My Quiet Place

There was a special place I would go when I was a young boy. I spent many hours there by myself enjoying the solitude and peacefulness that it gave me. In the very back of our farm there was a small pond surrounded by woods. Just beyond the pond was a little knoll that gave me the perfect vantage point to sit and enjoy the beauty of this wonderful place. Large oak trees stood majestically providing shade on those hot summer days. The ground was covered with the thickest moss I have ever seen. It was like carpet. I loved lying there watching the squirrels play and pretending that I was whoever I wanted to be. I might have been a soldier fighting the enemy. The oak trees had dropped hundreds of huge acorns, or bombs in my mind, that I launched at the enemy battleships advancing across the pond toward the allied forces. The pin point accuracy of my acorn throwing gave the Americans the victory every time.

I really enjoyed being a child because I could escape from my simple but real worries of life and enjoy the life I found in my make believe world. I often talked to whomever I imagined to be the characters in this world I created. Don't laugh, everyone of you did the same thing. I would sing. I would shout. I might just make sounds that didn't mean a thing. I was having fun.

Thinking back on those times I realize that on occasion I talked to God. I believe that God loves the time he spends with children. I believe that it was in those quiet times in my special place that God was molding me, and preparing me for my future. I know I sensed God's presence many times in my quiet place--my get away from the noise and voices of the world place.  

Let me tell you, God still likes to listen to and talk to his children no matter what age they are. Our lives will be full of noise, running, hurrying, disappointments, probably even pain and heartache. We all need a special place where we can be alone with God, and tell him about our troubles. We need a quiet place where we meet God, thank him, praise him and allow him to provide us with strength, wisdom and love as we take on the problems of this world. As we meet daily with God he will give us the ammunition we need to defeat the enemy. Go to your quiet place where you will find hundreds of spiritual acorns that you can use to secure the victory in your life.

What God Does

But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Titus 3:4-7

The Heartbeat of Jesus

On the night just before he was arrested, Jesus was having his last meal with the disciples. Jesus already knew that before another evening arrived he would have died on the cross. He knew that one of the disciples would betray him. His heart was heavy as he announced to his group of followers what one of the them was about to do. Confused and bewildered, Peter motioned to John to ask Jesus which disciple would do this awful deed. John was beside Jesus or as some versions of the Bible say, he was leaning on the bosom of his Lord. If the latter was the case, John must have been close enough to hear the heartbeat of Jesus. How amazing it must have been to have heard the heartbeat of God! Is it even possible for a mere human to feel and know the heart of Jesus?

Actually we can feel the heart of Jesus. We can and should know his heart so that others can feel his heart through us. Before a person becomes a child of God the Bible says that they are children of wrath. We were born in sin, and until we are forgiven of that sin we are on the path to receive the wrath of God. God is holy and on the Day of Wrath his terrible and true justice will come down eternally hard on all those who have not received forgiveness and the redemption made possible by Christ who died on the cross to take God’s wrath that we deserve. When we give our lives to Jesus he gives us his life. We become one with him and we become children of God. We are assured eternal life in heaven, but more importantly our hearts are in tune with Jesus’ heart. We are no longer like the world. Our lives are no longer controlled by hate, anger, revenge and selfish desires. We love others and want others to know Jesus the same way we do.

Does your heart beat the same way Jesus’ heart beats?  As others watch you do they see Jesus? I hope there is no doubt about the kind of children we are, children of God or children of wrath. The Day of God’s wrath is coming, and that will be a terrible day for those who never received salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord and Redeemer.

What Color Will I Be in Heaven

A child randomly chooses a crayon from his Crayola box, and begins coloring a picture in his coloring book. It may be a picture of a fireman, a teacher, a soldier, a mommy or a daddy; it doesn't matter. Nor does it matter if he uses a red crayon or a green crayon to color the entire person. The child will be pleased regardless of the color, and his parents will praise him for doing a good job.

God decided before he created us what color we would be. He made some of us white, some of us dark skinned and the rest various shades in between. God knew what color would be best for us, just as he knew the best height, the perfect gender and all of the other physical characteristics he gave us. God knew exactly the person he wanted us to be. But he looked deeper than the color of our skin, our eyes, our hair or any of the physical traits that identifies us. He looked far inside of us, all the way into our souls, and he saw the real person that he created. He said, “This is good!”

God’s love for us is not determined by any of our physical characteristics. He loves us all the same. He loves a fat person just as much as he loves a skinny person, the poor as much as the rich, the black as much as the white. As we age, becoming more forgetful, less strong, more stooped, more wrinkled, and slower, God loves us the same as he did when we were young and more physically appealing. Unfortunately, we sometimes use a different criterion to judge each other. Today appearance is given too much importance in determining the worth of a person. Someone will decide, ‘I don't think I like you because you are too red, too green, have too many toes or have some other characteristic that makes you different from me.’  Where did we get the idea that if a person is not like us we can’t love them? We didn't get that idea from God. We just don’t love each other with the love of of the Father. God said that we must love everyone, even our enemies. God made us to look the way we look, and we should praise him for that.

The Bible tells us that one day after we die God is going to give us another body, a perfect body. That is exciting! I wonder if we will look the same way we do on earth? Will it matter? Are we to assume that we will be the same color in heaven that we are here on earth? I wonder what color I will be in heaven. Maybe everyone will be the same color. I believe we will recognize each other in heaven, but I think we will know each other by more than just our physical appearance because all of us will be perfect in every way as God made the first man and woman.  With these new bodies God gives us he may decide to randomly reach into his Crayola box of colors, pull out a color and color us with that crayon. And he will say, “I really like that!” My favorite color is blue. You know, I always thought blue would be a good color for me.

Psalm 139: 13-16

Her Last Christmas

From the time my mother was 56 years old until she died at age 87 she talked about dying. This started right after my dad died. He was only 54 years old. Mom mentioned dying mostly when our family got together for Christmas. She would say something like, “This may be my last Christmas.” It bothered us for a while, but finally my brother and I started making jokes when she brought it up. I remember Mike, my brother, telling her one Christmas, “Mom, we have decided what we are going to put on you tombstone when you die. We are going to put the inscription “See, I told you this would be my last Christmas!” I don’t think she liked it very much, but Mike and I got a big kick out of it. Well, our mother did die after a long, well lived life, but she missed our dad until her last breath.

To aggravate my daughters I will announce on the rare occasions that we are all together, “This may be my last...whatever the reason for our gathering might be.” The biggest problem I am having with the prospect of dying is what to do with my body. If I choose to be buried I don’t know where the site of my final resting place will be. There is no one left where I grew up that would care enough or be able to go to my grave. At the many other places I’ve lived not many people would remember me. I think I will probably die here in Wake Forest because I don’t plan on moving again. I guess the smartest thing to do is to be cremated. My ashes could be put in a jar and whoever ends up with them could scatter them somewhere at their convenience. I told My wife that if I go first I want my ashes scattered in my recliner because that’s where I’m most comfortable. I doubt if she would do that because of the mess it would make. She would have that vacuum out in a week.

I guess at the age of 70 I need to decide what I want to do. Who knows, this could be my last blog piece. I may not know what will happen with my physical tent, but I do know what will happen with my spirit at my death. I made arrangements for my end day on earth a long time ago. I’m prepared for heaven, but I continue to prepare to meet Jesus my Savior and judge. Yes, we need to be ready to meet him as obedient children; followers who have worked to become more and more like him each day; devoted disciples who spend time in prayer and time praising him and worshiping him as the sacrificial Lamb of God; students of the scriptures which will lead us along the path of righteousness. Jesus knows my heart, and when I meet him I don’t want to be found lacking in any way. None of us knows—tonight may be our last night on this earth.

The Bible Says

Last Friday Sherri and I took our friends to Charlotte to visit the Billy Graham Library. As we walked from exhibit to exhibit we saw several short videos about Dr. Graham’s life. One was a series of video clips of him being interviewed by unbelieving talk show hosts. He was asked his view about premarital sex by one of them. Billy Graham said that the Bible says that sex before marriage is a sin. He went on to explain that God’s design for marriage is the union of one man and one woman, and that this is the only place where sex is permitted. This host was confused and made a joke about what Dr. Graham had told him. But Dr. Graham, in each of these interviews, graciously and boldly, shared his faith in God and proclaimed the truth of God’s Holy word.

I have heard Dr. Graham speak several times either in person or on television, and every time his messages were prefaced by the statement, “The Bible says…”. I never heard him preach anything but the sound principles found in the Bible. What an example he was for all Christians!

In a day where anything goes Christians must stand for the truths found in the Bible, all of it. We cannot pick and choose what fits the sinful desires of our heart. The Bible says that we are to abstain from all sexual impurity. “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from all sexual immorality; that each of you know how to control his body in holiness and honor.” 1 Thessalonians 4:3-4.

The command to abstain from all sexual immorality is a strong phrase. In this passage the word immorality comes from the Greek word “pornonia”. Our word poronographic comes from this word. God is saying that when a person habitually uses his body for any kind of sexual behavior outside of his design for marriage their  lives are a harbinger for pornography, the same as when someone fills their minds with all kinds of filthy smut.

This is God’s command. These are not Paul’s words, his ideas, or something that he concocted. God is clear throughout the Bible that any sexual behavior that takes place apart from the holy union of a man and a woman is grossly immoral. We must obey God’s commands, and like Dr. Graham, speak out against any kind of behavior which defiles God’s plan for marriage, and I might add, the sanctity of life. One way we can do this is on Election Day. Our votes can strongly speak against the evils which are destroying our nation, and every Christian should go to the polls and vote.

Pleasing God

The late Adrian Rogers said, “If you please God it doesn’t matter who you displease. But if you displease God it doesn’t matter who you please.” If I were to ask those who truly believe in God if they think it is important to please God almost 100 percent would agree that it is very important. But how many would go so far as to please others at the risk of being disobedient to God’s commands? How about a professing believer in Christ? How often does a Christian go along with the crowd when he knows in his heart that following the crowd is contrary to following Jesus? Look at our world today. Watch those who say they are followers of Christ, and consider if it is their goal to please God or is it their purpose to please the world.