The Three R’s of Forgiveness

“…and forgiving one another,

if anyone has a complaint against another;

even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.”

Colossians 3:13

We all know we should forgive those who sin against us. But sometimes it seems easier to say than to do. We find ourselves giving ‘intellectual forgiveness’ and still struggling to give ‘emotional forgiveness.’ But is there a way to move beyond this? Can the Bible help us out here?

I believe that the Bible does indeed provide a way to gain victory in this area. It fleshes out the command to forgive with practical guidance, and today I would like to point out three of basic principles it states. I’ll call them “The ‘R’s’ of forgiveness.” Perhaps they will help you the next time you are called upon to forgive.

§  Remember.

It is amazing how good we can be at remembering the faults of others. But that’s not the type of ‘remembering’ I’m talking about here. No, the remembering I’m referring to here refers to the recalling of our own faults and needs.

First, we should remember our membership in the global family. I must remind myself that I, too, am a descendant of Adam, and that I have also received from him a sin nature. When I quote Romans 3:23 (“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”), I must remind myself that I am truly part of the “all.” I myself was once at war with God. And this is no esoteric, philosophical notion. I was a literal rebel, cursing Almighty God in my thoughts and actions.

Second, we should remember that our rebellion against Almighty God earned us the ultimate death sentence. I, personally, was placed upon the Divine’s death row. And rightly so. When I read that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), I must recall that I earned my place in hell’s torture chambers.

Third, we should remember that it is only Almighty God’s gift that frees us from that death sentence and, more than that, gives us a position in His heavenly abode. That’s what I should remember as I finish reading Romans 6:23: “but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

And then, fourth, we should remember what Jesus told Peter about forgiveness. This is recorded in Matthew 18. Jesus likened a person’s offense against another to a paltry sum owed between servants, and then He likened a person’s offense against Almighty God to an incomprehensibly large sum owed by a servant to a king. In the story He tells, He describes the king as having forgiven the servant’s debt. And then He describes the servant as having exacted payment from his fellow servant. The matter is reported to the king, and the unmerciful servant is punished. The underlying principle is that the one who has been forgiven much should forgive much. For me, it means that when another person sins against me, I should remember how much Almighty God has forgiven me and forgive that person, genuinely, from my heart. (Matthew 18:35)

§  Reframe.

To ‘reframe’ an event is to re-think the event and to question the assumptions you made about it in the first place. Or add new ones to it. It is a matter of trying to see it from the other person’s perspective.

In many ways, ‘reframing’ is similar to ‘remembering.’ The difference here is that you choose to remember specific things about the other person that you may have forgotten or ignored. The first is that the other person also is a fallen individual, one who needs God’s grace as desperately as you do. The second is that he or she also has many things going on in his or her life, things of which you are unaware. And, the third is that you are neither omniscient nor sovereign. Reframing means remembering that only God is God and deciding to leave the judgment to Him.

Practically speaking, reframing looks a little like this: Someone ignores me and refuses to shake my hand at a social event. My natural (fleshly) instinct is to think, “Wow, that guy is really a jerk. He just thinks he’s better than I am.” And then I am tempted to ignore him from then on. But then I remember Jesus’ words, and I realize I need to forgive him. But perhaps I am still struggling. At this time I should consciously decide to ‘re-frame’ the event. I might imagine something like this: Maybe he was thinking about a huge problem he has going on at work, and maybe he was distracted and failed to see my hand, and maybe it was only later that he even realized he had passed by me. And maybe he even felt a little bad for ignoring me.

Now, of course, the reality is that I don’t know what was going on in his mind. And that’s just the point. I don’t know, and I can’t know. Only God knows. And when I recall that, I am left with only a few options. I can go to him and ask him why he ignored me, or I can simply assume he meant no harm.

I think that is much of what Paul is driving at in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7: that we should assume the best and move on. And if I do that, I will find that I am keeping that other great command: to love my neighbor as myself. I mean, really, don’t I want people to give me the benefit of the doubt?

§  Release.

The third “R” I came up with is ‘release.’ By that, I mean to ‘let it go.’

I think we sometimes forget that we have the freedom to let things go, and my hope here is simply to remind you (and me) of that option.

But I do want to clarify something… In the past, particularly in cases of parental abuse, I have heard abusers say to victims, “Just forgive me. Why do you have to even bring this up? Just forget it, forgive me, and move on.”

I do not believe this sort of ‘release’ is what is involved in biblical forgiveness. In such cases, it seems that the abuser is asking the victim to engage in denial, not forgiveness. Why? Because I don’t believe that a person can genuinely forgive another person until he or she has realized that a wrong has occurred. Now, please don’t misunderstand. I am not suggesting that wrongs must be examined in excruciating detail to legitimize them. But I am suggesting that a call to forgiveness rests on an affirmation that a wrong has, indeed, occurred. To forgive is to say, essentially, yes, a wrong has occurred, and I will forgive you for doing it.

Forgiveness is not denial. It rests on acceptance and culminates in release. It is a decision to ‘let it go’ and to keep no record of the wrong.

This is what God has done for us in Christ Jesus. There is no question of whether we did wrong. We all did. We all needed His forgiveness. And there is no question of the enormity of that wrong. It was an incomprehensible and incomparable evil. But to recall this is only to rehearse (and glorify) the enormity of His forgiveness. With full understanding of the evil in which we engaged, with full cognition of our rebellion and enmity, Christ died for us, that we might live and be imputed His very own righteousness. (2 Corinthians 5:21) Wow. Praise God!

Well, that cover’s my three “R’s.” Did you think of others? Is there someone you need to forgive today? If so, let me encourage to do so before the sun sets!

“And be kind to one another, tenderhearted,

forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you.”

Ephesians 4:32

-- Christian Pilet

                                                                       

5 Roadblocks to Missions

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,

for it is the power of God to salvation

for everyone who believes.”

 Romans 1:16

Leland Miller will be focusing on “The Takeaway” this Sunday at church, and the discussion should raise some interesting questions about missions and about how we can best do the work of missions.

Last week I suggested some ways we can do the work of missions here in our community. This week I’d like to take a look at some roadblocks to missions and suggest ways to get by them. See if you agree with my list of these Five Roadblocks to Missions:

Doubt

We live in a pluralistic society, and we are bombarded daily with messages of toleration. We are told that we should ‘live and let live,’ and we are exhorted to maintain a nonjudgmental attitude toward differing lifestyles and religious beliefs. These messages are preached from the podiums of political offices and from the lecterns of schoolrooms.

But the gospel of Jesus Christ is not a message of toleration. It is not a message of the acceptance of alternative lifestyles and of differing religious opinions. It is built on the presupposition that there is only one true God, and that He has revealed Himself fully in the person of Jesus Christ. And it is also  built on the presupposition that man is sinful and stands condemned before holy God. Indeed, the reason the Gospel is Good News is that it tells how man can escape eternal condemnation through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

We who are believers know these things. We know, for instance, that the worship of Allah, as expressed in Islam, is abhorrent in His sight. We know that the pantheism of Hinduism and Buddhism is an abomination. And we know that only the fool says in his heart, “there is no God.” And, most importantly, we know that it is only through the preaching of the Gospel, through the hearing of His Word, that one comes to know and love the Lord Jesus Christ.

And yet, it seems, we doubt. And in many different ways. Some doubt whether the message of the gospel is truly exclusive. Some doubt that Jesus truly is the only way to the Father. And some doubt whether the God we worship is truly as holy as He says He is.

This must be the case, because if we did not doubt, we would be very bold in our proclamation of the gospel.

But what is the answer to doubt? The answer is faith.

We overcome doubt through faith, a reasonable faith that examines the Scriptural truth claims, considers their presuppositions, and determines to act accordingly. I do not act as a Christian with the hope of gaining faith. I act as a Christian because I have faith.

So, today, if you examine your heart, and you find that you have a heart of unbelief, I encourage you to study the Scriptures. Determine for yourself whether these things are true. Then, be settled in your own heart, and act accordingly.

Idolatry

Some people come to Christ and then continue to battle with idolatry. Their gods are the gods of their former lives, and they can be literal (as in the false gods of Eastern religions) or they can be figurative (e.g. self, family, education, career, wealth, health, and leisure).

Idolatry expresses itself in misplaced priorities. Idolatrous believers assert that God and His program are of the highest priority, but their day-to-day schedules reflect something different. They invest in things of temporal value at the cost of things of eternal value. They find it impossible to find time to devote to evangelism, but they find the find time to do the things that they, in their flesh, desire to do.

The answer to idolatry is worship of the true God.

If we will focus our hearts and minds fully upon Almighty God, if we will allow our senses to be filled with and captivated by his Holiness and Glory, we will find our desires for the things of the flesh diminished. Indeed, ultimately, we will find them abhorrent. And as we contemplate the eternal realities of who He is, we will make His desires ours -- and that means we will prioritize the work of missions in our lives.

Sloth

But let’s be honest. Sometimes it isn’t a matter of doubt or idolatry. Sometimes it is just plain laziness. Our minds are convinced, but our volitions are unaffected. We feel tired, and the work of missions seems like just too much work.

The answer to this roadblock is fairly simple: repent and do the work.

That said, I do wonder whether the frenetic pace of our society leads us, ironically, to slothfulness in this area. We are always busy. Though there is more wealth now than ever before, more of us are engaged in full-time work earning wealth. Perhaps, if we are too tired to do the work of missions, we should slow down the pace of our lives, embrace simplicity in terms of material possessions, and develop greater margin in the edges of our lives. This greater margin will provide us with increased opportunities and emotional resources for the work of missions.

Fear

The usual reason people cite for not doing the work of missions is fear. Typically this boils down to a fear of rejection. In America, the rejection we usually experience is social, though sometimes we may be verbally abused. These are realities of living in a sin cursed world.

The answer to fear is faith. One must believe that God is able to protect, preserve, and reward those who are His own. Such faith seems fundamental to the bold proclamation of the Gospel.

Another answer to fear is fear. The problem is not that people are afraid. Fear itself is not the problem. The problem is that they are afraid of the wrong person. Why would you fear someone who can injure your body or your societal standing but could not damage your soul? Would not it be wiser to fear the One who has authority over your soul and to do the thing that is pleasing in His sight, even at the cost of physical or societal injury? This is just a way of articulating the flipside of faith. Because we know that God is, and because we know Who He is, we seek to persuade others. Because of faith, faith in Him, we are able to overcome our fear of others.

Hatred

            The last roadblock I see is hatred.

Most of us Christians, if we were asked why we did not share the gospel, would not say that it is because wehate the person with whom we could have shared. But our actions speak otherwise.

A month or so ago, my wife shared a video with me. In that video, the famous magician Penn Jillette described an encounter he had with a Christian. Penn is an outspoken atheist, but he spoke of this particular Christian with great respect. He said that this man had come to him with the openly stated purpose of proselytizing him. This man’s desire was that he would lead Penn to the Lord. Penn listened to what he said and ultimately rejected it, but he said he respected the man for being bold and sharing what he believed. Penn then said that he had no respect for Christians who did not do that. He said, in effect, “How much must you hate someone to not share with them something you believe means the difference between eternal punishment and eternal life?”

It’s a great question. If we have the answer to man’s sin condition, and we are able to share with another person the way to eternal life, and we choose not to, how much must we hate that person?

The answer to this roadblock is, of course, love. We must love others enough to risk all in the sharing of the Gospel with them.

Well, there it is… a quick list of five roadblocks in doing the work of missions. Are there others that you would add? Do you agree with my suggestions and how they can be overcome?

How will you engage in the work of missions today?

“How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?

And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?

And how shall they hear without a preacher?”

Romans 10:14

--Christian PIlet

5 Ways To Do Missions Today

“Be a missionary everyday!

Tell the world that Jesus is the way!

Be it in the town or country, or the busy avenue,

Africa or Asia, the task is up to you!”

Children’s song

Leland and Ben Miller recently returned from a missions trip to Ecuador, and I have asked them to share about their experience this coming Sunday morning. I am excited to hear what they are going to say, as the purpose of their trip was not to domissions, per se, but to experience missions. Hopefully, hearing about how missions is done in another part of the world will give us greater clarity concerning how we can do missions here.

Missions here? Yep, that’s what I said. We are all called to be missionaries and to do the work of evangelism. And wherever the Lord has placed us today, that is where He has called us to be missionaries today!

That got me thinking. How can we be effective missionaries today? So I put together a list of five simple and practical ways you and I can engage in missions today. See if you agree with my list…

§         Invite.

The simplest way you can be a missionary today is to invite someone into your life. If you are a follower of Jesus, your life itself should be a testimony of God’s grace. That means your daily activities should reflect your love for Christ, your desire to see Him honored, and your passion to share Him with others. So, inviting someone into your life ends up as a witness to that grace.

Yes, I know. Someone just read this and thought, “Well, that’s fine for other people, for those whose lives really reflect their Christian lives. But my life doesn’t really do that. So I guess I won’t invite anyone.” To that, I have two answers. First, if your life doesn’t measure up, change it. Ask God to show you what needs fixing, and then get to work. He’ll help you make it right. And, second, you don’t need perfection in this area. The testimonies of our lives are much more than a rigid adherence to a moral code. They are testimonies to God’s all-sufficient grace, even when we blow it. What matters most is the heart attitude.

But what, specifically, can you invite someone to? Well, here are a few suggestions: to church for a worship service, to a restaurant (for lunch, dinner, or just a snack), to your house (to hang out, play video games, or watch a movie), or to the church’s game night THIS FRIDAY at 6:30 PM!

Whom can you invite today?

§         Publish.

Another simple way you can be a missionary today is to publish your testimony online. Most people in our community access the Internet, and social media presents a tremendous opportunity to make your voice heard.

Now, by testimony, I don’t mean the whole account of how you came to Christ. I just mean a witness about what He has done for you or what He is doing for you today. Then again, if you want to give the whole account, that’s cool too.

You can do this using a Twitter account, Facebook account, or a blogsite. The least demanding of these are the first two. A Twitter account provides you with an opportunity to share a daily devotional thought or verse, and the very brevity demanded by the format (each tweet has a 140 character limit) means your investment and effort remains minimal. A Facebook page provides you with a way to keep in touch with your friends, and you can easily post favorite verses or Christ-centered thoughts daily.

Many professional athletes are using Twitter to witness for Christ. One example I know of is Russell Wilson, the quarterback of the Seattle Seahawks. He tweets Bible verses and encouraging thoughts every day. Anyone who ‘follows’ him on Twitter knows he is a Christian. It’s a great example that we can all follow.

That said, I should probably give a word of caution. Be sure your Twitter account and Facebook accounts reflect a Christ-centered life. If you’re doing things you shouldn’t be doing, and people know that from your other posts, they’ll probably look doubtfully on your Christian testimonies. So, again, if you need to clean things up, clean them up – and then start publishing!

What can you publish today?

§         Distribute.

A third simple way you can be a missionary today is to distribute Gospel-centered literature. Tracts may not be as popular today as they once were, but they still have their place. It is amazing what people will read when they’re trapped and bored. (Think of some of those terrible magazines at the doctor’s office!)

My favorite tract is the Bridge to Life tract published by Navpress, but there are many excellent tracts out there. The reason I like the Bridge to Life tract is that it presents the Gospel clearly, using simple diagrams and carefully chosen Scripture verses to explain the need for salvation and how to come to faith in Christ.

The key to using tracts effectively is wise distribution. I think there are two effective methods to distribute them. The first method is to give them as you share a personal Gospel presentation. The tract gives you something to place in the hand of the person to whom you are witnessing, and you can use the tract as you share to reinforce your points and lead the conversation forward.

The second method is to ‘plant’ the tracts in places where people will see them, pick them up, and read them. The possibilities are endless, but I’ll mention a few of ideas. My favorite is to place a tract on top of the toilet paper dispenser in a public bathroom. Another possibility is to place a tract beside the nozzle at a gas pump. (This one can be a bit tricky, since inclement weather can reduce the likelihood of the tract being picked up and read.) A third possibility, and probably my least favorite, is to leave a tract at a restaurant with a tip. (I used to work as a waiter, and I know from personal experience that very few of these tracts are read. Still, if you do leave a tract, please be sure you leave a really great tip, and, again, make sure your behavior through the meal was consistent with your Christian testimony.)

Where can you distribute today?

§         Engage.

Yet another effective way to play the missionary today is to engage other people in ‘redemptive’ conversations. This means to engage them in strategically focused conversations for the purpose of sharing Jesus. This approach may be tough for some people. Everyone has different comfort levels when it comes to talking with other people. Some folks engage with strangers without any difficulty, and others find the experience painful. But if you are an outgoing person, this may prove an exceptionally effective method.

The people I find to be effective with this method tend to be people who are genuinely interested in other people, in their lives and interests. They ask open-ended questions, avoid the expression of strong opinions on minor issues, and subtly and skillfully point the conversation to Jesus.

We can all do better in this area. I know I can. I sometimes fail in this area because I permit myself to be distracted from my ultimate purpose – the sharing of Jesus. I find myself mired down in a discussion of politics or something else – something of relative importance, but not ultimate importance. So now I try to remind myself, going into a conversation, of my end goal – to share the wonderful blessing of knowing Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.

The opportunities for these sorts of engagements are never-ending. Here’s a few: waiting at school to pick up kids, at the dentist’s office, buying groceries at the store, checking out books at the library, getting coffee at Dunkin’ Donuts, and on and on.

When can you engage someone today?

§         Provide.

“Don’t tell me how much you love me until you show me how much you care.” We’ve all heard similar statements. Words of love without actions of compassion are like clouds without rain – full of promise, but disappointing.

My fifth suggestion concerning an effective way to play the missionary today is to provide micro-helps. A micro-help is a small act of compassion done for the purpose of putting ‘feet’ on the Gospel and of providing a doorway for the proclamation of the Gospel.

We all believe in the importance of helping others. Loving others is an essential part of Christian life. It is an expression of our very love for Christ. But sometimes we are at a loss for how to put that love into action. The bigness of the tasks sometimes proves overwhelming. The answer is ‘micro-helps.’ This means determining, as the day begins, that you will be available to help others in small ways as the day progresses. This may include helping an elderly person with groceries, picking up trash from a community playground, assisting someone with a flat tire. It may also include occasional visits to nursing homes, hospitals, and the like. Again, the possibilities are endless.

Providing help to others is a wonderful way of expressing the love of Christ. I encourage you to seek opportunities to help, and, as you do, don’t forget to share your Christian faith. You don’t need to share your whole salvation testimony. Just find some way to share the source of your hope and life – Jesus Christ.

How will you provide today?

Well, there it is… a list of five simple and practical ways we can engage in missions today. Do you agree? Are there other ways I should have added? Do you agree that these really are simple and practical?

Let me know. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

“Be a missionary everyday!

Tell the world that Jesus is the way

The Lord is soon returning: there is no time to lose,

So be a missionary, God’s own emissary,

Be a missionary today!”

Children’s song

-- Christian Pilet

The Christian and Physical Health

 “Man does not live by soap alone;

and hygiene, or even health, is not much good

unless you can take a healthy view of it or,

better still, feel a healthy indifference to it.”

G. K. Chesterton

One of my favorite films is Gallipoli. It was made in 1981 and depicts two Australians sprinters who are sent to fight in Turkey during World War I. At the end of the movie, one of the men crouches in his trench awaiting the whistle. The sound of that whistle will commence a senseless charge, a leap from the trench into the no-man land that separates the Australians from their enemies. And as he huddles there, the man scans the faces of his comrades on either side. They are all lost in their thoughts, lost in the awareness that they will all soon face death. He returns his gaze to the rifle in his hand, steadies his nerves and grits his teeth.

The whistle sounds, and the men lurch forward. As they do, the rat-a-tat-tat of the enemy’s Gatling guns fills the air, and the men begin to fall. They fall at the crest of the trench; they slump to the ground a yard from its edge; they stagger and collapse ten yards forward. The sprinter throws his head back and charges, his legs turning like pistons. He outruns all his comrades. And, then, twenty yards from the enemy’s trench, he is struck and thrown backward. The picture freezes as his arms splay out. Albioni’s Adagio begins to play.

It was a futile charge. Every one of the men was mowed down by the machine guns. The slow, the fast; the weak, the strong. They all died.

I find in this scene a powerful metaphor of death. – I am thinking here of physical death. – The whistle is man’s physical birth (or, theologically, Adam’s fall into sin), and the charge is the time of his pilgrimage here on earth. He is forced forward. He must breach the edge of the trench and lurch forward. (The movie doesn’t show that any of the men hid in fear or shrank from obeying the call, but, even if they did, it would only demonstrate that trench warfare was the lesser of the two harsh realities. In the battle of life, no one can exempt himself.) And then, the bullets that strike, these herald the arrival of death. No one escapes the moment of death. It comes to all, be they strong or weak, good or bad, prepared or unprepared.

As we Christians consider the topic of physical health, I believe it is essential that we begin with a consideration of our mortality. Its recognition and acceptance is a critical theological and philosophical reality upon which such a discussion must be founded.  It contextualizes all our endeavors and causes us to look with sympathy upon those around us. We all fall short. No one’s striving for health will prevent an ultimate demise.

That said, in the meantime, I would like to suggest three simple principles to remember as we think about our physical health:

• We have been given bodies for a reason.

When God made man and woman, He created them with bodies, and He saw that what He had created was “very good.” (Gen. 1:31) Material bodies are not a result of humanity’s fall into sin; they are a result of a good Creation. Men and women were meant to have physical bodies.

But, of course, humanity’s fall into sin brought death; and the bodies of men and women began to die. (Gen. 3) Or, to use the analogy mentioned above, the whistle sounded, and humanity’s sprint into death commenced. This condition, the introduction and inevitability of corruption within the physical realm, is called entropy. On that day, entropy became a part of humanity’s (and all of Creation’s) physical experience. Our bodies would decay, they would incur illness, and they would ultimately die.

But man was not given a body originally in order to experience death! Man was given a body “to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” He was to serve God by loving Him and worshiping Him, and by fully enjoying the Creation over which He had given dominion.

I won’t belabor the point. We all know that the introduction of sin caused man to pervert the body’s God-given purpose. Man began to use his body, its members, for his own selfish purposes; and, doing so, he occasioned immediately the spiritual death (separation) from God that would be evidenced progressively in his physical body.

Praise God that we weren’t left in that state! Amen? God, in His mercy, sent Christ Jesus to die in our place, to pay the penalty for our sins, and to give us the right to become children of God! And when we believed on Him, that is what we became – and we were spiritually ‘born from above’ or ‘born again.’ Praise God.

And yet, we remain, physically, in our unglorified, sinful bodies. Thus came a new conflict.

We find now, as children of God, that we experience both the desires of our unglorified bodies, the flesh, and the desires of God’s Spirit within us. A war rages, with God on one side and our sin nature (the old man) on the other. But, praise God, even in this, we can now be victorious. We are to consider ourselves ‘dead to sin, but alive to God’ in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6) We are to use our members (our fleshly bodies) now as instruments of righteousness. And this we can do, by God’s grace. We are empowered to join in Paul’s joyful declarations in Romans 8.

Having said all that, I want to point out that our new life in Christ occasions also a new calling. We, who were formerly at enmity with Him, are now called to follow Him wholeheartedly and put His desires first in our life. And that means, simply put, that our primary attitude now is to be love – for God and others – and our primary action is to be the making of disciples.

Love and discipleship should now shape all of our considerations of physical health. If we have been blessed with physical health, we should use it in the present by loving God and others, and by making disciples of others. If we can improve our physical health, and, by doing so, occasion greater love and making disciples, we should do so. If our physical health faces harm, but the result of embracing that harm is that love is expressed and others are made disciples, we should permit it. And if our physical deterioration is permitted within God’s perfect, sovereign love, we should accept it.

Ultimately, we should always see our bodies as His, to be used for His purpose, according to His purposes.

• We have been given stewardship over our bodies. 

The considerations above lead naturally to this principle, that God has given us stewardship over our physical bodies. Wisdom principles apply, and we ought to use common sense in the treatment of our bodies. That means we should avoid things that we know will cause harm to our bodies. We should try to keep our cholesterol down, diet off those extra pounds, brush our teeth and take our multivitamins. And we should get some exercise and stay mobile.

But these things are not an end in themselves. It is essential that we keep things in perspective. The value of physical health is that it permits us to love and serve our Lord. Any other reason for pursuing physical health is ‘iffy.’ Seeking better health or prolonged health for the sake of being useful to the Master is appropriate.

• We will receive glorified bodies in the future. 

Our ultimate hope is not in this world, anymore than our ultimate home is here. We are pilgrims, a people merely walking through the foyer of eternity. We look forward to the day when our bodies will be raised incorruptible, a day when we will experience physical health in a way we have never experienced it before. Accordingly, we are hopeful and optimistic concerning the future. Even as Christ has been raised with a glorified body, we too will one day. And in that day, all the suffering, illnesses and hardships of this day will appear as nothing. So don’t get too worked up about the physical struggles you face today. They are only temporary. The best is yet to come.

So, there it is. Three simple principles to guide us Christians as we think about our physical health. What do you think? Are there other principles you would add? Let me know.

“For bodily exercise profits a little,

but godliness is profitable for all things,

having promise of the life that now is

and of that which is to come.”

1 Timothy 4:8

-- Christian Pilet

Living in the Light

“Daylight Saving Time:

Only the government would believe that

you could cut a foot off the top of a blanket,

sew it to the bottom, and have a longer blanket.”

Anonymous

This Sunday morning, at 01:59:59.9 standard time, to be exact, the ‘official’ clock will jump forward to 03:00 Daylight Standard Time (DST). Technically, that day will contain only 23 hours, and we will not regain that hour until the switch back from DST to standard time this autumn. – Another way to say that is: “Don’t forget to ‘spring forward’ this weekend!”

The pros and cons of this shift in time have been debated for centuries. Benjamin Franklin himself suggested such a shift in order to save candles. His suggestion was meant satirically, but it has been taken seriously ever since.

Although the shift to DST has not evidenced any modern energy savings (surprisingly), it has proven profitable for some sectors of commerce. Retailers and sporting goods makers have profited, as people have shown themselves more likely to shop and participate in outdoor afternoon sports. So, DST is good for Sears and the local driving range. Remember that when you struggle to get up an hour earlier this Sunday. It’ll make you feel better.

For most of us, DST is both an inconvenience and a blessing. We enjoy a later sunset, but we bemoan the loss of an hour’s sleep. Beyond that, we find ourselves forced to wander the house fixing all the clocks that weren’t automatically updated through the Internet. It’s a little tedious and a bit annoying.

In the Scriptures, ‘light’ and ‘darkness’ are used figuratively to describe two spiritual spheres: righteousness (‘light’) and unrighteousness (‘darkness’). In Christ at salvation, believers are granted full positional righteousness – they are joined to Him Who is the True Light of the world, Jesus Christ. Indeed, they are transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. Also, in Christ at salvation, by the power of the Holy Spirit, believers are able to experience and express, in an increasing way, a practical righteousness, by doing those actions that express genuine love for God. In this, they manifest the light of Christ to a sin-darkened world.

These two realities for the believer – positional righteousness and an increasing practical righteousness – are called justification and sanctification, and they sum up the believer’s current experience. Paul says it this way in Ephesians: “You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.” The first part of this verse (“you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord) speaks of that work of grace that began our life in Christ and sustains it now and for eternity. The second part of the verse (“walk as children of light.”) speaks of our responsibility. We are called to respond in obedience to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. We are to ‘walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which we have been called.’

Choosing light over darkness is not always easy. Choosing righteousness is not always easy. But because of who we are in Christ, because of who we have already become, we can do it! We can choose the light. We can, and we should.

This Sunday morning, as your alarm sounds an hour earlier than normal and you struggle against the temptation to roll over and pull the blankets over your head, let your mind to drift back to this idea. Remember that God has called you to be a child of the light and choose to walk as one!

 “You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood,

a holy nation, His own special people,

that you may proclaim the praises of Him

who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”

1 Peter 2:9

-- Christian Pilet