Ever since I first read the four Gospels which open the Bible’s New Testament and focus most granularly on our great Savior’s time on Earth, I have been amazed as much by Christ’s compassion as His power.

In other words, I’m ever amazed not only the He was able  to heal the hurt, the injured, the weak, the weary – fully and immediately – but also that He was eager  to do so.  He not only had the ability to heal but the affection.  Not only the cure but the compassion.  Not only the power but the proclivity.

He helped the injured, the weak, the weary like nobody else ever has or could to that same extent.  Much like no one has ever been able to preach like Christ… but the Apostle Paul progressed a long way toward that goal, did he not?  He did indeed.  Ditto Peter.  Ditto Apollos.  Ditto Luther and Spurgeon and Graham and Swindoll and MacArthur and many others throughout the ensuing two thousand years.

Similarly, yes, nobody ever will or could help the injured, the hurt, the weak and weary like our Lord did, but many in this very country and at this very time are going a long way toward that goal.  At the start of 1 John 2, the Lord is called our Advocate; the Greek word is Parakleton which conveys the idea of one who helps, who comforts, who advocates for the interests of another – perhaps most modernly exemplified by attorneys in general and Personal Injury Attorneys in specific!

• “we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1c)

I’ve never fully understood why injury attorneys get such a bad rap… is it because they charge money for their work?  That’s not just acceptable and fair but it’s downright, outright biblical:

• “The laborer is worthy of his wages” (1 Timothy 5:18b)

Is it because they look out for their own interests?  That too is not just permitted but assumed by Scripture, which simply says that such shouldn’t be exclusive  but inclusive of others:

• “do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.” (Philippians 2:4)

Is it because they help the weak, the weary, the injured?  That too is straight out of and commanded by Scripture!

• “And we urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with all men.” (1 Thessalonians 5:14)

Whatever the reason for that bad rap, I’m going to do all I can (i.e., the Lord through me and BibleMemory.ORG) to help right this wrong – at least and certainly in the case of the ones who love the Lord and the Bible and support Bible memory.

To that end, I am currently assembling a nationwide network of CHRISTIAN Personal Injury Attorneys, eventually covering every corner, every cranny, every county of the country… please stand shoulder-to-shoulder with me in this endeavor:  starting soon, whenever you or people you know  get injured, simply go (or refer them) to BibleMemory.ORG/injured!

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I might or might not know a great deal… but I know a great deal when I see one.

I think I inherited that ability from my paternal grandmother; as noted on this website’s Why page, she once was one of the biggest independent antique dealers certainly east of the Mississippi and probably the entire country at the time, and I can remember as though it were yesterday the time that, for my major-milestone 13th birthday, she, my parents, and I visited the Williamsburg (Va.) Pottery Factory (it’s big now but was way more massive then).  It’s the first time I fully, fervently comprehended the meaning of the phrases “a fish in water” and “kid (or in this case, grandmother) in a candy store”.  She was something to behold, wheeling and dealing to an extent even the best writers in Hollywood couldn’t come close to conveying.  I don’t think the rows of steel shelves were literally a mile long but they certainly seemed like it, and when she saw some silver bells selling for cents on the dollar, she politely but promptly prodded the salesperson to pack up the entire row and proceeded to the checkout cash register and celebrated ceaselessly her financial feat for the entire four-hour trip back home.

Like her – no doubt because of  her – I know a great deal when I see one.  Like when I bought my very first property for a fantastic price, so much so that in less than a single decade it quadrupled  in value.  Or the time that my mind made a massive “buy signal” when, post-IPO, the stocks of Facebook dropped down into the teens and Tesla to around $30.  Bargain bonanza!

But the greatest deal by far that I’ve ever come across is when I read in the Bible that the only person in human history to have ever known no sin willingly offered to become  sin so that sinful, sinning sinners like me might manifest and indeed become  the very righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21) and that if we only humbly believe Him, He will raise us up out of our present pit of pride and sin and set and keep  us on the path of righteousness (James 4:10; 1 Peter 5:6; Psalm 40:2; 1 John 5:18).  I could barely believe it… but I’m so glad I did!   I took Him at His word and haven’t looked back.  Biggest bargain ever.  We simply give the Lord our pride and selfishness and He gives us eternal life to be enjoyed in Heaven with Him forever and ever.  We simply give Him our sin and He gives us His righteousness.  We give up a future in Hell and He gives us a future in Heaven.  We “die daily” to self and sin and repugnant pride, and He raises us up to walk in newness of life.

Like I said… Best. Bargain. Best. Offer. Best. Deal. EVER!

Lord, in Psalm 41:10, Your servant David says, “You… raise me up.”  I frequently fall far from the superb, supreme, supernatural example and demonstration of true humility You modeled so perfectly when You were walking in our shoes, on this very same sod.  Yes, I frequently fail and flail and fall down on the ground… and yet You raise me up, Lord.  All the way.  Every day.  You raise me up.

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It has been almost an entire year since the 13th day of a month fell on a Friday – a chronological chasm that’s so rare since it can only occur with the help of a Leap Year.

The leery, weary, wary, worried world writ large views this day as scary or ominous or given to superstitions of all types; but when one walks with the Lord, this day is downright “lucky” like any and every other.

• “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1:7, NKJV)
• “so that we confidently say, ‘THE LORD IS MY HELPER, I WILL NOT BE AFRAID.  WHAT SHALL MAN DO TO ME?'” (Hebrews 13:6)

For folks of faith, there truly is no fear.

 

 

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Another football season is rapidly approaching, and (not wrongly) most of the attention will go to the Quarterbacks and Running Backs and Receivers but I’ve always had a special place of respect and appreciation in my heart for a very different position, which is perennially at the other end of the fan-attention spectrum and that’s the Offensive Line.

While this certainly makes perfect sense intellectually – how could passers and receivers succeed but for the OL’s (brilliant) blocking which gives both of them the time needed to drop back or run their routes, or what runner could make it down the field but for the OL’s blocking to open up the “holes” and “lanes” amid all of the defenders?  (Okay, okay, Barry Sanders succeeded with little to no help but the exceptions are few and very far between) – the other reason is that I’ve had very close connections with a certain NFL team who had THE GREATEST offensive line in the history of the league, pretty much indisputably even for fans of other teams [including personally knowing very well and at times working with many of their players and front office big-wigs, attending the same (super-small) school as the son of the team’s now-Hall-of-Fame Head Coach, etc.] … monumental memories, but the main point for the purposes of this particular post is that the concept of phenomenal blocking has been embedded in my brain since I was a child.

It was enforced in a very different way just two days ago.

Friday was as hot and humid and oppressive outside as I can recall in my entire life.  Indeed, this area has set new all-time high temperatures these past two weeks with Friday taking the proverbial cake – more about that dramatic day in a future post, for now let’s talk about Saturday.  The weather was still super-hot and I had occasion to be in downtown DC, the country’s crystal-clean capital (NOT!) (aesthetically or ethically, unfortunately) and I felt those smoldering sunbeams every step I took, every inch of the way as I made my way walking from the U.S. Capitol to the Golden Triangle to Foggy Bottom (i.e., GWU) but once I reached 10th or 11th Street NW it became much cooler and more comfortable ergo enjoyable… why?  Because that’s where the downtown practically begins, with its huge office buildings providing much-needed and appreciated shade.

But like those big buildings blocked my body from being burned by the SUN, the Bible blocks us from being burned by the SIN which is so prevalent and pervasive and perpetually present around us in modern-day society.

• “Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against Thee.” (Psalm 119:11, KJV)
• “This book of the law [i.e., the Bible] shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.” (Joshua 1:8)
• “like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation” (1 Peter 2:2)

Similarly, during this time of the year in particular, many people apply to their body suntan lotion with a high Sun Protection Factor (SPF) when they go to the beach or take a long walk in the summer; I wonder how many of them (even think to) apply to their heart, to their mind, to their brain  the balm of the Bible, bubbling with blessing and benevolence every time a person puts it on their inside, on their interior via several ways I’ll note below.

As we go through life, may we not (foolishly) try to “complete passes” or “run routes” or “rush down the field” WITHOUT the biggest, best BLOCKER in the universe, the Bible, the literal and living Word of God!  (If we simply ingest it, it’ll block better than a billion-SPF lotion, and even better than “the Hogs” did for Doug Williams and Mark Rypien and John Riggins and Art Monk and “the Smurfs” when I was a kid.)

Desire it.

Read it.

Study it.

And I’m going to help you (and/or your family, friends, fellow congregation members, etc.) even memorize it.  In massive amounts.  And, despite what you might think or feel right now, you/they will actually find it to be a lot of FUN so stay tuned!

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[Picking up from the previous post as promised…]

The second sort of player that has impressed me these playoffs in particular has been some phenomenal role players.

For those not familiar with basketball, most teams’ “starting five” is comprised of at least three and often four role players, not “stars”.  In other words, most starting squads only have one or at most two true “stars”, phenoms, basketball beasts.  The only exception I can recall of three or more superstars on the same team would be the Boston Celtics and L.A. Lakers of yesteryear, especially the 1980’s:  Robert Parrish and Dennis Johnson (combined)?  Check.  Kevin McHale?  Check.  Larry Bird?  Ten  check-marks.  James Worthy?  Yep.  Kareem?  Definitely.  Magic Johnson?  Ten check-marks, like Larry.  But teams usually have just one or, if they’re blessed beyond belief, two.  Like Jordan and Pippen (then just throw ANY other three players for the starting squad and any half-dozen for the bench like the Chicago Bulls of the 1990’s did  and you’re sure to bag not one but two “threepeats” – and it no doubt would’ve been “eight straight” had MJ not retired for the two seasons in between).  Or Shaq and Penny (Orlando) or Shaq and Kobe (Los Angeles).  Or, most recently of course, Tatum and Brown for the storied Celtics.

Yes, it’s nice to have TWO superstars… but even then  a team won’t be able to pull off a string of superlative seasons if they don’t surround them (or him,  in the case of Nikola Jokic when the Denver Nuggets won it all last year [since Jamal Murray was out with an injury that season] or Dirk Nowitzki when the Dallas Mavericks won it all in 2011) with great ROLE players!

These are the players who aren’t nearly so celebrated and famous (and well-paid) as the superstars, but are absolutely imperative  to team triumph.

Unsung heroes.

Helpers who show up game after game after game and fulfill one or more purposes for the team.  Perhaps passing for a point guard, or defense and rebounding and blocking for a big man, or a wing who can shoot the lights out from three-point range.  (Or ALL OF THE ABOVE in the case of the Celtic’s Derrick White… or, except for the 3’s, Jrue Holiday, a born-again brother in Christ I’m pretty sure.)

And this year’s Playoffs in particular pressed upon my mind how crucial, how vital it is for us as the Church, the Christian community, to have great ROLE PLAYERS!  Yes, the “superstars” named MacArthur or Graham or Jeffress or Swindoll or Solomon or several others in the past half-century, or Spurgeon or Calvin or Luther, Edwards, Wesley or Whitfield before that, it’s definitely fantastic to have them on the team, great “floor generals” on the spiritual “playing field” for sure.  But where would they be and far more importantly, where would the Church be without the countless – and mostly nameless – “role players” of the past two thousand years, since God used Paul and Peter and James and John to start then expand the body of Christ on earth, the Church?

When you go to church each week or as you’re representing Christ to unsaved co-workers or neighbors each day, please never forget or DISCOUNT the utter importance of role players, plentiful in pews across the country and globe, perhaps deprived of “glory” but it’s even exponentially better to get that in the life to come, in eternity, in heaven, rather than here on earth.

• “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them [i.e., motive]; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. [I.e., God] … And when you pray, you are not to be as the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners, in order to be seen by men.  Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.  But when you pray, go into your inner room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will repay you. … And whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance in order to be seen fasting by men.  Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.  But you, when you fast, anoint your head, and wash your face so that you may not be seen fasting by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you.” (Just a few of the verses from Matthew 6:1-21, a potently powerful passage)

And ending by bringing us back to the previous (“Part One”) post, while memorizing the entire Bible for the first time in human history might thrust me into the ranks of a “superstar” in the minds of many, I have and will continue to view myself as a ROLE player… and one who comes off the BENCH at that!  But that truth of the matter is this:

I’m overjoyed and thrilled and honored and humbled just to be on the team.  The team who’s currently being led by MacArthur and company just quoted, and whose Coach is Christ.

The ultimate Substitute per the prior post, and the ultimate Superstar of all time and every aspect of life, even when He was setting aside the voluntary use of His inherent Diety and living as a human like you and me, minus the sin.

What a Substitute.

What a Savior.

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