IF I WERE TO GO BACK IN HISTORY IN A TIME MACHINE, I would double check the settings to make sure that I would never have to experience 2018 again, because that darn year will rank as probably the worst year of my life. That’s why I am looking forward to 2019, and you should, too.
After waiting about five hours in a deer blind (3 hours in the morning, 2 hours in the evening), I shot my first buck in Texas on November 24 at 5:45 p.m.
It was a nice 8-pointer. I took it to the processor…
On December 25 the whole world will celebrate the most significant event in human history: the day that God came to earth as a baby. Have you ever stopped to consider why this event is so important, why the birth of Jesus was the apex of human history? This was an event so monumental that the historical designation for time changed from B.C., Before Christ, to A.D., Anno Domini, Latin for “The Year of Our Lord.”
To give some perspective, the Christmas Story started way back in Genesis, “In the beginning,” when everything that God created was good, when humans had a perfect relationship with God. Adam and Eve even walked with Him in the Garden; they had perfect access to him. It was paradise!
Then came the ultimate tragedy: The Fall. Adam and Eve disobeyed God and their fellowship was broken, sin entered the world plunging the whole human race into rebellion against Him, putting everyone under his wrath, judgment and condemnation.
But there was Good News: a promise of restoration when God said to the serpent, that devil of old: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” (Genesis 3:15) There would be a constant battle between Satan and the woman, and with her offspring, the entire human race. Yet, a Savior would be born through that woman, one who would right the wrongs the devil had caused when He would “crush your head.” This was the promise from the beginning: He is coming! A Savior is coming!
Through all the Old Testament books, we are continually reminded that a Savior is coming! In Exodus, He is the Passover Lamb, in Leviticus, our High Priest. In Numbers, Heis the pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night. Deuteronomy: Heis the Prophet and Mediator like Moses.
A SAVIOR IS COMING!
A recent encounter with two friends caused me to realize that I needed to approach political conversations in a whole different way. With our country divided the way it is, simple dialogues about how government should be run are now a thing of the past. Everyone has their guard up; everybody believes they’re right; all think the other side is wrong. Before the discussion with my friends even got past introductory comments, one person had her arms crossed, the other bolted for the door. I knew right then and there my days as a “Political Pastor” had come to an end.
“I write on the cusp of a momentous event—the most crucial midterm election of my lifetime,” wrote Janie B. Cheney in an article for WORLD Magazine. “It replaces the previous most-crucial midterm of my lifetime, which occurred in 2014. Farther back in memory is the third most-crucial midterm of 2010. But no sooner will Nov. 6 come and go than the general election of 2020 will loom like a tidal wave of crucial importance. Every two years the stakes crawl higher, with more lives and futures at risk. Everything we hold dear is on the line, threatened with extinction if the other side wins. Or maybe not.”
Cheney continues, “It’s happened before, but always with some well-defined danger in view: ‘secession in the 1860s, labor wars in the 1870s, socialism in the 1890s, the Cold War in the 1960s and ’70s. The current ‘crisis’ is not so well defined, and certainly not as cogently argued. After every ugly incident, furious fingers point at both sides: They started it. Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind. Call down hell, and there’s hell to pay. This, pundits warn us solemnly, is a crisis of ‘civility.’”
With that in mind, I have come up with some directives that come from the Bible so that we can get back to the business of “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF CIVILITY FOR A POLITICALLY-CHARGED AGE
Thou Shalt Watch Thy Waistline
I HAVE A DIRTY LITTLE SECRET: I hate working out! I do it because at almost age 60, I want to make a difference for Jesus for many more years to come; also, I want to live long enough to see my daughters graduate college and get married. I want to die only when I’m holding one of their babies in my arms and, after looking lovingly in the child’s eyes, I whisper, “I love you, little Stevie….” then, suddenly, I’ll keel over.
The Bible asks rhetorically, “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) Sadly, too many of us have not taken care of that sacred place where Jesus dwells. Instead of a temple made for him, we look more like the restroom of a Golden Corral after a football game.
Since the emphasis of the Good Book stresses a holy walk with the Lord by reading and obeying His Word, there is not a lot of stress on physical exercise, though the Apostle Paul does say to a young pastor named Timothy, “for physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” (1 Timothy 4:10)
When I was lean and mean in my twenties, I promised myself that I would never become a fat man in the bath tub, and would never sport a huge, protruding pot belly. Too many pastors preach about sinful excesses while barely able to buckle their pants. May I suggest that the two greatest secret sins in today’s America are laziness and gluttony Wait. Those are two of the seven deadly sins, are they not?
“Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.” (3 John 1:2)
To maintain good health so you can continue to witness for Jesus long into your twilight years, please do not put it off until tomorrow. Start today. Several years ago, my youngest saw an advertisement on the side of Joe’s Crab Shack restaurant that said: “FREE CRABS TOMORROW!” Laurel was soooo excited that she couldn’t contain her enthusiasm and shouted, “Dad! Let’s come back tomorrow and get free crabs!” I burst her bubble by explaining that the sign would say the same thing tomorrow. And the tomorrow after. When it comes to working out, tomorrow never comes. There is always an excuse not to do it.
Read More