Sending Sons

It has been over a week now since we dropped Nathan off at college. Thank you to all of you that have asked about him or contacted him. He seems to be loving it, and that helps the transition. It has been tough on me. In fact, I have described Nathan as my right hand. Perhaps God providentially provided a trip to Polishing the Pulpit and a van that was not working properly to keep me distracted from the emotion of it all. As I type this, my allergies must be acting up as my eyes want to water up. It is the right thing. He needs to spread his wings and fly. We have been preparing him for this all his life. The right thing can still be hard. We believe he is in a good place. A place where we know people and have friends. A place we believe cares about him, and we are thankful for that. In fact, in the times we have talked to him, he has confirmed these facts. That makes it easier.

It would be hard for me if we were taking him to a place that cared nothing for him or hated him. That is what the Father allowed Jesus to do. John 1:11 tells us His own did not receive Him. In fact, Jesus tells a parable in Matthew 21:33-46 about vine-growers killing the son of the landowner which was a reference to what the Jews were going to do to Jesus. That parable came true when the Jewish leaders arrested Jesus, turned Him in to the Romans, and demanded His death which was carried out on a cross. Why? Because of some sin Jesus was guilty of? No. Because of sin that I am guilty of. I find it hard to imagine sending Nathan to a place that would hate and kill him. But that is what the Father did because He loves His lost creation (John 3:16). Praise God for His love and sacrifice

The idea for this article came from an article I read in A Legacy of Faith email.

Walking the Walk

"Too many of us have a Christian vocabulary rather than a Christian experience. We think we are doing our duty when we're only talking about it." — Charles F. Banning. I read this quote the other day, and it caused me to think. That is the power of a short, simple truth. Maybe one of the reasons I like Proverbs. Am I guilty of knowing and using church lingo but not putting it into practice? Am I merely talking the talk and not walking the walk? Those can be some tough soul- searching questions, but I think they are some that are necessary to examine ourselves (2 Corinthians 13:5).

This is what the Holy Spirit said through the apostle John, “Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth” (1 John 3:18). It is easy to say I love my brothers and sisters in Christ, but how does that play out in my life? I speak to them at church when I see them, I wave at them in Walmart, and if I remembered I prayed for them that time they were sick. Again it is easier to say I love my fellow Christians than to live it out. How about my neighbor or my enemy? How am I actively loving them and not just saying I am loving them?

I hope you get the point of this article: we are called to talk the talk but that is useless unless we back it up by walking the walk. Christianity must not just be talked about but lived out. We might refer to one who says one thing and lives another way as a hypocrite. I am sure if we are all honest with ourselves, we have probably all played that role before, but we do not have to continue in that role. Jesus calls us to a better life, one that glorifies Him. If you have been a hypocrite, do not continue to live that way but repent and strive to be salt and light in this world to bring God the glory and honor He deserves.

Huddle

When I was in middle school, I played football for the Fairview Falcons. Take a guess where I started for our team. I was small and probably weighed seventy-five pounds soaking wet. If you guessed center, you would be correct. One of my jobs as center was to call the huddle. The huddle is where the offense gets together and calls the plays. After an offensive play, before we ran another, I would lift my hand in the air and yell, “Huddle!” In that huddle the play would be called, we would be given the snap count, and we might encourage or warn each other about someone on the defense. Then, if I remember correctly, we would say, “One, two, three, break!” and clap our hands. We would break the huddle, go out, line up, and run the play.

What would you think of a team that never broke the huddle? That would be silly. You guys are here to play a game. Break the huddle. Does the church do this? We get in our holy huddles at service times but never “run the play.” Do not get me wrong. I am a firm believer that we should be meeting together as the elders present opportunities (Hebrews 10:25), but if all our religion consists of is only Sunday morning Bible study and worship, Sunday night worship, and Wednesday night Bible class, we have a pretty sorry religion. Let’s get together and get our directions from God through His word, let’s encourage one another and warn each other about our opponent, but let’s break the huddle and go out and live it. My encounter with Jesus at those service times should impact how I deal with coworkers on Monday afternoon, people at the ballpark on Tuesday night, getting my kids ready for school and taking them on Wednesday morning, my trip to the store at lunch on Thursday, my interaction with my neighbor on Friday evening, my Saturday hobby, and everything in between. Jesus calls us to be salt and light (Matthew 5:13-16). Let’s call a huddle and be there, but let us also break the huddle and go out and live it.