beyond the “thoughts and prayers” for Hamlin. He actually bowed his head, closed his eyes and prayed aloud as his colleagues listened on with reverent respect. Subsequent social media posts gave him kudos almost unanimously.

 

I think back to the “flare prayers” I offered up during my college days, when I faced comparatively minor crises that seemed overpowering. I suddenly became devout when a difficult exam was looming or my personal life wasn’t progressing to my liking. Those prayers – feeble as they were – got answered, often in better ways than I could have dreamed.

 

We’re to pray earnestly in times of need. The Bible makes this clear. For instance, Philippians 4:6-7 admonishes, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” However, God never intended for prayer to be used only a tool for crisis management.

 

I’ve lost count of the times prayer has provided comfort, hope and reassurance for our family: financial struggles, impending heart surgery, a cancer diagnosis, newborns in neonatal intensive care, career uncertainties. However, prayer ought to be our first recourse, not our last. We should pray when times are good, as well as when they’ve taken a bad turn.

 

The first Bible verse I ever intentionally memorized, 1 Thessalonians 5:17, tells us to, “pray without ceasing.” That means we can do it anywhere, at any time, no matter what we’re doing. I’ve often prayed while driving – with eyes open, of course. I’ve prayed many times during work meetings or difficult conversations, asking for God’s wisdom, direction, and even what to say (and not say).

 

Jesus Christ taught that when we pray, it’s not a matter of the right words or how many words we utter or offer silently. And we’re not to pray for the specific purpose of drawing attention to ourselves. “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others…” (Mathew 6:5).

 

Prayer, at its essence, is a very personal communication between us as individuals and God, sometimes expressing thankfulness for food and a roof over our heads; other times offering praise for a spectacular sunrise or sunset; and yes, making an urgent plea when overwhelming circumstances occur.

 

Since I write these posts days in advance of their publication, I don’t know what Damar Hamlin’s condition will be when you read this. He and his family deserve our continued prayers. But I’m heartened by the image of players and coaches kneeling in prayer, asking the God who is “able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20) to intervene. I’m thankful for the sports commentators who affirmed the urgency for prayer. 

And I’m especially encouraged by the commentator who took the bold step to do more than talk about prayer; he did something about it, humbly and eloquently praying out loud on public TV. Maybe there’s hope yet for our increasingly secularized society. 

When We Need Someone to Clean Up Our Mess

There’s been a story circulating online, apparently true, about an older woman in a large retail store who stumbled and fell into a product display. The resulting crash could be heard throughout the store. Folks ran toward the noise to see what had happened. 

The embarrassed individual wasn’t hurt, but she was scrambling to clean up the mess. Some of the items on display had been broken or damaged, and the woman was probably trying to calculate how much it would cost for her to make amends.

 

Quickly arriving on the scene, the store manager immediately assured the customer that her worst fears were unwarranted. “Ma’am, we’ll clean this up. We carry insurance to cover things like this.”

 

Can you imagine the woman’s relief upon hearing this? She might still have been red-faced for being involved in such a mishap, but someone else was prepared to pay the price for what she had done. It might have felt like getting the “Get Out of Jail Free” card during a game of Monopoly, except this was a real-life situation. Who knows? She might have been on a fixed income with no means to pay for the damage.

 

What an apt metaphor for what Jesus Christ has done for us. As someone has said, “He died a death He did not deserve to pay a debt He did not owe – to satisfy the debt we could not pay.” Jesus willingly died in our place.

 

This debt is not only measured in dollars and cents; it’s a spiritual debt, the result of breaking every one of God’s laws in thought, word or deed – probably many times over. It would be impossible for us to pay this debt ourselves because the Lord has only one standard – absolute perfection. Anything less than this is unacceptable for an all-righteous God.

 

When confronted with this reality, one Old Testament prophet had the only possible response: “‘Woe to me!’” I cried. “‘I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty’” (Isaiah 6:5). This is what happens when imperfect humanity encounters perfect deity.

 

As I’ve cited before, the New Testament epistle of Romans has much to say about this dilemma. It declares, “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one seeks God…there is no one who does good, not even one” (Romans 3:10-12). A bit later we read, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

 

These are hard words to hear. We like to think of ourselves as pretty good folks. “I’m a good person,” we might reason. “Certainly, I’m better than the other guy.” But to be blunt, that’s like comparing cow manure with horse manure. You wouldn’t want either on your living room floor. And yet we expect the holy God to overlook us in all of our unholiness. 

 

Early in his book, the prophet Isaiah wrote of his unworthiness; by the end of the book, he hadn’t changed his mind. He wrote, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). Sounds like bad news for modern man, as well as ancient man.

 

But just as the lady who crashed into the store display and in utter disbelief heard words like, “No problem” or “No worries, I’ve got this,” the Bible assures us we can hear the God of the universe and all eternity express similar words, only with infinitely greater importance.

 

Romans 5:8 assures us, “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” And Romans 6:23 asserts, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 

 

There might be some of us who fret, “But how could God ever forgive what I’ve done?” But think about it: How many sins had you committed when Christ died for you as a sinner? Actually, none because you hadn’t been born yet. He graciously and mercifully paid our bill long before we started running up the tab.

 

When Jesus spoke His last words on the cross, “It is finished” (John 19:30), the Greek word He painfully uttered was “tetelestai.” Meaning “paid in full,” it was a perfect tense word describing a past completed act having a present effect. To put it into jargon of today, Christ paid it forward.

 

The hapless woman must have felt an incredible surge of gratitude upon learning she wouldn’t be held responsible for the cost of the damage she caused. How much more should we feel overwhelmed with gratitude to know Jesus has already paid the price for our selfish, prideful and even rebellious thoughts, actions and words? 

 

Words of the song “My Tribute,” by Andrae Crouch, sum it up: 

“How can I say thanks
For all the things You've done for me?
Things so undeserved
Yet You gave to prove Your love to me
The voices of a million angels
Could not express my gratitude
All that I am
And ever hope to be
I owe it all to Thee.”

Spending Our Time with the Wrong ‘Book’?

Have you ever thought about how much communication has changed over recent decades? Long ago in a land far away – or so it seems – families would gather around dinner tables nightly to review the day. Neighbors sitting on front porches would greet each other as dusk drew near. They’d also enjoy friendly impromptu visits across an adjoining fence.

 

These days, if families gather at all, it’s usually around the big-screen TV. Or accompanied by their ever-present smartphones. Many homes don’t have front porches; instead, we huddle inside, enjoying the air conditioning during the warm months and the heat when it’s cold. Sadly, in many instances we don’t even know our neighbors, let alone call them friends.

 

Speaking of friends, increasingly folks can’t identify more than a few. We have “friends” at work, but those friendships typically don’t extend beyond the workplace. Even in church settings, most relationships go no deeper than, “Hi, how are ya? I’m fine. Good to see you.” 

 

We connect with “friends” via social media, but they’re people we wouldn’t recognize if we passed them on the street, the grocery store or the mall. And yet, we spend countless hours keeping up with social media friends. If we’re not online for very long, we may start to suffer from FOMO – fear of missing out. We don’t want to be the last to know when someone’s on vacation, what they had to eat, a joke they shared, or the emotional rant they posted.

 

If only we possessed the same enthusiasm for communicating with God. In a recent message, our pastor made this sage observation: “These days everyone is on Facebook, when their face needs to be in THE book, the Bible.”

In homes where people profess to be Christians, it would be unusual not to find at least one Bible. Often, there are more than one, even in different translations. But if we were to compare their time in the Word of God with time spent on social media, the difference might be startling.

 

My desire isn’t to shame anyone. I get it. I’m sometimes guilty of it, too. Things happen so quickly these days. The tidbits of information we can gather on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Parler – whatever your medium of choice happens to be – come at lightning speed. There’s always the temptation to check out the latest. On the other hand, the Bible has pretty much been the same for hundreds of years, except for the occasional “new and improved” translation or paraphrase.

 

But how often have you heard about someone whose life was changed, even transformed, by what they read on social media? On the other hand, I know thousands of people, many that I’ve written about in one way or another, whose lives were turned upside-down after encountering Jesus Christ in the Scriptures.

 

I’d be lying if I said I don’t let a day pass without spending time in the Bible. Sometimes the tyranny of the urgent gets in the way of the important. But I can tell a difference when I haven’t spent time in God’s Word. And it probably shows.

 

Any relationship grows stronger with the more time and energy you put into it, including with the Lord. I used to think spending an hour or so in church on Sunday was sufficient, but that’s no more true than eating one meal a week is enough. Just as we need physical food daily, we also need spiritual food – time with God in the Scriptures, in prayer and meditation.

 

Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6). And the psalmist tells us, “Blessed is the man [whose] delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night” (Psalm 1:1-2). We’re promised that by spending time with God, we will be blessed.

 

Whether we’re going to work, to school, or trying to manage a household, we all want to be successful. Spending time in the Scriptures with our best Friend of all is a big step in that direction. In Joshua 1:8 we’re assured, “Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” Seems like good advice to me.

 

We’re blessed if we have even a handful of good friends, folks we can trust and rely on when needed. The friends we find on Facebook and other social media might be fun to interact with. However, what better friend can we find than the Lord?

 

Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13). And that’s exactly what He did for us, willingly giving up His life on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins, to redeem us, and to provide the way for an eternal relationship with God.

So, as we’re spending time communicating with friends we encounter each day, as well as those pseudo-friends we’ve met on Facebook and other social media, it would be wise to make a point of communing with the greatest Friend of all – and His Book.