Tag: faith

Goals for the New Year: Get Salty

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.”

At this point, you might be wondering about the encouragement in that verse. We are the salt, the flavor, the preservative that keeps things from spoiling, the spice that makes all taste better, when we are doing what Jesus called us to do. I love salt, probably more than anyone my age should, but I love it. The only thing that even comes close for taste value in my book is basil but I can’t imagine going to Maine and getting basil water taffy. Doesn’t really work the same, does it?

The scary part about that verse is the idea of losing our saltiness. That makes salt worthless. It can do thing for which it was intended, it brings no joy, it’s just worthless as dirt.

If you have been around a while you probably feel like you are not too salty. Life wears you down. Hurts dilute your sense of being. Injustice, upon injustice followed often by transparent, avoidable stupidity makes cynics of the best of us. You feel more bland or perhaps a bit peppery, but salty is not your overall sense of being. Life can feel like a very long episode of “Spiritual Survivor” where you just want to get to the end without getting voted out of the tribe. (Yes, theologically minded friends, I know that is not possible.) However, I have often felt the last years have been like some kind of extended hazing exercise and it has not done wonders for me. On the contrary, it’s made me less salty.

Today as I read this verse I found myself using Google for something other than flights and maps, my primary uses. I checked to see if salt can be made salty again. What I learned encourages us all. Yes, indeed, salt can regain its original flavor. In fact, salt never changes in it’s composition. It can be diluted, polluted, and hence rendered tasteless but it can also be purified, cleaned out and be every bit as effective as it once was. That process, of getting out the junk that perhaps through no fault of your own, got dumped in your salt pile, or that which diluted what was once an amazing taste, can indeed be removed, and all that was lost, restored. That is the gospel we believe, and no matter how downtrodden you have been, you remain salt. The question that remains is do you desire to be salty again?

We need not do self-repair. We are actually the people who don’t really believe in self-repair. We believe in God repair so we can ask for and be assured that He can and will, restore us in the coming year. So my friends, let’s get salty!

Fourth Quarter Faith: Set an Example for Your Family

“Getting older is not for cowards!” my father would say. As a Normandy vet, he was no one to mince words. We’re exhausted physically in ways we did not think possible. We break more easily in more ways than one. Shoulders, ribs, even teeth! (I never thought of a carrot as a threat until last year.)

We have pretty much had our fill of nonsense. Life is short. If you have not grown up by 65, you have very little time left to pull it off. Please act now! We have also had our fill of stupidity for its own sake. I had to get meds for retinal degeneration and the pharmacist has a dry sense of humor. I had finished a strange morning and said, “Do you also have a treatment for stupidity?”.

“If we did, we would be rich. But then we could also never keep up with the demand.”

I like him, he is a practical man.

As seniors we need to approach the end of our lives well. First, if you have made ghastly blunders, say so. If you cheated on your wife, broke the law, or skimmed on your taxes, honestly admit this to your children. (Also apologize to your wife, pay up on those taxes, and tell the kids what you learned from meeting a human judge.) First thing is, they probably already know, or sense it. Better they hear the truth from you. Few things are as gut wrenching as realizing after death that dad was not always by mom’s side like you thought, or good friends learning late in life they have half siblings. Fix things while you can. I honestly was not as close with mom as my dad. She was always a bit nervous and he was gregarious and outgoing. He died and I realized my mother was heroic and I didn’t realize the extent until after she passed at 93. (I love my father just as much, but would have been so much more understanding of why the dear woman was so nervous if I better realized what she was sacrificing for love of her family.)

I recall a divorced woman who received a call from her husband who ran off with his secretary, bought a red car and did the late midlife, leave the church meltdown. His kids were polite but knew who he was despite his talk slick explanations. When he got cancer, he called his first wife who said, “It’s too late for me and you, it is not too late for you and Jesus.”

He set things right with God, then he was honest with his children who had grown weary of his lavish story of his long held love for the secretary and how his first wife, who married him as an untried businessman, cleaned the house, raised the kids and stood by him till he was successful enough in his own eyes to walk out the door into moral failure. When he told the truth, he found the depth of his children’s love again. Truth really does set you free. That has never been revised nor revoked.

If you wish you had done things differently, fewer extravagances and greater sacrificial giving, tell your kids and at the same time start doing it. We’re going out of here in a box. Leave your children a legacy of love, and generosity. Let it “all on the field” as they say in football, for us “all for the field” might be more accurate. A spiritual legacy is far more precious than stocks and it cannot lose its value.

Distanced siblings are a tough one: often that might not be your choice. Try to keep the doors open as best you can. Once our parents are gone, our lives might diverge significantly due to factors beyond our control, but be sure to leave the door open. It’s a good example to your children.

In each quarter of any match, adjustments are made. In this final quarter of life, remember these adjustments determine the way you finish it all.

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It’s the Fourth Quarter: Not Half-Time (part one)

While this blog began for those in Bible College wrestling with things Bible College will not discuss, it has evolved as the original cast of readers are now pastors or church leaders themselves and dealing with older people in their congregations.  I am an older person, so even if you are not, pay attention because this is a real struggle for aging believers.

Yogi Berra, the baseball legend, was famous for the phrase, “It ain’t over till it’s over”.

Yogi was right.  I am staring down 70 and my body has probably already crested that exalted number as the years have not been kind.  Once you hit 60, you can deny it, but you are in the fourth quarter of life.  There’s no tie. Mortal life just ends.

You cannot do the fourth quarter of life like you are about to sit down and enjoy half-time. There is no time to slack off or sit back or redefine the story of your life.  The life you lived is the life you lived. We are adults. We need to act like it.

So, I address the Jesus believing community here:

Absolutely no one got this far in life without major, serious, traumatic, incidents. If you have, please DM me so I can get your autograph. Illness, death, divorce, accidents, kids or grandkids in trouble, kids or grandkids with disabilities, financial losses, and on goes the list. You have faced huge challenges. The desire to record your hurts or curl up in a ball to prevent more is understandable. The desire to spend your time in recreation and relaxation after a lifetime of office stress is understandable. It is simply not a biblical option. Do you really want to meet Jesus and say, “I spent the last part of my life hitting a small ball into a hole because it made me feel safe. I mean really, it was the younger generation’s responsibility to follow You.”  (No offense to golfers, the same can be said of quilting, video binging, or a host of other things. As relaxation, they are fine, as our main focus, they are deadly.)

However, you are living in the end days. Your end days and the end days of all your peers. If you are over 60, they will begin dropping like flies and it only increases every year. People have one lifetime to hear. Your job is to be sure they do know this great truth: “There is no other Name given under heaven by which we can be saved” (Acts 4:12). A lot of our age-mates are disappointed with what life has offered. Life is not kind. Jesus is. Give them Hope, that will prove true, while we still have time.

Correct, Don’t “Over-Correct”

I could make a list of many of the wise sayings friends have shared over the years, but this one stuck with me as it captures that which I have oft observed but never been able to express so well as my friend, Dana. We were talking about life and how it seems that many people who began extremely conservatively in their Christian walk, became wildly liberal in their later years and we’d observed those who were incredibly liberal become exceptionally conservative to the point of legalism. I often said people dislike balance because it is so hard to maintain. Extremes are easily defined. Staying even keel that is the real trick.

To this Dana replied, “People don’t correct. They tend to over-correct.”

That’s it precisely. I recall a couple with whom I attended university who married a year or two after we did. The wife’s vows were so “submissive” I thought it staggering that the minister approved them, if indeed he saw them beforehand. She was marrying a flawed human being, not the Lord, yet she vowed total submission to this man’s will, to have him be her priest and the priest of her family, and the entire vow sounded like this man was to her as Jesus is to us all. I won’t even broach the topic of the priesthood of all believers.

Five decades later, of course, life changed. They remain a lovely couple who apparently became progressively liberal over the years and one time suggested I might want to “get out and get to know someone in the LGBTQ+ community.” I think the reasoning was if I believe in the Bible, which I do, and being a missionary, which I am, I am in some bubble removed from the real world, which is about as ridiculous a notion one can have if they do the kind of work I do. We spend our entire lives with people and cultures unlike ourselves. I was unsure whether to be mildly insulted by the assumption or amused, so when in doubt, assume the best and I opted to find it funny. Keeping things in perspective, they lived in the same place their whole lives, which makes it very easy to form opinions about places one only seems on TV. I assured them we do not live in alone in a cave and we know people from every possible walk of life. I find no conflict between loving and enjoying people who do not believe as I do, and yet maintaining my beliefs without compromise. I dare say I believe the same things now, that I have for decades but on a much deeper level. I have shed some of my former certainties, but none regarding doctrine.

Another couple, once very demonstrative charismatics, decided that it was best to toss that out the window and moved to a colony to adopt a lifestyle that is reminiscent of two centuries ago. It was a challenge as the husband had difficulty growing a beard, but the wife donned attire befitting their new faith community and I am sure they have exceptionally low power bills.

Why do we make such radical swings in our theology and behavior?

Disappointment is one the key reasons people make wild over-corrections. They prayed for a miracle that did not occur, so they conclude the days of miracles are past. Perhaps they prayed for many miracles and did not receive that for which they prayed. Miracles are miracles because they are the exception to the ordinary, not the ordinary, and if read scripture with perspective, we realize that the apostles experienced times of unprecedented miracles, along with times of non-miracles that resulted in almost all of them suffering martyrdom. Thankfully, they did not cease to pray for the supernatural.

Delusion is yet another reason people walk out the door of churches, leave ministries, and abandon all to which we are called to hold dear. As surely as the sun rises, if you live more than a decade, you are bound to run into some quacks. I realize that might not be the theologically correct term but suffice to say there are people are “over the top” in some area or another, there are people who are mentally unstable, and there are even tares among the wheat. If you only bump into two or three of these kind of folks in your lifetime, consider yourself blessed. There’s a lot of unwell people outside the church, but there we have more normal expectations of humanity. That we meet the unwell in church, should not be a shock. Yes, there’s a time to shake the dust off your feet and move to a healthier place, but just as you have that odd uncle or slightly batty cousin, we don’t throw the baby out with the bath water because people are not well. I have heard people tell me they left church because “everyone is a hypocrite.” That makes no sense because all of humanity is hypocritical, at least according to the Book of Romans, so don’t let is be an excuse. If you’re reading this you might be a hypocrite I like very much and perhaps I’m a hypocrite that you enjoy. To be human is to be a hypocrite to some degree.

Family is another area that tosses people for a loop in later life. Disagreeing with your parents is totally acceptable. When your children take an extra-biblical position, it is staggering how many people, under the guise of being good listeners and not wanting to be at odds with their adult children, suddenly start making peace with things they would once have recognized as unscriptural. We do not need to agree with everyone we love, nor they with us. We do need to stay faithful to the Bible, because the Bible is not wrong, and the teachings of Jesus are not like a buffet where we pick and choose.We do not draw our children to faith by bending it to accommodate our loved ones. One can love well without violating truth.

So how do we avoid over-correction?

The answer is simple, but the application much less easy to work out. We are saved by grace, not by works, yet grace is evidenced by our works. We now live by the law of love. That “love” is not human love, but a godly love that recognizes that what is evil, is truly evil, and what is harmful is truly harmful. We recognize that we are all hurtful and do evil, and yet are so greatly loved, that God Himself is the only one who can rightly judge us. He alone is so good He can the pay the terrible penalty that is deserved. Jesus called out sin, named it in places that never crossed our minds, and then paid the most horrific penalty to show us just how bad sin really is. He then rose from the dead, to not only show us that death is not permanent but to remind us Who He Is in the first place, less we fall into any nonsense thinking He was mere prophet or man.

We cannot be people of grace, unless we also are people of truth and holiness, just as God has shown Himself to be when He chose to manifest Himself in the Person of Jesus. We cannot get through life by having a long list of what is and is not acceptable. We can navigate the rushing waters by imitating Jesus. It’s far simpler to remember our goal is to follow the “Word Made Flesh.”

Notice, however, I said it is simpler, not easier. It is, however, the only safe way to stay true to Truth, Love and Hope, as embodied in the Lord. Our lives might be messy and difficult, but they need not be overly complex. Stay the course and keep your eyes fixed.

Correct, Don’t “Over-Correct”

I could make a list of many of the wise sayings friends have shared over the years, but this one stuck with me as it captures that which I have oft observed but never been able to express so well as my friend, Dana. We were talking about life and how it seems that many people who began extremely conservatively in their Christian walk, became wildly liberal in their later years and we’d observed those who were incredibly liberal become exceptionally conservative to the point of legalism. I often said people dislike balance because it is so hard to maintain. Extremes are easily defined. It’s staying even keel that is the real trick.

To this Dana replied, “People don’t correct. They tend to over-correct.”

That’s it precisely. I recall a couple with whom I attended university who married a year or two after we did. The wife’s vows were so “submissive” I thought it staggering that the minister approved them, if indeed he saw them beforehand. She was marrying a flawed human being, not the Lord, yet she vowed total submission to this man’s will, to have him be her priest and the priest of her family, and the entire vow sounded like this man was to her as Jesus is to us all.

Five decades later, of course, life changed. They remain a lovely couple who apparently became progressively liberal over the years and one time, rather humorously, suggested I might want to “get out and get to know someone in the LGBTQ+ community.” I think the reasoning was if I believe in the Bible, which I do, then clearly I am in some fortress far removed from the rest of the world and have never met anyone unlike myself. I was unsure whether to be mildly insulted by the assumption of amused, so when in doubt, assume the best and so I assured them I did not live in alone in a cave and I know people from every possible walk of life, so I found no conflict between loving and enjoying people who do not believe as I do, and yet maintaining my beliefs. I dare say I believe the same things now, that I have for decades but on a much deeper level. I have shed some of my former certainties, but none regarding doctrine.

Another couple, very demonstrative charismatics, decided that it was best to toss that out the window and moved to a colony to adopt a lifestyle that is reminiscent of two centuries ago. It was a challenge as the husband had difficulty growing a beard, but the wife donned attire befitting their new faith community and I am sure they have exceptionally low power bills.

Why do we make such radical swings in our theology and behavior?

Disappointment is one the key reasons people make wild over-corrections. They prayed for a miracle that did not occur, so they conclude the days of miracles are past. Perhaps they prayed for many miracles and did not receive that for which they prayed. Miracles are miracles because they are the exception to the ordinary, not the ordinary, and if read scripture with perspective, we realize that the apostles experienced times of unprecedented miracles, along with times of equally faithful non-miraculous periods that resulted in almost all of them suffering martyrdom. Thankfully, they did not cease to pray for the supernatural.

Delusion is yet another reason people walk out the door of churches, leave ministries, and abandon all to which we are called to hold dear. As surely as the sun rises, if you live more than a decade, you are bound to run into some quacks. I realize that might not be the theologically correct term but suffice to say there are people are “over the top” in some area or another, there are people who are mentally unstable, and there are tares among the wheat. If you only bump into two or three of these kind of folks in your lifetime, consider yourself blessed. There’s a lot of unwell people outside the church, but there we have more normal expectations of humanity. That we meet the unwell in church, should not be a shock. Yes, there’s a time to shake the dust off your feet and move to a healthier place, the important thing is that you actually don’t quit fellowship altogether because “everyone is a hypocrite.” All of humanity is hypocritical, at least according to the Book of Romans, so don’t let is be an excuse.

Family is another area that tosses people for a loop in later life. Disagreeing with your parents is totally acceptable. When your children take an extra-biblical position, it is staggering how many people, under the guise of being good listeners and not wanting to be at odds with their adult children, suddenly start making peace with things they would once have recognized as unscriptural. We do not need to agree with everyone we love, nor they with us. We do need to stay faithful to the Bible, because the Bible is not wrong, and the teachings of Jesus are not like a buffet where we pick and choose.

So how do we avoid over-correction?

The answer is simple, but the application much less easy to work out. We are saved by grace, not by works, yet grace is evidenced by our works. We now live by the law of love. That “love” is not human love, but a godly love that recognizes that what is evil, is truly evil, and what is harmful is truly harmful, and yet every person is so greatly loved, that God Himself is the only one who can rightly judge us, and then the pay the terrible penalty that is deserved. Jesus called out sin, named it in places that never crossed our minds, and then paid the most horrific penalty to show us just how bad sin really is.

We cannot be people of grace, unless we also are people of truth and holiness, just as God has shown Himself to be when He chose to manifest Himself in the Person of Jesus. We cannot get through life by having a long list of what is and is not acceptable. We can navigate the rushing waters by imitating Jesus. It’s far simpler to remember our goal is to follow the “Word Made Flesh.”

Notice, however, I said it is simpler, not easier. It is, however, the only safe way to stay true to Truth, Love and Hope, as embodied in the Lord. Our lives might be messy and difficult, but they need not be overly complex. Stay the course and keep your eyes fixed.