Author Todd R

Words of Life and Death

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Rummaging in the basement for a book recently, I found a book I wasn’t looking for: Encouragement: The Key to Caring by Dr. Larry Crabb and Dr. Dan Allender.  It was a good find.  The authors define encouragement as “the kind of expression that helps someone want to be a better Christian, even when life is rough.”[1]  This is the kind of expression recommended in Hebrews 10:23-25 – “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.  And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”  (emphasis mine)

However, if we don’t believe our words matter – that they have real power – we might think such encouragement is pointless.  Making a case for the power of our words, the authors cite these Proverbs:

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.” – Prov. 18:21
“Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad.” – Prov. 12:25
“A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.” – Prov. 15:4
“Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.” – Prov. 16:24
“A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.” – Prov. 25:11[2]

In these Proverbs, words have the power of life and death.  Power to lift or break a spirit.  They have real power to influence others for good, or for bad.  They can influence our health, bodily and spiritually.  Our words are one of the hardest things for us to control – especially online – and unless we realize their power, we’re too likely to take them lightly.  James wrote that taming our tongues may be our biggest challenge, and if we can tame it, we can tame our whole body.  (James 3:2-3)

Therefore, pray for more encouraging, more powerful words today, and that God would cleanse our hearts, the spring from which our words come[3], so we may praise Him and provide “sweetness to the soul and health to the body” of those around us.

It won’t happen all at once, and all will stumble, but as the saying goes:

Yard by yard, life is hard!
Inch by inch, life’s a cinch!

Photo by Kevin Luke on Unsplash

[1] Crabb, Larry and Dan Allender.  Encouragement: The Key to Caring (1984).  P. 10.
[2] Ibid.  P. 19.  See also Proverbs 25:20 and James 3:5-6.
[3] James 3:11

When Rights Collide

Todd R 1 Comment

For a time, Moses was the sole judge over Israel, deciding right and wrong in countless cases brought by the people.  This was a massive burden and brought him to exhaustion, until his father-in-law Jethro urged Moses to delegate some of the responsibility.  Jethro tells Moses to find some able, trustworthy men, and in Exodus 18:22, he says “And let them judge the people at all times. Every great matter they shall bring to you, but any small matter they shall decide themselves. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you.”  Moses was to act essentially as a court of appeal for hard cases.  What kind of “great matter” might Moses get?

Deuteronomy 17:8 might be one example: “if any case arises requiring decision between one kind of homicide and another, one kind of legal right and another, or one kind of assault and another, any case within your towns that is too difficult for you, then you shall arise and go up to the place that the LORD your God will choose.”

What the Bible recognizes here is that the right solution isn’t always obvious.  The Bible recognizes that things can get messy.  Life isn’t always as black-and-white, right-versus-wrong as we might think.  There are complex situations where rights conflict with rights, rather than a simple right versus wrong.  Each side of the case – the plaintiff and the defendant – might be at fault.

For example, suppose one person assaulted another without provocation, but in return the other retaliated in an unjustified way.  Should both complaints cancel each other out, and no judgement declared either way?  Or should the judge enforce the penalty for both crimes independent of each other?  If one penalty is greater than the other, should a judge subtract one penalty from the other and enforce the difference on the person with the greater crime?  Would that be justice for either person?

Sometimes there aren’t easy answers, even based on God’s perfect, revealed law.  All of us are sinful and justice requires we be punished for the times we have violated some kind of legal right, committed come kind of assault, or harmed someone in another way.  What solution can untangle all of these competing claims for justice?

The only viable answer is forgiveness, but forgiveness doesn’t come free, or cheap.  For our violations against God, the cost of forgiveness was Jesus’ suffering and dying on the cross.  For our sins against each other, God demands that we forgive others as we have been forgiven by Him.  We are to bear the cross of not only our sins, but the sins of others.  Forgiveness is hard because it sometimes means not demanding that our rights be respected.  Sometimes it means our sense of justice might be violated.  Yet forgiveness is what our Lord demands.

As Jesus said in Matthew 6:14-15, “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

Moses may have been able to be the court of appeal for Israel, to bear the burden of every “great matter” of the time, but only Jesus could bear the burden of every matter for all time.  He asks us to follow His example, even when we think we have the right to do otherwise.

Who Do We Serve?

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Some people think they aren’t serving anyone, but this is never true.  We are all at least serving our own desires.  We may also desire to serve our employers, our spouses, our friends, our country, our ambitions, and many other masters, in addition to ourselves.  Someone or something is determining what we do.  Nobody is without a master.

The apostle Paul was clear in the Bible who his master was.  In the first verse of 3 of the epistles he wrote – Romans, Philippians, and Titus – Paul opens by calling himself a “servant” of God and of Jesus.  Given his status as a Roman citizen and his heritage and accomplishments as a Jew[1], it may have been hard for Paul to see himself as a servant, but he knew there was no other kind of person, or Christian.  We’re all servants.

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

We are not saved by being servants, we are saved by God’s grace and mercy, but when we are saved, we take on a new identity.  In Paul’s case, he writes in Romans and Titus that he was “called to be an apostle”[2] and that he was “an apostle of Jesus Christ.”[3]  Paul knew that he served only one Master, and that Master determined his priorities and required him to turn from other masters.  Likewise, unless we first acknowledge that we are servants, we will not answer our call to be set apart for God’s purpose in us.

We are not called to be apostles, but as servants, we are called to be something, in service to Him. This does not mean we all need to go into full-time ministry, but it does mean that we need to bring God’s priorities to love Him and to love our neighbor into our daily lives and activities.  Into our homes, our workplaces, our neighborhoods, our churches, and anywhere else we go.  It means we let Jesus decide our priorities and how we treat the people around us.

Paul wrote in Romans that “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”[4]  So, faith that leads to salvation includes the acknowledgement that Jesus is Lord and therefore that Christians are His servants.

Today, someone will be your master.  Choose wisely and ask Jesus how you can serve Him today.

“We can do no great things, only small things with great love.” – Mother Teresa
“No one can do everything, but everyone can do something” – Max Lucado

[1] Philippians 3:4-6
[2] Romans 1:1
[3] Titus 1:1
[4] Romans 10:9

The Sins That Matter Most: A Quint of Quotes

Todd R 1 Comment

Dear fellow travelers,

Here is another “Quint of Quotes” from my collection on the theme of sin, which is all around us, but also within us:

“God had one Son without sin; but He has no son without temptation.” – Charles Spurgeon, on Luke 11:4

“Oh, this was the great ploy of Satan in that kingdom of his: to display such blatant evil that one could almost believe one’s own secret sins didn’t matter” – Corrie ten Boom, speaking of the Holocaust

“What good was the Promised Land if the Israelites were just as wicked as the nations already living there?” – Life Application Study Bible, on Deuteronomy 1:1-2

“I have more trouble with D. L. Moody than with any man I know.” – D.L. Moody

“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” – 1 John 1:8-9

Persevering on the Cross

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The Passion stories at the end of each Gospel can be difficult to read.  When you love Jesus, it’s hard to see Him suffer such injustice in multiple trials before the Jews and the Romans, to suffer abuse such as flogging and being spit upon, but mostly to read about His crucifixion.  It’s also frustrating to read about those who abused Him and wonder, how did they not know better?  After all the compassion Jesus showed to the needy and the many miracles He performed, how could people not at least respect Him for that?  How could so many misunderstand Him?  A great example of misunderstanding is found in Matthew 27:40, where people passing by Jesus on the cross say:

“You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”

Jesus had already done many miracles to show that He was the Son of God, yet the people demanded one more.  Ironically, Jesus was in the process, while on the cross, of fulfilling His own prophecy about the temple, by which He meant His own body.  While coming down would have been the popular thing to do, impressing the crowds, it was not the will of the Father, so Jesus had to take this abuse knowing it was wrong.  Therefore, Jesus remained on the cross.

Having convicted Jesus by unrighteous means, through false accusations and the testimony of unreliable witnesses, the people wanted Him to prove His identity to them by unrighteous means, which coming down from the cross would have been.  It would be disobedience to the Father and therefore an act of unrighteousness.  It was only by our Savior’s perseverance on the cross that He could pay the penalty for our sins and save us.  Thank God for this!

Jesus took on the cross that only He could bear: the cross of God’s judgement for our sins.  But we have crosses to bear too.

Jesus said, “whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.  Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:38-39)

What are our crosses?  They can be the service our Lord demands, and the trials that come along with that service.  They are the cost of loving God and our neighbor.  But sometimes we’d prefer another way.  How often when we’re going through difficult times do we essentially say, “if you are the Son of God, take away my cross!”  How often do we think that if Jesus was all-powerful, He would make our lives easy?  How often do we wish God (and our neighbors) would make less demands of us?  When we suffer injustice and abuse, do we want to put down our cross?  It may seem easier to just do what the world does in order to avoid suffering, and none of us are immune from these temptations.

However, like Jesus, we must bear our cross.  An easy life was not the plan for Jesus, and it’s not the plan for His followers either.  Pray for God to help us carry our cross today.

“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.  But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.” – 1 Peter 4:12-13