Burns Church of Christ

      There is an old song that I remember hearing in my youth. (You might say it would have to be really old.)  The song had a stanza that went: Every one who talks about heaven ain’t going there.

      In the 12^th century a poet/song writer called Bernard of Morlaix wrote a poem of three thousand lines.  Now that is a formidable task.  I will have written that many lines in the articles I write for this bulletin over a few years.  I can’t imagine writing a poem of this length and I can’t imagine any of you reading it all the way through.  You might not even make it to the end of this article.

      In this long poem Bernard pinned these lines:

            The world is very evil

                  The times are waxing late

            Be sober and keep vigil

                  The judge is at the gate.

      We live in a challenging time.  Crises seem to be the invader of our day.  We have moral crises, financial crises, family crises, prison crises, judicial crises, health crises and more crises than we can shake a stick at. 

            The world is very evil

                  The times are waxing late.

      God is still in charge and those who believe this can survive the crises of any time.  He will accomplish His will and those who are on His side will win the victory. For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. (I John 5:4)

      Be sober and keep vigil

                  The judge is at the gate.

      There is a tendency among many of us that it is the primary commitment of God to solve our problems.  When a problem arises we just turn it over to God and whammy! It is solved.  No more having to wait in line for a big cure all for all my woes.

      Paul reminds us that this may not be the case.  Paul views God’s wonderful grace as the power of God in our lives that is sufficient to help us to face and walk through trials. The goal of God is change in our lives. We need to move to a more intimate life with Christ.  This doesn’t always equate with the removal of our problems. His power is made perfect in weakness.

      Since God is in the people changing business, He can use every ailment to bring about any necessary change in our lives.  He may never remove a thorn in the flesh but His grace is sufficient for you. Change is never easy but God hangs in there for us and will work His power in us as we face the realities of this world and prepare for the world to come.

      God’s goal for our lives is maturity.  Life is not just ailments to be removed or events to be avoided.  He wants us to learn how to better worship Him and serve Him.  He may never remove an illness from us or our loved-one, but He is always there teaching us about Himself.  He may lead through the valley of the shadow of death but His gentle hand will lead us less we fall.

      We need to commit ourselves to embrace what God is doing in our lives.  He is trying to make us into His image and as we can learn to see as He sees. We can look beyond the present problem to the purpose of God for our lives.  His word gives us vision, hope, direction and goals. Our challenge is to look beyond the now and embrace the vision that God has for us. We may have a physical or emotional problem but it is the spirit that needs God’s power.     

At the funeral of wealthy Howard Hughes someone remarked,” I wonder what he left behind.”  To which another remarked, “All of it.”  What kind of expectations do you have for yourself?  Rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief?

Don’t sweat it.  God gives us what we need and he doesn’t expect us to bring earthly treasures to His door and pay for entrance. You don’t arrive at His gate with a bucket full of cash and demand entrance.  It’s an eternal life that we are talking about not some few years on this earth making fortunes and losing them.

Here are some suggestion s for living God’s way.

      Celebrate the wonder of grace. Believe in grace more and more each day. Ponder grace, praise God for grace, preach grace and live grace.  By doing this we can remain confident and upbeat when life doesn’t live up to our expectations. God loves me just as I am and He faithfully accepts me with all my faults.  I can accept myself because he has already accepted me with my strengths and weaknesses.  That does not mean that I give in to laziness and irresponsibility.  It does mean that I am not overwhelmed with guilt and can deal with life constructively.  Life it not just getting somewhere. It is a process of how are we getting on His wavelength.

      Celebrate what is rather than what might have been.  I rejoice in what is happening rather than bemoaning what isn’t happening.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in Life Together, “If we do not give thanks daily for the Christian fellowship in which we have been placed . . . we hinder God from letting our fellowship grow to the measure and the riches which are in Christ Jesus.”  If things are not the exact way we want them to be, adjust!  Enjoy the world as you have it rather than dream of greener grass.

      Keep a sense of humor.  Norman Cousins calls laughter “internal jogging.”  George MacDonald said that the heart that is unsure of God is afraid to laugh.  Don’t let the lesser issues of life control you.  But by the grace of God I am what I am.

We have all heard the jokes about the “Procrastinators Club” putting off their meeting until tomorrow. Many of us belong to the Procrastinators club, albeit unofficially.  We have been putting off  signing up.

We get really busy and think it will be better tomorrow to get this thing done. Those chores can be done tomorrow.  Those bills can be paid tomorrow. The bills will get smaller tomorrow and there will be more money than month tomorrow. I will read the Bible more tomorrow.  I will go see my friend tomorrow. I will go to church better tomorrow. I will help out a neighbor tomorrow.

We are good at tomorrows but not good at todays.  Today is the tomorrow that we thought about yesterday.  Today has come and the procrastinators are still saying tomorrow.  Take care of today and tomorrow will be a piece of cake. Jesus weighs in on the subject in Matthew 6:34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

You can be sure of one thing.  If you take care of things today, tomorrow will be a lot better.  Things that are left for tomorrow that should have been done today have a way of coming back to haunt us. 

There are times that it is good to think of tomorrow.  We need to plan for the days ahead.  We can get things in motion that can be accomplished tomorrow.  Things that need doing tomorrow don’t have to be done today.  The bad thing is to put off today what ought to be done in hopes that we will have another chance tomorrow. 

A good suggestion: Put off procrastination!