[Usual disclaimer for this Series: when it comes to prayer, it’s not about the words, not about one’s mouth but rather one’s heart. I.e., God’s not interested in verbal regurgitations… but if one truly believes and lives by the words uttered, having several quick prayers I can say to the Lord in a matter of seconds throughout the day is VERY VALUABLE for us and pleasing to Him since (a) it’s genuine, from the heart (“man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart” 1 Samuel 16:7) and (b) it keeps one’s mind, one’s eyes, one’s focus on the Lord all day (“fixing our eyes on Jesus” Hebrews 12:2]
Thank You for liberating me, Lord. From the penalty of sin (past), the power of sin (present), and one day even the very presence of sin (future). Thank You, thank You, thank You for Christian liberty – the freedom not to sin but to submit and obey. The freedom not for the practice of rebellion but of righteousness. The freedom not to first focus on my own interests but Yours and then other people’s. Thank You, Lord, for liberty.
“Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” (2 Corinthians 3:17)
[Usual disclaimer for this Series: when it comes to prayer, it’s not about the words, not about one’s mouth but rather one’s heart. I.e., God’s not interested in verbal regurgitations… but if one truly believes and lives by the words uttered, having several quick prayers I can say to the Lord in a matter of seconds throughout the day is VERY VALUABLE for us and pleasing to Him since (a) it’s genuine, from the heart (“man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart” 1 Samuel 16:7) and (b) it keeps one’s mind, one’s eyes, one’s focus on the Lord all day (“fixing our eyes on Jesus” Hebrews 12:2]
Lord, I look at everything around me, all that You have done and continue to graciously and perpetually provide, all the things and stuff for which I give You thanks yet again but BY FAR, what I’m MOST thankful for is You. Yes, Your provisions, but primarily Your Person. Possessions come and go but You never will, You are with me forever. YOU are all I need. YOU are enough for me.
[Usual disclaimer for this Series: when it comes to prayer, it’s not about the words, not about one’s mouth but rather one’s heart. I.e., God’s not interested in verbal regurgitations… but if one truly believes and lives by the words uttered, having several quick prayers I can say to the Lord in a matter of seconds throughout the day is VERY VALUABLE for us and pleasing to Him since (a) it’s genuine, from the heart (“man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart” 1 Samuel 16:7) and (b) it keeps one’s mind, one’s eyes, one’s focus on the Lord all day (“fixing our eyes on Jesus” Hebrews 12:2]
Keep me full of faith, free from fear, and fit for Your use.
As you know, the nation has seen an alarming (humanly speaking) (not for those of us who are aware of God’s utter sovereignty) rise in crime for the past two years and the past one in particular.
Today it was a mass shooting in a Brooklyn subway car in our biggest city.
Sad, senseless, and somehow almost expected given the current state of things.
Here’s a tweet from someone who was on the subway train right beside the one in which the shooting took place, backed up by how close the gunshots sound…
Video of people trying to escape shooter inside train carriage of #NewYork subway.
Gunshots can be heard in the background of panicked passengers.
… but even more stark than the gunshots were how downright unpanicked these people seem to be. As though they were super-duper certain that they wouldn’t die or get hit by one of those bullets.
This is EXACTLY in line with what I wrote in not one but two recent posts, particularly this one in which I discuss 2 Peter 3:3-7 which notes that end-times mockers will assume, will be self-assured, will be, yep, super-duper certain that the world won’t come to an end.
Because it never has. But Peter’s point is that just because something has never occurred doesn’t mean that it won’t occur. Just because something has never happened doesn’t mean that it never will.
That’s true about the world’s end, and it’s equally true about how and when each of us will slip into eternity.
It has famously been said that “the only sure thing in life is death and taxes.”
Wrong! Because as true as anything is this fact: a day, an hour, a minute, a split-second will come when each and every person will slip into eternity and leave this world, leave this physical life behind.
Based on their faces and body language and overall demeanor, it looks like they don’t believe that or at least didn’t believe it was going to happen today.
Even though bullets were literally flying around them (33 based on current news reports).
It’s really, really, really hard for us humans to think we’re going to be dead and gone someday. Even though we understand this intellectually, it’s hard to think it’s going to happen anytime soon in any case.
Until it’s too late and that event is upon us.
Like the hoards of people who were simply going to work at the World Trade Center or Pentagon on a bright, beautiful, blue-skied day in September 2001, as they had countless days before.
Then it happened. WHAM! Eternity.
The fact is that each and every person will one day slip into eternity.
The key is for each and every person to be prepared for that. To prepare NOW, while there’s still time, before it’s too late.
“…ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God… For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 3:23, 6:23)
“But as many as received Him [Jesus], to them He gave the RIGHT to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name… For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that WHOEVER believes in Him shall not perish, but HAVE ETERNAL LIFE.” (John 1:12, 3:16)
“WHOEVER calls on the name of the Lord WILL BE SAVED.” (Romans 10:13)
Friend, if you’ve never done that, then right now, as you read this, you’re unprepared for eternity.
But the good news is that IT’S NOT TOO LATE to rectify that! It might be a decade or a year or a week or a day or a minute from now, but since you’re reading this, it means there’s still time, however much or little is known only by God but why take a chance, especially when the stakes or as big as they get: eternity. Forever and ever.
If you’ve never done so, I lovingly encourage you to just say something in the spirit of this to the Lord: “Jesus, I believe that you are the Son of God and God Himself who not only became flesh for me but, though You knew no sin, became sin on MY behalf so I can experience the righteousness of God and spend all eternity in heaven with You an all Christians when my time here on earth ends. I know even just from the news items day in and day out that this can happen at any time. As unlikely and unexpected and hard-to-imagine as that is, I confess that it’s true and therefore I confess my sins and ask You to change my heart and replace the anger and hatred which fills it with the true love which can only come from You. I give the rest of my life to You, and want to live not for my desires or pleasure anymore but rather for Yours… from this day forward, ‘not my will but Thine be done!'”
It’s not about mouthing those words, it’s about the spirit, it’s about the heart, that’s what counts in God’s eyes.
If you’ve already done that in the past, I encourage you to renew your commitment to and love for Him.
“We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work.” (John 9:4)
“And do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed.” (Romans 13:11)
If you haven’t done that in the past, I encourage you to do so…
Right here. Right now. Just as you are.
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As referenced in past posts, I currently live by an airport. Three thoughts about this.
The first one is that I don’t just live by an airport but directly in one of its two take-off routes such that half of all flights each day fly right over my home.
My hi-rise home… meaning the airplanes, those huge hunks of steel and fuel, come RIGHT AT my window and then climb just enough to barely clear my building.
For a variety of reasons, for the past twenty years I have regularly kept the unbelievable events and lessons of 9/11 near the front of my mind, and always at least in the back of it. I’ve actually upheld that famous slogan, “We will never forget.”
I haven’t.
One reason is that while I – like all 330 million Americans and billions worldwide – was glued to the TV that unforgettable day, I watched in knee-jerk horror and pain yes for ALL of the victims of that morning and afternoon but none more so than when, that evening, the news channel scrolled – slowly scrolled – the name of my very best friend throughout my entire childhood and into high school and in a very real way ever since.
His family and he moved from the East Coast to California after his freshman year and he continued to excel in everything – academics, sports, being involved at church, dating (girls adored him, not unlike Tom Cruise or Val Kilmer at the time) – so it came as exactly ZERO surprise that he ended up getting into the U.S. Air Force Academy (not an easy feat as I’m sure many of you know to just get into that place, much less excel).
I had lost touch with him in the fifteen years that followed but when I saw his name slowly march its way up my television screen as being one of the people killed at the Pentagon on 9/11, well, I immediately made the connection, it totally fit that he would be at the Pentagon.
First name, middle initial, last name… I made the connection intellectually but emotionally it was as though Babe Ruth had come back from the dead for a nanosecond and hit me. With a sledgehammer.
I had never experienced emotional pain like that in my life. And in my life. I.e., something of such a massive scale which directly and dramatically affected me.
I say nanosecond because after my eyes, moving left to right, saw his name, they ended up on his age. 54… NOT A MATCH! Not even CLOSE! WAY OFF!!! I was so thrilled, so glad, so grateful. Never before, never since, and almost certainly never again had I, have I, nor will I hit extreme sorrow and extreme joy in the same split-second.
There are several other reasons that “day of infamy” (and heroism! Todd Beamer and group, among many others) has always stayed, never strayed too far from my mind, but that was the biggest, most personal one by far.
Ergo, today as I watch airplane after airplane flying RIGHT AT my window in the first few seconds of takeoff before climbing just enough in the next few, I can relate to what those people at the Pentagon and especially the World Trade Towers experienced just before impact. (I can fully relate to their anticipation, definitely not to their horror.)
(It brings me back to week-before-last’s post about 2 Peter 3:3-7, i.e., I can also relate to or, more accurately put, understand why the end-times mockers will just assume that the end will keep on “missing”, that it will permanently be delayed, never happen, since that’s how it’s always been, since that’s what’s always happened so far. I.e., those taking-off, low-climbing, fast-approaching airplanes have never hit my building and I’m sure they never will. The difference of course is that my assumption, my projection of the past onto the future will almost certainly prove to be right, while theirs will definitely prove to be wrong.)
The second thought about living right by an airport is this: God is SO great that what He creates is able to create. Even His creation is able to create all sorts of things, like airplanes and space rockets and microwave ovens and smartphones and pyramids.
The third thought about living right by an airport occurred to me again just yesterday.
I was out on one of my 2-4 each week several-hour walks/jogs (mainly the former 🙂 ) and part of my route was right along the river across from my building and the airport so while walking one gets the added, bonus benefit of the never-gets-old-or-boring sight of watching plane after plane approaching as they land. They fly right over the pedestrians’ heads, engines roaring mightily as they slowly decelerate as that particular flight is about to conclude. They’re so low, it’s as though you can reach out your hand and touch the airplanes.
It’s quite an exhilarating experience and sight and sound but also wondrous: how on earth can the massive combined weight of all those passengers and luggage and cargo and especially the metal, my goodness, all that metal stay afloat even as the speed decreases? How is it possible that the planes don’t just fall straight down onto the land or river thirty feet below? Intellectually I know why, I understand the physics of speed and thrust and wings and flaps and that good stuff from high school science classes. But it’s still hard to completely “wrap my mind around” exactly how the physics are able to actually work.
I think that’s how it is for all of us when it comes to God’s sovereignty and man’s free will.
I KNOW that BOTH are totally true, fully in effect at all times. Yet not a single person born of mother and father has ever been able to explain the synthesis of those two seemingly diametrically-different concepts… to oneself much less others.
And yet I’m not 51% or 75% or even 99% certain about both truths, I’m 100% sure.
But how can only those who have been “called” and “chosen of God” (Jude 1; Colossians 3:12; among many others) be saved, get into heaven? How does THAT mesh with man’s “free will”?
This is the essence of faith: like how a huge, heavy airplane can remain afloat even while slowing down, we might not be able to fully explain exactly how the seemingly competing facts mesh and gel, but we know that they absolutely do.
Three thoughts from a guy who lives and walks right by an airport.
http://biblememory.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/IMAGE-LOGO-BMO-PNG-3701x4004-IMPROVED-with-extended-y-underlines-Human-Head-with-Bible-on-multi-colored-Brain-Lobes-all-atop-Domain-Name-277x300.png00Bible Memoryhttp://biblememory.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/IMAGE-LOGO-BMO-PNG-3701x4004-IMPROVED-with-extended-y-underlines-Human-Head-with-Bible-on-multi-colored-Brain-Lobes-all-atop-Domain-Name-277x300.pngBible Memory2022-04-12 12:00:272022-04-12 12:01:30Living by an Airport
This has been quite a week for sports fans: Monday saw the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament (“March Madness”) wrap up with a thrilling, two-heavyweights, down-to-the-wire Championship, and today provided as entertaining and impressive a day of golf as I’ve ever seen, at the finale of The Masters.
Lots and lots of unusual things I’ve never seen in golf and probably never will again… like BOTH players on the final round of a major tournament making an Eagle on the same hole but then having those very same two players turn right around a few holes later and BOTH chip in a birdie from the same sand trap near the end of the round.
And then there was the fact that a different player shot the (tied-for) BEST score for the front or back nine in the history of that hallowed tournament.
And too many other such unusual things to list here and now but you get the gist.
The only thing it lacked was an exciting finish, as the 54-hole leader from yesterday never yielded his lead all day today (though he did provide some last-minute excitement when he missed not one but two tap-in putts on the very last hole) but the biggest takeaway for me was two sides of the same coin of a great life lesson.
First, the other half of the “last group” to tee-off was of course the fellow in second place at the end of yesterday’s third round and he came out of the gates red hot, scoring a birdie and going from being down three strokes to just two.
But it was pretty much all downhill from there for him on this crucial, pivotal, determinative fourth and final round.
He started out beautifully but his ending? Not so much.
Or put poetically:
Great start. Fell apart.
And that reminded me EXACTLY of a fateful fellow from the Bible named Demas. Fateful, and fatally foolish. Why? Because he was given, he experienced one of THE ALL-TIME GREATEST roles in life: being in the innermost social and spiritual circle of none other than the Apostle Paul. We know this because Paul specifically named him, gave him a personal “shout out” at the end of not one but TWO of his Epistles which would later be included in the Canon of Scripture (i.e., I have a strong hunch Paul also gave him similar “kudos” at the end of many of his letters which weren’t canonized).
“Luke, the beloved physician, sends you his greetings, and also Demas.” (Colossians 4:14)
“as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow workers.” (Philemon 24)
Wow! Wow!!! Getting a personal shout-out from the Apostle Paul himself for being one of his closest “fellow workers”… wow!!!
I’d be soooo jealous of that if I didn’t know what else Paul would later say about Demas:
“for Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica…” (2 Timothy 4:10)
Great start. Fell apart.
Just like that golfer today.
The other side of the lesson coin from today’s golf finale was the fact that the start-to-finish leader the entire round just happens to also be the #1-ranked golfer in the world.
This is quite common in other sports, too.
Do you suppose it was mere coincidence that NFL quarterback Tom Brady won so many Super Bowls (and MVP Awards) during his legendary career with the New England Patriots? And then when he signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers he led that team to a Super Bowl victory, too?
Nope. Not a coincidence. Rather, it speaks to his consistency.
Or do you suppose it was mere coincidence when Michael Jordan led his Chicago Bulls to not one, not two, but three straight NBA Championships in the 90’s? And then, after taking two years off to try his hand at baseball after the untimely and very sad and senseless death of his dad, his best friend in the whole wide world as we used to say as kids, after two years off he came back and, yep, you got it, led his Chicago Bulls to not one, not two, but three straight NBA Championships AGAIN to make it six straight for him personally and six out of eight for daaaaa Bulls.
Talk about consistency!
And that could be said of Wayne Gretzky in hockey and Cal Ripken in baseball and Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic or back in the day Pete Sampras or Bjorn Borg in tennis (and I have to include one of my personal favorites, Andre Agassi… not nearly so many titles as these other players but it seemed that for an entire decade or more he was almost always in the top two or three).
And even in the universally-viewed-as-random/luck world of poker, ever notice how the very same players end up at the final table and win tournaments year in and year out?
In all of these cases, it’s not a coincidence, it’s consistency.
As personified today by Scottie Scheffler at The Masters.
As personified most perennially by the Apostle Paul. (No surprise that he too seemed to be a true sports fan, given the many references to sports throughout his various Epistles.)
May we strive and recommit ourselves to follow the example of Paul, not Demas. Not just to start well but to end well.
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7)
“… be ye steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord…” (1 Corinthians 15:58)
http://biblememory.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/IMAGE-LOGO-BMO-PNG-3701x4004-IMPROVED-with-extended-y-underlines-Human-Head-with-Bible-on-multi-colored-Brain-Lobes-all-atop-Domain-Name-277x300.png00Bible Memoryhttp://biblememory.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/IMAGE-LOGO-BMO-PNG-3701x4004-IMPROVED-with-extended-y-underlines-Human-Head-with-Bible-on-multi-colored-Brain-Lobes-all-atop-Domain-Name-277x300.pngBible Memory2022-04-10 21:09:582022-04-10 21:20:45Talk about a great golf lesson!
As the current pandemic of the past two years looks like it’s ebbing to an actual end, my deepest desire and most passionate prayer would be for the masses here in the U.S. and around the globe to realize that even far, far, far, far, far, far more deadly and long-lasting than COVID is the still-spreading spiritual virus of sin.
Its consequences are far greater, entailing not just physical but also spiritual death.
“For the wages of sin is death[spiritual and physical] …” (Romans 6:23)
Its reach is far greater, leaving exactly ZERO people untouched.
“For all have sinned…” (Romans 3:23)
That’s quite a combination already… but there’s more! Because…
Its longevity is far greater – no less than eternity itself. Forever and ever.
“… the lake of fire [i.e., hell] … and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” (Revelation 20:10)
“And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever…” (Revelation 14:11)
“These [i.e., unbelievers] will pay the penalty of eternal destruction…” (2 Thessalonians 1:9)
“These [i.e., unbelievers] will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous [i.e., believers, those who have had their sins exchanged for the righteousness of God in Christ, per2 Corinthians 5:21] into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:46)
I saved that one for last because the second half includes the hope of God’s good grace and gift of the gospel. Trust me when I tell you that knowing where one will spend eternity in the life to come makes this current, temporary life far more joyful and fun.
But may we not stop there, with ourselves, but also share it with as many people as possible, as we have opportunity, while we still have time for them to likewise be saved.
I say while we still have time because I’m sure I’m not alone in seeing what a super-small step it would be from where we went, what we witnessed during the pandemic to the events noted in the Bible about the end times, the final day.
May each of us prepare each day for that day.
Because as Paul poignantly penned in Romans 13:11, “for now salvation is nearer to us than when we [first] believed.”
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A few posts ago I mentioned March Madness, the annual college basketball tournament which has long been a springtime classic for sports and especially b-ball fans; it just completed and here are some observations and takeaways and, believe it or not, spiritual/biblical parallels or illustrations or lessons.
The referees definitely have a job to do… but it’s not so much a job as an honor and privilege (since the refs for that game are selected based on stellar performance in past games). The same is true when it comes to Christians and “witnessing”, sharing the Gospel, God’s plan of salvation, with others: it’s definitely a job/command…
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…” (Matthew 28:19)
… but not so much a job as an honor and privilege for which we have been specifically selected and approved and with which we have been entrusted.
“… we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel…” (1 Thessalonians 2:4)
(Because if we believers don’t tell others about the great grace and goodness of God, who will? If we don’t tell them, how will they ever hear about it and believe, and be saved from their sin and sins and the eternal penalty thereof?)
“How then shall they call upon Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? [Lit., any ‘proclaimer’ or ‘heralder’, not necessarily a pastor or ‘official’ evangelist]” (Romans 10:14)
Also… as discussed in-depth in a prior post, maintaining momentum, not giving back gained ground, is crucial for winning!
“Watch yourselves, that you might not lose what we have accomplished [i.e., in you], but that you may receive a full reward.” (2 John 8)
This exhortation/warning is given by God because He knows how prone we humans are to “letting up”, to “getting lax” after achieving growth or accomplishment or success in a given area or facet or aspect of life – spiritual, sports, financial, relational, etc… which is why He gives a similar and even far more famous warning several books earlier:
“Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed [i.e., ‘Watch yourselves!’]lest he fall.” (1 Corinthians 10:12) (This verse immediately came to mind when the Tar Heels had a whopping 15-point lead over the Jayhawks at halftime. I was very impressed with several things about their former star and now first-year coach Hubert Davis, but I found myself saying “I hope he drills it into his team NOT TO LET UP” as such would be the likely path for the second half given human nature… and surely enough, as if on cue, Kansas came out for the second half and reeled off 25 points to UNC’s 10, and never really looked back.)
Another way of putting that is this: Don’t get lax. And certainly, above all, don’t get COCKY!
Throughout my entire childhood my dad and I had what was undoubtedly the longest-running, most fun, most exciting backgammon competition. It didn’t increase how much he loved me – that was clearly already 100% – but it did in a certain sense increase how much he “liked” me, i.e., how much he truly and thoroughly enjoyed spending time with me in that pastime, i.e., how much we bonded on a human, personal, personality level. I genuinely loved those countless, daily-for-a-decade games of backgammon with Dad… and all the more because we discussed the Bible for 50-75% of the time spent playing backgammon. But the main point for this post is that it was absolutely uncanny that when either of us would get way, way, way ahead in a game and start “trash-talking” and “teasing” the other person, the one who got cocky would almost always end up LOSING the game in nothing short of a miracle comeback by the other one. It was really something. Like clockwork. Every time. To the point that we developed a saying right as one of those mammoth comebacks occurred: “You got COCKY! Don’t get COCKY! Never, never, never get COCKY!” That’s what the two verses above are saying. Don’t get lax in life and especially not in one’s walk with the Lord, one’s level of spiritual growth.
But that coin has a second side and that’s this: Never GIVE UP. (Cue Winston Churchill here.) Missed your first several shots in a basketball game? KEEP SHOOTING. Trust the hours of practice you’ve put in and KEEP SHOOTING. Or, put another way: Keep at it. Stay the course. Be persistent. Endure. Because just as crucial as it is not to get cocky when one is “up” or “winning” or “ahead”, it’s equally essential not to give up and to keep at it, to stay the course, to be persistent, to endure, to “keep on keeping on” when one is “down” or “losing” or “behind”.
“But the one who endures to the end, he shall be saved.” (Matthew 24:13)
“And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach – if indeed you continue[i.e., endure!] in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel…” (Colossians 1:21-23) (which sounds super-similar to this verse…)
“… be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 15:58)
Made your first several shots? Great. Don’t get cocky. Missed your first several shots? KEEP SHOOTING THE BALL.
Also… don’t keep looking at the score/scoreboard; rather, focus on (playing) the GAME!
“fixing our eyes on Jesus…” (Hebrews 12:2)
It’s much less likely that we will give back gained ground if we keep our focus on the Lord, not the “scoreboard”.
Also… play as if you’ve ALREADY WON! Because, as a born-again believer, you have!
“But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.” (Romans 8:37)
“You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith.” (1 John 4:4, 5:4)
“When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.” (Colossians 2:15)
“But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says, ‘When He ascended on high, He led captive a host of captives, and He gave gifts to men.'” (Ephesians 4:8)
“… the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.” (1 Peter 5:10)
“but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:57)
In other words: Don’t get cocky… but do be confident! In the Bible. In God’s promises. That He will be true to His Word and words. (Spoiler alert: He ALWAYS is!)
And last but definitely not least… focus on playing great DEFENSE. Let God handle the offense.
The Bible is crystal clear that in the Christian life, OUR ROLE is one of DEFENSE, NOT offense (which belongs to the Lord).
“Put on the full armor of God… And take… the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” (Ephesians 6:11,17) In the Greek, that word “sword” more specifically means “knife” or “dagger” – a DEFENSIVE weapon!
“Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8) These two actions speak to DEFENSE, NOT offense! It doesn’t say to “attack” or “pursue” or “chase after” the devil/evil. Instead, it says to be SOBER and ALERT about his offense, which means the Christian’s role is one of, yep, DEFENSE, NOT offense.
“… whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also.” (Matthew 5:39) “Turn the other cheek” – versus hitting back – speaks to, yep, you got it, DE-FENSE, DE-FENSE, DE-FENSE. NOT offense. As does…
“Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. … Never take your own revenge…” (Romans 12:17,19)
Probably THE BEST illustration of this from the sports world would be the 1985-86 Chicago Bears of the NFL. They had one of the greatest running backs of all time (Walter Payton) yet, inexplicably, were infamous for having next-to-no offense… yet they WON IT ALL and were world champions that season because they had the best DEFENSE.
Let’s end this post by coming back to basketball. I’m always amazed how a team can have a phenomenal shooter, scorer, offensively-gifted player, yet invariably not keep feeding him the ball, not keep passing the ball to him and just let him “do his thing” on offense. Yet how many times do we Christians – how many times do I, how many times do you – who happen to have a teammate who C-A-N-N-O-T M-I-S-S even a S-I-N-G-L-E S-H-O-T ever, how many times do we fail to just give Him the ball and let HIM take care of the offense while we focus on defense, on our role?
Let’s purpose in our hearts not to be so foolish going forward. Let’s just give the ball to the Lord. Every time. I assure you that the results will be phenomenal. And historic. Even far better than Kansas, Duke, Kentucky, UCLA and UNC combined. Times a trillion. . .
If you sense that the Lord might be leading YOU to support the historic event unfolding in real-time here at BibleMemory.ORG and thus become my fellow worker and thus share in all of the fruit and blessings (3 John 8) and literally MAKE HISTORY together, here are the best ways to do so:
1. Become a one-time or monthly partner by making a donation via PayPal’s fully-secure Bible Memory page!
2. Encourage as many people as you can to support this historic event by having them go to BibleMemory.ORG/support (please make sure they understand that it’s .org, not .com) – doing so by word-of-mouth is great, and to do so with a single click on your social media simply click here then scroll down a few inches to the green box and select your platforms, it’s that quick and easy!
4. Encourage as many of our fellow Christians as you can to pray for this historic event by having them go to BibleMemory.ORG/pray (please make sure they understand that it’s .org, not .com) – doing so by word-of-mouth is great, and to do so with a single click on your social media simply click here then scroll down a few inches and select your platforms, it’s that quick and easy!
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http://biblememory.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/IMAGE-LOGO-BMO-PNG-3701x4004-IMPROVED-with-extended-y-underlines-Human-Head-with-Bible-on-multi-colored-Brain-Lobes-all-atop-Domain-Name-277x300.png00Bible Memoryhttp://biblememory.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/IMAGE-LOGO-BMO-PNG-3701x4004-IMPROVED-with-extended-y-underlines-Human-Head-with-Bible-on-multi-colored-Brain-Lobes-all-atop-Domain-Name-277x300.pngBible Memory2022-04-06 17:07:562022-04-08 17:56:00Lasting Lessons from March Madness
The Bible is filled with blessings and warnings, with encouragements and exhortations. It covers the entire spectrum of life: literally anything one could come across or encounter, the Bible has an application for that! It has a principle (at least one, often multiple) that’ll deal with and inform a person how to best proceed in a given matter, which path to take. It is complete. It is all-sufficient – not only for this life but also for the life to come.
It is the Word and words of God Almighty Himself, so it is infinite in authority and truth. Indeed, it defines truth. Because it IS truth.
“… Thy word is truth.” (John 17:17)
Therefore, it greatly behooves a person to not just read it – a good and necessary first step – but also to HEED it.
Its promises and blessings – which many people view as the “good stuff” – but every bit so beneficial, beloved, are the “biting” sections, the grave warnings.
Like I said, there are many throughout the Bible. And many spoken by the human lips of the Lord Jesus Himself:
“but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it is better for him that a heavy millstone be hung around his neck, and that he be drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! … woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes!” (Matthew 18:6-7) [It’s clear where the Apostle Paul got his passion and penchant for exclamation points!]
“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! … it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment, than for you. And you, Capernaum… You shall descent to Hades… it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you.” (Matthew 11:21-24)
“But if you do not forgive men, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions. And [the unforgiving slave’s master], moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers… So shall My heavenly Father also do to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.” (Matthew 6:15, 18:34-35)
… just to name a few. And here are three more, coming from the anonymous human author of the book of Hebrews:
“For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God, and put Him to open shame. … For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain terrifying expectation of judgment, and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.’ And again, ‘The Lord will judge His people.’ It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. … for our God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 6:4-6, 10:26-31, 12:29)
… but the one warning which is similarly serious and searing and scathing and scary but probably the most surprising in all of Scripture comes from the Holy Spirit by way of Peter in the second of his two epistles (that just means a “letter”) included in the canon of Scripture:
“For if after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment delivered to them.” (2 Peter 2:20-21)
Wow! Whoa! What a warning!
I knew that there was something worse than being an unbeliever, than being unsaved, unredeemed…
“But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever.” (1 Timothy 5:8)
… but those words of warning at the end of 2 Peter 2 take the cake: it would actually be better for a person “NOT TO HAVE KNOWN the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away” from it.
Stark.
Stunning.
May we not take our salvation lightly or for granted. May we not “turn away” from its path of pure and righteous conduct.
“Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, ‘The Lord knows those who are His,’ and ‘Let everyone who names the name of the Lord abstain from wickedness.'” (2 Timothy 2:19)
“To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled. They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient, and worthless for any good deed. … For the grace of God has appeared… instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly…” (Titus 1:15-16, 2:11-12)
But may we also go further and keep an eye out for those who have made this very bad, very unwise, very consequential choice, and lovingly seek to be used by God to TURN THEM BACK.
“My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth, and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death, and will cover a multitude of sins.” (James 5:19-20)
“save others, snatching them out of the fire…” (Jude 23)
Spiritually, we are our “brother’s keeper”.
Let’s make sure our own life is on track, then – through the testimony and power of pure living – let’s look to bring others along for the ride.
The ride which will one day come to a halt in heaven.
How many times yesterday did you actively and specifically even think about the Lord’s return to take us home to heaven?
How about the day before that?
How about last week? Last month? (Gulp…) Last year?
I’m embarrassed to say that a long time ago I actually went months without being able to say for sure that I actively and specifically thought about that glorious future event. At least not in the sense of eagerly awaiting it. And not surprisingly, that was one of the only stretches in my life in which I was far more focused on the day-to-day dealings of life, i.e., the tangible, than I was on the far more important intangibles. The former category is of course very important, but should never, ever overtake or unseat the latter from the throne of our mind.
Also not surprising or ironic in the least but rather totally to be expected is the fact that said stretch of time in my life was the least spiritually fruitful. I can’t say that I was completely barren spiritually but let’s just say that the apples weren’t exactly falling from the tree on their own if you know what I mean.
And the reason that isn’t at all surprising is that setting our minds on the things above, the intangible and unseen things, is THE KEY to a healthy, fruitful walk with the Lord, i.e., His working in us and then through us.
“Set your minds on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.” (Colossians 3:2)
“… look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:18)
“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.” (Galatians 5:16-17)
“For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.” (Romans 8:5)
I foolishly let my focus fall for months to the horizontal, earthly realm instead of the vertical, heavenly realm – and paid the price spiritually via the Lord’s very effective yet somehow gentle discipline, as well as by way of a lack of spiritual growth and fruitfulness during that time of lost priority of focus.
Instead, we are indeed to stay focused on the things above and specifically the return of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
“… waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.” (Jude 21)
“For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ…” (Philippians 3:20)
“…. waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.” (Romans 8:23)
[The “transformation” and “redemption” of our body occurs at the return of Christ, the rapture:]
“… We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is.” (1 John 3:2)
“… we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet [i.e., the rapture, see 1 Thessalonians 4:16]; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.” (1 Corinthians 15:51-53)
I’ve gotten a lot better at staying focused on the Lord and His return, much more consistent, yet I find that the “eagerness” is still sometimes somewhat lacking – in extent if not essence. Not because I don’t love Him or CAN’T WAIT to see Him, but rather because I see how much (massive) room for growth remains in my life and especially how much work remains to be done in terms of bringing others to the Lord, bringing others “along for the ride” as they say.
The ride to heaven.
I’m comforted by the fact that none other than the Apostle Paul had this very same struggle:
“For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake.” (Philippians 1:21-24)
And part of it is the deep desire to “make up for lost time”. The Lord has allowed His living and active Word, the Bible, to reveal to my mind’s eye a very specific method to memorize entire books of the Bible… and anything else! And how long it has taken me to get to the point of officially launching this website and the historic event unfolding in real-time here definitely causes me to tell the Lord how much I look forward to seeing Him… but also to please hold off on His return and to use me to help, to literally empower countless people to unlock and unleash their mind, too, as the Bible has been and continues to do in me.
Because I know that the more people memorize Scripture, the more people will be saved, and grow in their confidence and certainty about their salvation, and in turn tell others.
Just like that old shampoo commercial.
Please wait a little while longer, Lord, so more and more people can come to know You before that door shuts forever. Let them likewise hold on a little while longer.
(This song isn’t my cup of tea musically but it fits perfectly so I’m going with it! It’s also a loving nod to my precious mother who used to play Christian music virtually all day every day throughout my entire childhood… with a heavy, heavy, heavy dose of Evie, Evie, Evie so this one’s for you, Mom.)
http://biblememory.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/IMAGE-LOGO-BMO-PNG-3701x4004-IMPROVED-with-extended-y-underlines-Human-Head-with-Bible-on-multi-colored-Brain-Lobes-all-atop-Domain-Name-277x300.png00Bible Memoryhttp://biblememory.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/IMAGE-LOGO-BMO-PNG-3701x4004-IMPROVED-with-extended-y-underlines-Human-Head-with-Bible-on-multi-colored-Brain-Lobes-all-atop-Domain-Name-277x300.pngBible Memory2022-04-06 16:53:492022-04-07 12:49:21Hold On a Little While Longer
SERIES: Frequent Prayers: Liberated
/in Uncategorized /by Bible Memory[Usual disclaimer for this Series: when it comes to prayer, it’s not about the words, not about one’s mouth but rather one’s heart. I.e., God’s not interested in verbal regurgitations… but if one truly believes and lives by the words uttered, having several quick prayers I can say to the Lord in a matter of seconds throughout the day is VERY VALUABLE for us and pleasing to Him since (a) it’s genuine, from the heart (“man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart” 1 Samuel 16:7) and (b) it keeps one’s mind, one’s eyes, one’s focus on the Lord all day (“fixing our eyes on Jesus” Hebrews 12:2]
Thank You for liberating me, Lord. From the penalty of sin (past), the power of sin (present), and one day even the very presence of sin (future). Thank You, thank You, thank You for Christian liberty – the freedom not to sin but to submit and obey. The freedom not for the practice of rebellion but of righteousness. The freedom not to first focus on my own interests but Yours and then other people’s. Thank You, Lord, for liberty.
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SERIES: Frequent Prayers: All-sufficient
/in Uncategorized /by Bible Memory[Usual disclaimer for this Series: when it comes to prayer, it’s not about the words, not about one’s mouth but rather one’s heart. I.e., God’s not interested in verbal regurgitations… but if one truly believes and lives by the words uttered, having several quick prayers I can say to the Lord in a matter of seconds throughout the day is VERY VALUABLE for us and pleasing to Him since (a) it’s genuine, from the heart (“man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart” 1 Samuel 16:7) and (b) it keeps one’s mind, one’s eyes, one’s focus on the Lord all day (“fixing our eyes on Jesus” Hebrews 12:2]
Lord, I look at everything around me, all that You have done and continue to graciously and perpetually provide, all the things and stuff for which I give You thanks yet again but BY FAR, what I’m MOST thankful for is You. Yes, Your provisions, but primarily Your Person. Possessions come and go but You never will, You are with me forever. YOU are all I need. YOU are enough for me.
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SERIES: Frequent Prayers: Keep me…
/in Uncategorized /by Bible Memory[Usual disclaimer for this Series: when it comes to prayer, it’s not about the words, not about one’s mouth but rather one’s heart. I.e., God’s not interested in verbal regurgitations… but if one truly believes and lives by the words uttered, having several quick prayers I can say to the Lord in a matter of seconds throughout the day is VERY VALUABLE for us and pleasing to Him since (a) it’s genuine, from the heart (“man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart” 1 Samuel 16:7) and (b) it keeps one’s mind, one’s eyes, one’s focus on the Lord all day (“fixing our eyes on Jesus” Hebrews 12:2]
Keep me full of faith, free from fear, and fit for Your use.
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While There’s Still Time, Before It’s Too Late, Just As You Are
/in Uncategorized /by Bible MemoryAs you know, the nation has seen an alarming (humanly speaking) (not for those of us who are aware of God’s utter sovereignty) rise in crime for the past two years and the past one in particular.
Today it was a mass shooting in a Brooklyn subway car in our biggest city.
Sad, senseless, and somehow almost expected given the current state of things.
Here’s a tweet from someone who was on the subway train right beside the one in which the shooting took place, backed up by how close the gunshots sound…
… but even more stark than the gunshots were how downright unpanicked these people seem to be. As though they were super-duper certain that they wouldn’t die or get hit by one of those bullets.
This is EXACTLY in line with what I wrote in not one but two recent posts, particularly this one in which I discuss 2 Peter 3:3-7 which notes that end-times mockers will assume, will be self-assured, will be, yep, super-duper certain that the world won’t come to an end.
Because it never has. But Peter’s point is that just because something has never occurred doesn’t mean that it won’t occur. Just because something has never happened doesn’t mean that it never will.
That’s true about the world’s end, and it’s equally true about how and when each of us will slip into eternity.
It has famously been said that “the only sure thing in life is death and taxes.”
Wrong! Because as true as anything is this fact: a day, an hour, a minute, a split-second will come when each and every person will slip into eternity and leave this world, leave this physical life behind.
Based on their faces and body language and overall demeanor, it looks like they don’t believe that or at least didn’t believe it was going to happen today.
Even though bullets were literally flying around them (33 based on current news reports).
It’s really, really, really hard for us humans to think we’re going to be dead and gone someday. Even though we understand this intellectually, it’s hard to think it’s going to happen anytime soon in any case.
Until it’s too late and that event is upon us.
Like the hoards of people who were simply going to work at the World Trade Center or Pentagon on a bright, beautiful, blue-skied day in September 2001, as they had countless days before.
Then it happened. WHAM! Eternity.
The fact is that each and every person will one day slip into eternity.
The key is for each and every person to be prepared for that. To prepare NOW, while there’s still time, before it’s too late.
Friend, if you’ve never done that, then right now, as you read this, you’re unprepared for eternity.
But the good news is that IT’S NOT TOO LATE to rectify that! It might be a decade or a year or a week or a day or a minute from now, but since you’re reading this, it means there’s still time, however much or little is known only by God but why take a chance, especially when the stakes or as big as they get: eternity. Forever and ever.
If you’ve never done so, I lovingly encourage you to just say something in the spirit of this to the Lord: “Jesus, I believe that you are the Son of God and God Himself who not only became flesh for me but, though You knew no sin, became sin on MY behalf so I can experience the righteousness of God and spend all eternity in heaven with You an all Christians when my time here on earth ends. I know even just from the news items day in and day out that this can happen at any time. As unlikely and unexpected and hard-to-imagine as that is, I confess that it’s true and therefore I confess my sins and ask You to change my heart and replace the anger and hatred which fills it with the true love which can only come from You. I give the rest of my life to You, and want to live not for my desires or pleasure anymore but rather for Yours… from this day forward, ‘not my will but Thine be done!'”
It’s not about mouthing those words, it’s about the spirit, it’s about the heart, that’s what counts in God’s eyes.
If you’ve already done that in the past, I encourage you to renew your commitment to and love for Him.
If you haven’t done that in the past, I encourage you to do so…
Right here. Right now. Just as you are.
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If you sense that the Lord might be leading YOU to support the historic event unfolding in real-time here at BibleMemory.ORG and thus become my fellow worker and thus share in all of the fruit and blessings (3 John 8) and literally MAKE HISTORY together, here are the best ways to do so:
1. Become a one-time or monthly partner by making a donation via PayPal’s fully-secure Bible Memory page!
2. Encourage as many people as you can to support this historic event by having them go to BibleMemory.ORG/support (please make sure they understand that it’s .org, not .com) – doing so by word-of-mouth is great, and to do so with a single click on your social media simply click here then scroll down a few inches to the green box and select your platforms, it’s that quick and easy!
3. Add your name to my Prayer List!
4. Encourage as many of our fellow Christians as you can to pray for this historic event by having them go to BibleMemory.ORG/pray (please make sure they understand that it’s .org, not .com) – doing so by word-of-mouth is great, and to do so with a single click on your social media simply click here then scroll down a few inches and select your platforms, it’s that quick and easy!
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Living by an Airport
/in Uncategorized /by Bible MemoryAs referenced in past posts, I currently live by an airport. Three thoughts about this.
The first one is that I don’t just live by an airport but directly in one of its two take-off routes such that half of all flights each day fly right over my home.
My hi-rise home… meaning the airplanes, those huge hunks of steel and fuel, come RIGHT AT my window and then climb just enough to barely clear my building.
For a variety of reasons, for the past twenty years I have regularly kept the unbelievable events and lessons of 9/11 near the front of my mind, and always at least in the back of it. I’ve actually upheld that famous slogan, “We will never forget.”
I haven’t.
One reason is that while I – like all 330 million Americans and billions worldwide – was glued to the TV that unforgettable day, I watched in knee-jerk horror and pain yes for ALL of the victims of that morning and afternoon but none more so than when, that evening, the news channel scrolled – slowly scrolled – the name of my very best friend throughout my entire childhood and into high school and in a very real way ever since.
His family and he moved from the East Coast to California after his freshman year and he continued to excel in everything – academics, sports, being involved at church, dating (girls adored him, not unlike Tom Cruise or Val Kilmer at the time) – so it came as exactly ZERO surprise that he ended up getting into the U.S. Air Force Academy (not an easy feat as I’m sure many of you know to just get into that place, much less excel).
I had lost touch with him in the fifteen years that followed but when I saw his name slowly march its way up my television screen as being one of the people killed at the Pentagon on 9/11, well, I immediately made the connection, it totally fit that he would be at the Pentagon.
First name, middle initial, last name… I made the connection intellectually but emotionally it was as though Babe Ruth had come back from the dead for a nanosecond and hit me. With a sledgehammer.
I had never experienced emotional pain like that in my life. And in my life. I.e., something of such a massive scale which directly and dramatically affected me.
I say nanosecond because after my eyes, moving left to right, saw his name, they ended up on his age. 54… NOT A MATCH! Not even CLOSE! WAY OFF!!! I was so thrilled, so glad, so grateful. Never before, never since, and almost certainly never again had I, have I, nor will I hit extreme sorrow and extreme joy in the same split-second.
There are several other reasons that “day of infamy” (and heroism! Todd Beamer and group, among many others) has always stayed, never strayed too far from my mind, but that was the biggest, most personal one by far.
Ergo, today as I watch airplane after airplane flying RIGHT AT my window in the first few seconds of takeoff before climbing just enough in the next few, I can relate to what those people at the Pentagon and especially the World Trade Towers experienced just before impact. (I can fully relate to their anticipation, definitely not to their horror.)
(It brings me back to week-before-last’s post about 2 Peter 3:3-7, i.e., I can also relate to or, more accurately put, understand why the end-times mockers will just assume that the end will keep on “missing”, that it will permanently be delayed, never happen, since that’s how it’s always been, since that’s what’s always happened so far. I.e., those taking-off, low-climbing, fast-approaching airplanes have never hit my building and I’m sure they never will. The difference of course is that my assumption, my projection of the past onto the future will almost certainly prove to be right, while theirs will definitely prove to be wrong.)
The second thought about living right by an airport is this: God is SO great that what He creates is able to create. Even His creation is able to create all sorts of things, like airplanes and space rockets and microwave ovens and smartphones and pyramids.
The third thought about living right by an airport occurred to me again just yesterday.
I was out on one of my 2-4 each week several-hour walks/jogs (mainly the former 🙂 ) and part of my route was right along the river across from my building and the airport so while walking one gets the added, bonus benefit of the never-gets-old-or-boring sight of watching plane after plane approaching as they land. They fly right over the pedestrians’ heads, engines roaring mightily as they slowly decelerate as that particular flight is about to conclude. They’re so low, it’s as though you can reach out your hand and touch the airplanes.
It’s quite an exhilarating experience and sight and sound but also wondrous: how on earth can the massive combined weight of all those passengers and luggage and cargo and especially the metal, my goodness, all that metal stay afloat even as the speed decreases? How is it possible that the planes don’t just fall straight down onto the land or river thirty feet below? Intellectually I know why, I understand the physics of speed and thrust and wings and flaps and that good stuff from high school science classes. But it’s still hard to completely “wrap my mind around” exactly how the physics are able to actually work.
I think that’s how it is for all of us when it comes to God’s sovereignty and man’s free will.
I KNOW that BOTH are totally true, fully in effect at all times. Yet not a single person born of mother and father has ever been able to explain the synthesis of those two seemingly diametrically-different concepts… to oneself much less others.
And yet I’m not 51% or 75% or even 99% certain about both truths, I’m 100% sure.
But how can only those who have been “called” and “chosen of God” (Jude 1; Colossians 3:12; among many others) be saved, get into heaven? How does THAT mesh with man’s “free will”?
This is the essence of faith: like how a huge, heavy airplane can remain afloat even while slowing down, we might not be able to fully explain exactly how the seemingly competing facts mesh and gel, but we know that they absolutely do.
Three thoughts from a guy who lives and walks right by an airport.
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Talk about a great golf lesson!
/in Uncategorized /by Bible MemoryThis has been quite a week for sports fans: Monday saw the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament (“March Madness”) wrap up with a thrilling, two-heavyweights, down-to-the-wire Championship, and today provided as entertaining and impressive a day of golf as I’ve ever seen, at the finale of The Masters.
Lots and lots of unusual things I’ve never seen in golf and probably never will again… like BOTH players on the final round of a major tournament making an Eagle on the same hole but then having those very same two players turn right around a few holes later and BOTH chip in a birdie from the same sand trap near the end of the round.
And then there was the fact that a different player shot the (tied-for) BEST score for the front or back nine in the history of that hallowed tournament.
And too many other such unusual things to list here and now but you get the gist.
The only thing it lacked was an exciting finish, as the 54-hole leader from yesterday never yielded his lead all day today (though he did provide some last-minute excitement when he missed not one but two tap-in putts on the very last hole) but the biggest takeaway for me was two sides of the same coin of a great life lesson.
First, the other half of the “last group” to tee-off was of course the fellow in second place at the end of yesterday’s third round and he came out of the gates red hot, scoring a birdie and going from being down three strokes to just two.
But it was pretty much all downhill from there for him on this crucial, pivotal, determinative fourth and final round.
He started out beautifully but his ending? Not so much.
Or put poetically:
Great start.
Fell apart.
And that reminded me EXACTLY of a fateful fellow from the Bible named Demas. Fateful, and fatally foolish. Why? Because he was given, he experienced one of THE ALL-TIME GREATEST roles in life: being in the innermost social and spiritual circle of none other than the Apostle Paul. We know this because Paul specifically named him, gave him a personal “shout out” at the end of not one but TWO of his Epistles which would later be included in the Canon of Scripture (i.e., I have a strong hunch Paul also gave him similar “kudos” at the end of many of his letters which weren’t canonized).
Wow! Wow!!! Getting a personal shout-out from the Apostle Paul himself for being one of his closest “fellow workers”… wow!!!
I’d be soooo jealous of that if I didn’t know what else Paul would later say about Demas:
Great start.
Fell apart.
Just like that golfer today.
The other side of the lesson coin from today’s golf finale was the fact that the start-to-finish leader the entire round just happens to also be the #1-ranked golfer in the world.
This is quite common in other sports, too.
Do you suppose it was mere coincidence that NFL quarterback Tom Brady won so many Super Bowls (and MVP Awards) during his legendary career with the New England Patriots? And then when he signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers he led that team to a Super Bowl victory, too?
Nope. Not a coincidence. Rather, it speaks to his consistency.
Or do you suppose it was mere coincidence when Michael Jordan led his Chicago Bulls to not one, not two, but three straight NBA Championships in the 90’s? And then, after taking two years off to try his hand at baseball after the untimely and very sad and senseless death of his dad, his best friend in the whole wide world as we used to say as kids, after two years off he came back and, yep, you got it, led his Chicago Bulls to not one, not two, but three straight NBA Championships AGAIN to make it six straight for him personally and six out of eight for daaaaa Bulls.
Talk about consistency!
And that could be said of Wayne Gretzky in hockey and Cal Ripken in baseball and Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic or back in the day Pete Sampras or Bjorn Borg in tennis (and I have to include one of my personal favorites, Andre Agassi… not nearly so many titles as these other players but it seemed that for an entire decade or more he was almost always in the top two or three).
And even in the universally-viewed-as-random/luck world of poker, ever notice how the very same players end up at the final table and win tournaments year in and year out?
In all of these cases, it’s not a coincidence, it’s consistency.
As personified today by Scottie Scheffler at The Masters.
As personified most perennially by the Apostle Paul. (No surprise that he too seemed to be a true sports fan, given the many references to sports throughout his various Epistles.)
May we strive and recommit ourselves to follow the example of Paul, not Demas. Not just to start well but to end well.
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Quick Thought: The Much More Malicious Virus
/in Uncategorized /by Bible MemoryAs the current pandemic of the past two years looks like it’s ebbing to an actual end, my deepest desire and most passionate prayer would be for the masses here in the U.S. and around the globe to realize that even far, far, far, far, far, far more deadly and long-lasting than COVID is the still-spreading spiritual virus of sin.
Its consequences are far greater, entailing not just physical but also spiritual death.
Its reach is far greater, leaving exactly ZERO people untouched.
That’s quite a combination already… but there’s more! Because…
Its longevity is far greater – no less than eternity itself. Forever and ever.
I saved that one for last because the second half includes the hope of God’s good grace and gift of the gospel. Trust me when I tell you that knowing where one will spend eternity in the life to come makes this current, temporary life far more joyful and fun.
But may we not stop there, with ourselves, but also share it with as many people as possible, as we have opportunity, while we still have time for them to likewise be saved.
I say while we still have time because I’m sure I’m not alone in seeing what a super-small step it would be from where we went, what we witnessed during the pandemic to the events noted in the Bible about the end times, the final day.
May each of us prepare each day for that day.
Because as Paul poignantly penned in Romans 13:11, “for now salvation is nearer to us than when we [first] believed.”
And that clock continues to tick.
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Lasting Lessons from March Madness
/in Uncategorized /by Bible MemoryA few posts ago I mentioned March Madness, the annual college basketball tournament which has long been a springtime classic for sports and especially b-ball fans; it just completed and here are some observations and takeaways and, believe it or not, spiritual/biblical parallels or illustrations or lessons.
The referees definitely have a job to do… but it’s not so much a job as an honor and privilege (since the refs for that game are selected based on stellar performance in past games). The same is true when it comes to Christians and “witnessing”, sharing the Gospel, God’s plan of salvation, with others: it’s definitely a job/command…
… but not so much a job as an honor and privilege for which we have been specifically selected and approved and with which we have been entrusted.
(Because if we believers don’t tell others about the great grace and goodness of God, who will? If we don’t tell them, how will they ever hear about it and believe, and be saved from their sin and sins and the eternal penalty thereof?)
Also… as discussed in-depth in a prior post, maintaining momentum, not giving back gained ground, is crucial for winning!
This exhortation/warning is given by God because He knows how prone we humans are to “letting up”, to “getting lax” after achieving growth or accomplishment or success in a given area or facet or aspect of life – spiritual, sports, financial, relational, etc… which is why He gives a similar and even far more famous warning several books earlier:
Another way of putting that is this: Don’t get lax. And certainly, above all, don’t get COCKY!
Throughout my entire childhood my dad and I had what was undoubtedly the longest-running, most fun, most exciting backgammon competition. It didn’t increase how much he loved me – that was clearly already 100% – but it did in a certain sense increase how much he “liked” me, i.e., how much he truly and thoroughly enjoyed spending time with me in that pastime, i.e., how much we bonded on a human, personal, personality level. I genuinely loved those countless, daily-for-a-decade games of backgammon with Dad… and all the more because we discussed the Bible for 50-75% of the time spent playing backgammon. But the main point for this post is that it was absolutely uncanny that when either of us would get way, way, way ahead in a game and start “trash-talking” and “teasing” the other person, the one who got cocky would almost always end up LOSING the game in nothing short of a miracle comeback by the other one. It was really something. Like clockwork. Every time. To the point that we developed a saying right as one of those mammoth comebacks occurred: “You got COCKY! Don’t get COCKY! Never, never, never get COCKY!” That’s what the two verses above are saying. Don’t get lax in life and especially not in one’s walk with the Lord, one’s level of spiritual growth.
But that coin has a second side and that’s this: Never GIVE UP. (Cue Winston Churchill here.) Missed your first several shots in a basketball game? KEEP SHOOTING. Trust the hours of practice you’ve put in and KEEP SHOOTING. Or, put another way: Keep at it. Stay the course. Be persistent. Endure. Because just as crucial as it is not to get cocky when one is “up” or “winning” or “ahead”, it’s equally essential not to give up and to keep at it, to stay the course, to be persistent, to endure, to “keep on keeping on” when one is “down” or “losing” or “behind”.
Made your first several shots? Great. Don’t get cocky.
Missed your first several shots? KEEP SHOOTING THE BALL.
Also… don’t keep looking at the score/scoreboard; rather, focus on (playing) the GAME!
It’s much less likely that we will give back gained ground if we keep our focus on the Lord, not the “scoreboard”.
Also… play as if you’ve ALREADY WON! Because, as a born-again believer, you have!
In other words: Don’t get cocky… but do be confident! In the Bible. In God’s promises. That He will be true to His Word and words. (Spoiler alert: He ALWAYS is!)
And last but definitely not least… focus on playing great DEFENSE. Let God handle the offense.
The Bible is crystal clear that in the Christian life, OUR ROLE is one of DEFENSE, NOT offense (which belongs to the Lord).
Probably THE BEST illustration of this from the sports world would be the 1985-86 Chicago Bears of the NFL. They had one of the greatest running backs of all time (Walter Payton) yet, inexplicably, were infamous for having next-to-no offense… yet they WON IT ALL and were world champions that season because they had the best DEFENSE.
Let’s end this post by coming back to basketball. I’m always amazed how a team can have a phenomenal shooter, scorer, offensively-gifted player, yet invariably not keep feeding him the ball, not keep passing the ball to him and just let him “do his thing” on offense. Yet how many times do we Christians – how many times do I, how many times do you – who happen to have a teammate who C-A-N-N-O-T M-I-S-S even a S-I-N-G-L-E S-H-O-T ever, how many times do we fail to just give Him the ball and let HIM take care of the offense while we focus on defense, on our role?
Let’s purpose in our hearts not to be so foolish going forward. Let’s just give the ball to the Lord. Every time. I assure you that the results will be phenomenal. And historic. Even far better than Kansas, Duke, Kentucky, UCLA and UNC combined. Times a trillion.
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1. Become a one-time or monthly partner by making a donation via PayPal’s fully-secure Bible Memory page!
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Serious, Searing, Scathing, Scary
/in Uncategorized /by Bible MemoryThe Bible is filled with blessings and warnings, with encouragements and exhortations. It covers the entire spectrum of life: literally anything one could come across or encounter, the Bible has an application for that! It has a principle (at least one, often multiple) that’ll deal with and inform a person how to best proceed in a given matter, which path to take. It is complete. It is all-sufficient – not only for this life but also for the life to come.
It is the Word and words of God Almighty Himself, so it is infinite in authority and truth. Indeed, it defines truth. Because it IS truth.
Therefore, it greatly behooves a person to not just read it – a good and necessary first step – but also to HEED it.
Its promises and blessings – which many people view as the “good stuff” – but every bit so beneficial, beloved, are the “biting” sections, the grave warnings.
Like I said, there are many throughout the Bible. And many spoken by the human lips of the Lord Jesus Himself:
… just to name a few. And here are three more, coming from the anonymous human author of the book of Hebrews:
… but the one warning which is similarly serious and searing and scathing and scary but probably the most surprising in all of Scripture comes from the Holy Spirit by way of Peter in the second of his two epistles (that just means a “letter”) included in the canon of Scripture:
Wow! Whoa! What a warning!
I knew that there was something worse than being an unbeliever, than being unsaved, unredeemed…
… but those words of warning at the end of 2 Peter 2 take the cake: it would actually be better for a person “NOT TO HAVE KNOWN the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away” from it.
Stark.
Stunning.
May we not take our salvation lightly or for granted. May we not “turn away” from its path of pure and righteous conduct.
But may we also go further and keep an eye out for those who have made this very bad, very unwise, very consequential choice, and lovingly seek to be used by God to TURN THEM BACK.
Spiritually, we are our “brother’s keeper”.
Let’s make sure our own life is on track, then – through the testimony and power of pure living – let’s look to bring others along for the ride.
The ride which will one day come to a halt in heaven.
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Hold On a Little While Longer
/in Uncategorized /by Bible MemoryHow many times yesterday did you actively and specifically even think about the Lord’s return to take us home to heaven?
How about the day before that?
How about last week? Last month? (Gulp…) Last year?
I’m embarrassed to say that a long time ago I actually went months without being able to say for sure that I actively and specifically thought about that glorious future event. At least not in the sense of eagerly awaiting it. And not surprisingly, that was one of the only stretches in my life in which I was far more focused on the day-to-day dealings of life, i.e., the tangible, than I was on the far more important intangibles. The former category is of course very important, but should never, ever overtake or unseat the latter from the throne of our mind.
Also not surprising or ironic in the least but rather totally to be expected is the fact that said stretch of time in my life was the least spiritually fruitful. I can’t say that I was completely barren spiritually but let’s just say that the apples weren’t exactly falling from the tree on their own if you know what I mean.
And the reason that isn’t at all surprising is that setting our minds on the things above, the intangible and unseen things, is THE KEY to a healthy, fruitful walk with the Lord, i.e., His working in us and then through us.
I foolishly let my focus fall for months to the horizontal, earthly realm instead of the vertical, heavenly realm – and paid the price spiritually via the Lord’s very effective yet somehow gentle discipline, as well as by way of a lack of spiritual growth and fruitfulness during that time of lost priority of focus.
Instead, we are indeed to stay focused on the things above and specifically the return of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
[The “transformation” and “redemption” of our body occurs at the return of Christ, the rapture:]
I’ve gotten a lot better at staying focused on the Lord and His return, much more consistent, yet I find that the “eagerness” is still sometimes somewhat lacking – in extent if not essence. Not because I don’t love Him or CAN’T WAIT to see Him, but rather because I see how much (massive) room for growth remains in my life and especially how much work remains to be done in terms of bringing others to the Lord, bringing others “along for the ride” as they say.
The ride to heaven.
I’m comforted by the fact that none other than the Apostle Paul had this very same struggle:
And part of it is the deep desire to “make up for lost time”. The Lord has allowed His living and active Word, the Bible, to reveal to my mind’s eye a very specific method to memorize entire books of the Bible… and anything else! And how long it has taken me to get to the point of officially launching this website and the historic event unfolding in real-time here definitely causes me to tell the Lord how much I look forward to seeing Him… but also to please hold off on His return and to use me to help, to literally empower countless people to unlock and unleash their mind, too, as the Bible has been and continues to do in me.
Because I know that the more people memorize Scripture, the more people will be saved, and grow in their confidence and certainty about their salvation, and in turn tell others.
Just like that old shampoo commercial.
Please wait a little while longer, Lord, so more and more people can come to know You before that door shuts forever. Let them likewise hold on a little while longer.
(This song isn’t my cup of tea musically but it fits perfectly so I’m going with it! It’s also a loving nod to my precious mother who used to play Christian music virtually all day every day throughout my entire childhood… with a heavy, heavy, heavy dose of Evie, Evie, Evie so this one’s for you, Mom.)
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