Christianity

Wednesday Wisdom #8: Thoughts on Church

Leave a Comment / August 8, 2012

 The Grace to You ministry has been so helpful to me through the years.  John MacArthur preaches the truth of the Bible without compromise and yet with so much love and humility.  I remember someone once told me that they think he is so “harsh”.  I find myself wondering if anyone who says that could have possibly ever listened to him?  Sure, he says things I don’t like, too, but he bases all he says on the Word of God.  His humility as he teaches the Word of God is unseen in many pastors.  The other day we were listening to a question and answer time with Phil Johnson and John MacArthur.  In this particular Q&A time, the discussion centered on the modern day church and all that’s going on there right now.  After we heard what I have written below, my husband remarked that every Christian should hear this.  Hence, my decision to share it with you all today.  We can never let down our guard when it comes to this matter of church.  

The whole interview would be so worth a few minutes of your precious time.  You can find it here, along with all of his other MP3s, which he provides on the Grace To You website for free.  Here is a brief excerpt of that interview:

First of all, you’ve been worshiping with us, right? For four days. What you experience in the way we worship here would have been exactly what you would have experienced if you had been here twenty years ago…or thirty years ago. You heard me preach. What you heard me say today and the last three days, you could have heard me do the very same thing thirty-five years ago. We pay absolutely no attention to the pop culture, we couldn’t care less. We don’t care what they’re doing.  It’s irrelevant. We have a fixed point of reference: the Word of God. And I don’t want to link arms with the culture. I want to link arms with the history of the church. I want to quote the great theologians. I want to sing the great hymns that generations of believers have sung and the reason we’re still singing them is because they were so good. I want to link arms with the past. I want people to know that we’re some…we’re a part of something that is multi…multi-national, multi-generational and multi-millennial. It goes back several thousand years. I don’t want people to think we just invented this.

I can tell you everything I need to know about a guy who says he’s a pastor by how much he gives honor to the work of Christ through faithful men through the history of the church and how much he wants to be among them and not an invention of his own. It’s just a problem.

I mean, look around at Grace Church, we’ve been taking in people, we often say this, I don’t know, what 75-80 new members a month for years and years and years and we think about 85 percent of them are thirties and under and have been for at least ten years. You know what? The Lord is reaching those people in a church that pays no attention to pop culture. We don’t drink beer openly, publicly. We’re not trying to play with the culture. We don’t want people to walk in here and say, “Wow, this is cool. This feels comfortable to me. It’s like a nightclub.”

We want people to walk in here and say, “What in the world is this? I’ve never experienced anything like this anywhere in my life.” We don’t want the world to come in, we want heaven to come down.

The mouse, the hibiscus, and a lesson in resilience

Leave a Comment / August 6, 2012
The tree is still blooming away

Late this spring I purchased two beautiful hibiscus trees at Sam’s Club to replace the ones that had died in our greenhouse last winter.   They were covered with bright reddish-orange flowers.  But when I brought them home the weather was still too cold to put them outside permanently.  My husband decided to slide them into the garage for protection until we could put them outside.   I would peek in at them once in awhile to see how they were doing and one day I noticed the one tree drooping considerably.  I gave it a good drink of water. It continued to droop and started to look like it was dying.  And then one day I found it outside our garage.  Eric had noticed the drooping tree, as well, and had investigated.  What he figured out was a surprise to both of us!  The roots of this poor tree had been eaten away by our resident mice.  We knew they were there and had been working to be rid of them.  But who knew that mice liked to eat hibiscus roots?

We considered the tree a goner.  So little of the root system was left that it would topple over at just the slightest provocation.  Ironically, the mice had not attacked the other plant and that one was doing just fine.  We removed both of them to a safe place and we waited.  And we watered.  And we watched.

And then one day we saw the struggling tree push forth a bloom.  And then another one.  Until it rivaled its partner.  The hibiscus tree had a spectacular recovery even when it was attacked at its very life system…its very core.

I have seen people like this, too.  They have been terribly abused or devastated — hurt in the very core of their being.  While others curl up and die inside, filling their lives with bad choices and even worse consequences, they are the resilient ones.  The ones who refuse to let someone else destroy their life.  And so they limp along trying to live life, bleeding and bruised, turning to the Lord in their grief and pain, until one day they send forth a bloom.  And then another one.  Until we can see that they have defied the odds and are living an amazing life that is truly blessed, because of one simple decision: they refused to give in to bitterness and fear.

When we submit ourselves to God and release our anger and unforgiving spirit, no matter what the situation – abuse, betrayal, death, disease — we give ourselves the opportunity to bloom again.  If we hang on to it, we will stay closed up and dormant, eventually dying inside.  I know a lady like this.  It breaks my heart.  She went through a terrible tragedy many years ago.  All of these years later, she is still often in tears and bitter words spew from her mouth.  She has chosen not to move on.  I feel for her children.  They live with a mom who lives in the past.  Her world is still so incredibly dark.  But I don’t judge her – who knows what I would do in her situation?  There, but for the grace of God, go I.  I just feel so sorry for her.

As I think of the two contrasts  — those who move on and those who don’t — it isn’t hard to see that how we respond to difficulty can absolutely change the outcome of our lives.  I don’t know what you’ve been through and you don’t know what I’ve been through.  May we provide each other with much grace and Christian love as we all work through the tough stuff in life.  But, most importantly, may we grab onto the grace and mercy of Jesus and let go of the bitterness and anger.  Only then will we live a life that brings glory to God. 

Leaving it to the Expert

Leave a Comment / August 2, 2012

We are doing a small kitchen remodel and I decided that I would help my husband by installing the new hardware.  This seemed like a simple task that I could accomplish to help him out.  I grabbed a screwdriver, summoned all of the elbow grease I had available to me, and got started.  I had only finished one door when Eric came in the kitchen and viewed me skeptically.  He left and returned a few minutes later with his drill.  Now I could get going!  Who needs elbow grease?  But as I busily started using my new tool, I realized that it takes a bit of skill.  I wasn’t used to the drill and ended up breaking and stripping several screws.  I looked at the screws hopelessly.  Now what?  I felt totally inadequate.  Sure, I could do the job if nothing untoward happened along the way.  But when things started going a little awry, I was a bit lost.  I decided to worry about them later and kept working.

When Eric came through the kitchen, I told him of my dilemma a bit shame-facedly.  He picked up the drill and removed the stripped screws immediately  (I still can’t figure out how he did that!) but it sure did make me think.

Why do I always think I can fix things?  Why do I always think I have to?  If there is an expert around (in this case, my very handy husband), why not ask for help?

Aahh.  Yes.  The same thing goes in life, too.  If God is there waiting to help us, all-powerful and all-knowing, why do I want to rely on my hopeless, measly skills to remove myself from a jam or a problem?  I have a few ideas why we do this–

1.  Pride – I don’t want to admit that I need help.  I can do this on my own.  We behave like little two year olds who scream “I can do it myself!”.  It sounds silly to write, but many of us think it, even if we have learned that it is socially inappropriate to speak it.

2.  Arrogance – A word very similar to pride, but just a little different.  We have been taught that we can do anything we want to do.  We are amazing and talented and beautiful.  We can do anything we set our minds to and we certainly don’t need supernatural help to do it.  This common theme is heard across this great land.  You can be anything you want to be and nothing can stop you.  What a rude wake-up call when we find out we can’t do everything and Someone certainly can stop us!

3.  Biblical Illiteracy– Most of us are not spending much time learning more about God’s Word and filling our minds with godly sermons, songs, and exhortations.   We are letting ourselves starve spiritually and instead focused on feeding ourselves with the world’s food.  We don’t really think about the ramifications of this until we find ourselves in a place of suffering.  All of a sudden, we realize we aren’t close to God at all and we have no idea what to do or how to pray.

4.  Misplaced Focus – When we are trying to figure out a problem or work out a relationship, we spend most of the time focused on ourselves.  I need to fix this because I am hurting.  This needs to change to make my life better. I can’t bear this pain.  How could God let this happen to me?  But the Bible tells us that trials produce patience and  perseverance and character and hope in us (James 1, Romans 5).  We need to remove the focus off of ourselves and place it on to God.

As I write, I know that I am guilty of these four things so very often.  Unless I take time to check my heart and mind when I am going through a trial, I am very apt to fall prey to one or more on this list.  But I realize that, unless I turn to God in my hoplessness and devastation, I will end up with the impossible.  Only God can fix the “stripped screws” of my life. If you aren’t a believer, you may be skeptical.  But I am here to tell you that I have seen God do amazing things that can only be attributed to Him.  If only we would turn to Him sooner and more often!   May we be teachable and focused on God.  May we be thirsty for His Word and growing spiritually in the good times, so that instead of hopelessness and frustration in trials, we can instead turn to Him with confidence and patience.

Wednesday Wisdom #7: For Our Children

Leave a Comment / August 1, 2012

Welcome to Wednesday Wisdom!  Amy Carmichael is one of my favorite missionaries.  As many of you know she served in India for many years, especially ministering to children, raising many of them as her own.  She was also a wonderful poet.  Many of her poems are compiled in a book called “Mountain Breezes”.  It is well worth the purchase.  Below is one of her beautiful poems on praying for our children.

For Our Children

Father, hear us, we are praying,
Hear the words our hearts are saying;
We are praying for our children.

Keep them from the powers of evil,
From the secret, hidden peril;
Father, hear us for our children.

From the whirlpool that would suck them,
From the treacherous quicksand, pluck them;
Father, hear us for our children.

From the worldling’s hollow gladness,
From the sting of faithless sadness,
Father, Father, keep our children.

Through life’s troubled waters steer them;
Through life’s bitter battle cheer them;
Father, Father, be Thou near them.

Read the language of our longing,
Read the wordless pleadings thronging,
Holy Father, for our children.

And wherever they may bide,
Lead them home at eventide.

Lust and Love

6 Comments / July 30, 2012
In like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, but, which is proper for women professing godliness, with good works. I Timothy 2:9-10

“If you’re an adult male, you cannot deny the power of a flash of flesh to draw your attention. A too-short skirt. A hint of cleavage. It’s really an incredible force of nature. Most women understand that a revealing outfit brings a certain amount of attraction from males, but they have no idea how much power they really have. Every man reading this is well aware of that power.” **

As I came upon this paragraph, I realized exactly why it is so important for women to dress modestly and, just as importantly, why it is so critical for Dads to share this information with their daughters.

I have given God many excuses as to why I can’t write on this particular topic – I will offend – I will be viewed as legalistic – Some of my friends and their daughters dress inappropriately – My three daughters and I are guilty of immodesty ourselves, at times.  Please, no, God, don’t ask me to write on this topic.  But He would not let me go, so here is the post I have been dreading to write for at least a year.

As usual, this summer has brought skirts and shorts that are too short, shirts that give way more than just a hint of cleavage, and bikinis that leave very little to the imagination.  I think the saddest thing of all is that there there is very little – if any- difference between Christian and non-Christian women when it comes to how we dress.  I see facebook pictures of Christian young women displaying their almost naked bodies.   We can find half-exposed breasts and long, sexy legs in church services and at weddings.  And, even more surprisingly, no one seems to be sounding the alarm that this isn’t appropriate.

I wonder if so many of us women do not truly realize what our immodest dress does to the men around us?  Do we realize that we are tempting them to lust by not properly covering ourselves?  I submit to you that this is not showing love to our fellow Christian brothers, but instead throwing temptation in their faces and just expecting them to deal with it.

And  I would like to especially challenge Fathers of teen-aged girls. You, of all people, know what goes through the mind of a male who sees an improperly clothed woman.  Why do you let your teen-aged girls go out half-dressed?  Sure, if you ask them to change they may get mad and stomp off but many years later they will thank you from the bottom of their hearts.  Parenting is tough, but we can’t give in.  We need to protect our girls, their reputations, and the hearts and minds of the young men in their company.  Many are the conversations my husband has had with our three girls – asking them to change – telling them why – never giving up on protecting them and the young men in their company.  I feel so incredibly blessed to have a husband who is honest with them about this difficult topic.

Some men will say they are not tempted by immodestly dressed women.  And maybe the culture is so inundated and flooded with sexual messages that it is true.  But I doubt it.  I would guess that they are not telling the truth.  I watch men turn their heads and pay attention.  I know the constant attention given by the men in my life to turn away, trying not to turn back for a second glance, because of where their thoughts will go.

Ladies, do we really want to be guilty of this?  Do we want to be the cause of a man’s lust because we didn’t dress modestly?  And exactly how is that showing the love of Christ to those around us?  How is this type of dress bringing glory to Jesus Christ, the one who died to save us?  God commands us to be modest and I believe that one of the main reasons for that command is to protect our dear Christian brothers and the wives (our sisters in Christ) that are married to them.

I know that a few of you will agree with me as you read this post;  a couple more may give what I have written here some thought; but my fear is that most of you will think I am off of my rocker for even bringing this up.  In all circles of my life I find little consideration is given to this subject.  No one seems to care anymore. But perhaps it would be good for all of us to humbly ask God if our attitude about how we dress is the attitude He would want us to have. Even I, as I write this, find myself thinking about a few things I need to get rid of in my closet.

You see, this isn’t about rules – Thou Shalt Not wear such and such.  This is about an attitude of submission to God and love for our fellow man.  As Christian women, we are called to express our Christian love by keeping ourselves properly covered.  As parents, we have the responsibility to teach this important principle to our girls.  Are we inciting lust or showing love by how we dress?  It is certainly something to think about.

 

** Excerpt taken from 52 Things Wives Need From Their Husbands by Jay Payleitner

Living in a Castle the Size of a Country

11 Comments / July 31, 2015

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If you have done any kind of missions work outside of the Unites States or if you love to read about the world, you know that living in America is a little like living in a sheltered castle.  Sure, we venture out once in awhile to give gifts and minister to the peasants, but most of our lives are spent living comfortably and luxuriously in the castle.  Castle dwellers face their own sets of problems, of course…facing things like enemy attacks, betrayals, and illnesses.  But they are not worried about the very basest of needs, things such as food, shelter, and clothing.

How do we live an effective Christian life in the castle?  And can we truly experience dependence on God while we reside in luxury and comfort?  Even the poorest American is incredibly wealthy, when compared to many countries, simply because they have their basic needs met.  They do not have wild animals stealing their children in the night nor do they fear that enemies will burn down their home, torturing, raping, and murdering their loved ones, as they do so.  Most American children are never kidnapped and enslaved.

I struggle almost daily with the question: Why am I here?  Why was I born in America?  What does God want me to do with what I have?

You see, the easiest, most natural thing to do when our lives are safely tucked within the country-sized castle is to be focused on our own families, jobs, churches, and problems.  Unless we take time to read, watch, or go many of us don’t even give the impoverished people outside the castle walls a thought.

As all of this rolls around in my brain, many thoughts come to mind.  Here are a few:

1.  As believers, we are required to serve others.  It is not an option.  So many of us serve only when we feel like it.  Or when it makes us feel better about ourselves without costing too much.  Or when it fits our schedule.  I am including myself here.  I am ashamed of how often my first thoughts when asked to serve are often centered on how will it inconvenience or cost me?

2. We are to take care of widows and orphans (James 1:27); We are to minister to the Saints (fellow believers) (Hebrews 6:10);  But, most importantly, most of the Bible verses about serving have to do with self-denial.  We are to deny ourselves and serve Jesus, oftentimes by serving others.  This is no easy task and we should start right within our own families.  It is no good to be traveling abroad if we aren’t even serving with love at home.

3. There is no need to travel to third world countries in order to minister.  Many are the needs here.  But I will venture to say that ministering here is a bit like the princess helping the scullery maid of the castle.  There are certainly needs but the castle staff is still somewhat protected and sheltered because they live in the castle.  It isn’t until you leave the protection of the castle that you see true poverty, in my opinion.

4. Serving often means stepping outside of our comfort zone.  This is a big one and takes a giant leap of faith.  I say this, because I have experienced it.  Fear can’t rule you if you are going to serve whole-heartedly.  I continue to work through this even now, as I prepare for my next trip out of the country.

5. Ministering to physical needs is worthless, unless we are addressing their eternal destiny, as well, through sharing the good news of the Gospel.  I have long made it a rule to not even give to agencies that aren’t sharing the gospel, even if what they are doing is in the name of Christ.  What good is it to feed a body for a lifetime if their soul will be in hell for eternity?

6.   We need to be so careful with our priorities.  If we aren’t careful, we start living our lives centered around a home mortgage or a car payment.  We base important life decisions on selfish things like reputation and comfort.  I heard someone say yesterday that if it isn’t eternal, it isn’t important.  That certainly does put it in perspective, doesn’t it?

7.  And, maybe most importantly, we should be expressing our gratitude every day to our Heavenly Father for not only meeting our physical needs, but for giving us far more than we could ever dream.  And yet, many times, we not only take this for granted, but behave as if we deserve it.  We demand comfort and conveniences and tend to complain when things aren’t just right.  This happens easily in this culture, doesn’t it?  Where everyday we are inundated with commercials and billboards telling us we deserve the best.  Actually, we don’t deserve the best.  We are just so blessed.

As we ponder what the Lord wants from us, one thing is certain.  Each and every one of us has a multitude of ways we can serve others each day.  But we can only do that when we step outside of a world based on “me” and reach out.

WW #6: Simple Does Not Mean Easy

2 Comments / July 25, 2012
Today I am sharing some wise words from a friend of mine who is a missionary in Cambodia.  She is a wonderful writer and I know many of you will appreciate what she shared in her newsletter on Monday.  The analogy she makes is a great one.  Read on and see what I mean!
 

The heat here [Cambodia] makes it quite hard to want to get out and do anything, really, but I am glad to report I was up bright and early today for a riverside jog/walk. And I almost enjoyed it. Almost.

You’ll have to forgive me if a lot of my object lessons recently have been about exercise and the physical side of things. It is taking a bit of my focus and energy right now, as I am working toward some “before forty” goals. (The clock is ticking!) But I am beginning to see why many of the NT writers used athletics and sports allegories to make their points about the spiritual life. There are so many parallels!

A number of years ago, a doctor said to me that—unless your weight gain was due to medical reasons—all you had to do to lose weight was to eat less and move more. It’s that simple. It comes down basic math, really. If your calorie intake is consistently less than the number of calories you burn day after day, you will begin to lose weight. This is not rocket science, folks!

However, “simple” does not necessarily mean “easy”.

Anyone who has tried to lose weight knows how hard it is to change lifestyle rhythms or habits. It is soooo difficult to pass up that extra helping, or that tempting snack. It is exhausting to submit your body to rigorous exercise and grueling to stick to disciplined daily routines.

Weight loss might be simple on paper, but it certainly is not easy.

In the same way, salvation is basically simple. You have a debt of sin that you could never repay. Jesus has paid the price in full, and offers to clear your account. You simply have to accept His gift and His Lordship in your life.

But there is nothing easy about the Christian walk. The dying to self, the denial of fleshly desires, the breaking and bending of the will to the Spirit’s control. None of this comes naturally. But it must be done, intentionally and regularly. Besides that, the world will heap us with abuse once it sees we are trying to do things differently, not living by its norms and standards.

The basics of salvation might be simple to grasp, but living it out on a daily basis is probably one of the hardest things a person can do.

We do a great disservice, I fear, when we minimize the cost of following Christ. When we promise a primrose-strewn path, leading not only to future Glory, but also to heaven here on earth. We mislead others if we do not prepare them for the rocky road ahead.

Of course we do not walk this path alone. We need not strive and strain in our own strength. We have a Helper always available to us. In fact, He is eager to do most of the work if we will just submit to His control. It’s that simple. But not that easy.

–by Deborah Wise

There’s No Place Like Home

Leave a Comment / February 1, 2021

Last week I was on vacation.  The posts you saw here had been written ahead, my husband prepared a weeks’ schedule for his employees, the kids took off work, and our whole family packed up and headed to the Great Smoky Mountains.  We had an awesome time doing all kinds of things.  Of course, 6 adults and “almost” adults being together 24/7 in a camper makes for some challenging times, too!  But, overall, it was a lot of fun.   However, as our last day rolled around, I found myself ready to go back home.  Nothing bad had happened on my trip to drive that desire, it’s just that I love going home.  Home is the place where I am most comfortable and where I feel like I belong.  I know that I am blessed because I actually love going home.

As we talked about this readiness to go home, one of my girls mentioned a conversation she had had with Grandma  about a favorite relative that had died recently.  My mom had told her that she thought perhaps dying was a little like that if you are a believer.  You have had a great life on this earth, you really enjoyed it, but you are, after all, a traveler in a foreign land and you are ready to go home.  That analogy took on new meaning for me this past week.

It makes perfect sense.  I feel so blessed to be here on this earth and to be living the life the Lord has laid before me.  But I know that I don’t really belong here.  I realize it when I watch the news or when I look at Facebook.  I can feel that I don’t belong when I am in the store and I hear a song with lyrics that make me cringe or when I hear the foul language coming from a group of people nearby.  Oh, I am having a great time here — but it is not my home.

I find this a comfort as I think of those who have gone on to Heaven before me. They are home!  They are no longer pilgrims on this earth where they do not belong, but instead are home in the arms of the one Who loves them most. What an incredible realization!  What a blessed hope!

Philippians 3: 20-21  For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.

The Changing Landscape

2 Comments / July 19, 2012

For 25 years now, we have made occasional trips to the area where my husband was born and lived for the first 10 years of his life.  Many of his extended family still resides there and so we go at least once a year for a reunion.  A few weeks ago, we headed there for the sad occasion of his uncle’s viewing.

It was a beautiful summer evening for a drive and I enjoyed looking at the lovely landscape.  And, like many times before, I thought of how different this drive was from when we first started our trips east.   WaWas, Wal-marts, and Wendy’s had popped up.  Several new shopping complexes were now on the route.   And so many homes!  Hundreds more than when we first started making this trip.  Most in well-manicured developments, each home similar to its neighbor.   My, how the landscape had changed over the years!

The same thing has happened in the area where I live, but I never give it much thought.  I am so used to seeing it, that I don’t realize just how drastic the change has been over the past 25 years.

It makes me wonder just how much the landscape of my life has slowly changed.  For some reason, we don’t seem to notice the gradual changes in whatever is closest to us. We all change over the course of our lives, many times without even realizing it.  And then comes the inevitable question – are the changes good or bad?

I started keeping a journal when I was about ten years old. Most of my young adult life is recorded in cloth-covered books. Every now and again, I will spend a few minutes glancing over them. It is especially interesting to read the ones I wrote in college. In my head, I am still the young, naive woman who got married at 22. However, when I read the journals, I know that I am not that girl anymore — and that’s a good thing!  It is through my journals that I see that I have matured and grown up in the Lord.  Oh, I have a long way to go, but I can see a lot of positive changes (and also some pesky flaws that keep hanging around, too!)

Most people do not have a journal to see the changes that clearly, but it may be a good idea to think for just a minute how the landscape of your life has changed.  Are you more patient now than when you first got married?  Are you more and more conscious of the sin around you?  Or have you become comfortable with a sin in your life?  Is there a wall that has grown higher and higher between you and someone else?

I know for me, really thinking about this has led to me to be convicted about a few areas that I have let slide, areas that have continually grown worse (instead of better), always thinking that “someday” I will try to work on this or change that.  But unless we purposefully commit to change, “someday” rarely comes.  Living intentionally will help the changes in our landscape to be pleasing to the eye, instead of looking like the run-down slums.  And so, it is good to ask this question:  What do the changes in my life signify about me?

Wednesday Wisdom #5: Only a Few Things Matter

Leave a Comment / July 18, 2012

The following is from the book “Born After Midnight”.  It is by A.W. Tozer, who many of you know is one of my favorite authors.  I hope you enjoy this very compelling and interesting excerpt.

It has been suggested here before that life, for all its apparent complexities, is at bottom very simple indeed if we could only realize it. Thank God, only a few things matter. The rest are incidental and unimportant.

Nothing that matters is new. “There is no new thing under the sun,” said Solomon, and he could hardly have meant that there had been no mechanical development or social or political changes under the sun, for he observed elsewhere that man has “sought out many inventions,” and he had himself instituted quite a number of changes in the royal routine. The city of Jerusalem he left behind him when he died was quite another city from the one he took over from his father David. External changes were numerous even in those days, but in nature and in man nothing was new; and it was of these that Solomon wrote.

Nothing is new that matters and nothing that matters can be modernized. One way to evaluate anything in the world around us is to check for possible modernization. If it can be modernized you may safely put it far down in the scale of human values. Only the unchanged and the unchanging should be accounted worthy of lasting consideration by beings made in the image of God.

Should some reader impatiently brush me off as hopelessly old-fashioned I shall not be offended. To escape the illusion of the temporal requires a free mind and a heart deeply engrossed in eternal thoughts and filled with immortal yearnings. And present-day Christianity simply does not produce that kind of mentality. Neither can we hope with Wordsworth “that mellower years will bring a riper mind and clearer insight,” for our direction is away from this and not toward it. Unless we have been enlightened deep in the Spirit of truth, the passing of time will not help us. Rather it may confirm us in our carnality. There is such a thing as spiritual senility. It is the natural result of failure over a prolonged period to live in the light of revealed truth; and any of us can slide into it unless we walk humbly and circumspectly.

Almost everything that men value today has been developed from some primitive archetype: the streamlined auto from the wheel, the skyscraper from the stone arch, the supersonic airplane from the kite, our highly complex monetary system from the cowrie shell or its equivalent, our extremely efficient methods of communication from hieroglyphics or the jungle drum. I think it would be possible to trace about 98 percent of the items that compose our modern civilized world back to their primitive originals. Yet I reassert with emphasis that nothing new matters and nothing that really matters can be modernized.

What really matters after all? My personal relation to God matters. That takes priority over everything else. A man may be born in a sanitary hospital, receive his education in progressive schools, ride in an air-conditioned car, sleep on a foam rubber mattress, wear synthetic clothing, eat vitamin-enriched food, read by fluorescent lights, speak across 12,000 miles of empty space to a friend on the other side of the world, lose his anxieties by taking tranquilizing pills, die without pain by the aid of some new drug and be laid to rest in a memorial park as lovely as a country garden; yet what will all this profit him if he must later rise to face in judgment a God who knows him not and whom he does not know? To come at last before the bar of eternal justice with no one to plead his cause and to be banished forever from the presence of the great Judge—is that man any better off than if he had died a naked savage in the hinterlands of Borneo?

No man can afford to live or die under the frowning displeasure of God. Yet, name one modem device that can save him from it. Where can a man find security? Can philosophy help him? or psychology? Or science? or “progress”? or atoms or wonder drugs or vitamins? No. Only Christ can help him, and His aid is as old as man’s sin and man’s need. The naked aborigine is as near to God (and as far from Him) as the Ph.D. Nothing new can save my soul; neither can saving grace be modernized. We must each come as Abel came, by atoning blood and faith demonstrated in repentance. No new way has been discovered. The old way is the true way and there is no new way. The Lamb of God was slain “before the foundation of the world.”

A few other things matter to be sure, but they begin there, go out from there and return there again. They are that we trust Christ completely, carry our cross daily, love God and our fellow men, walk in the light as God gives us to understand it; that we love mercy, and walk uprightly; that we fulfill our commission as ambassadors of Christ among men; that we grow in grace and in the knowledge of God and come at last to our end like a ripe shock of corn at harvest time.

These are the things that matter. These things are always critical, yet few recognize them as being so. It is all but impossible these days to get attention to the things that matter. Only as the servants of God veer away from these serious and eternal things to talk of politics or world events or sports or science will the nervous and distraught victims of time and space give them a hearing. Yet these eternal truths are all the Bible teaches and all we are authorized to proclaim.

—Born After Midnight

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