WHAT REALLY MATTERS

“Jesus told [the sister of Lazarus], ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in Me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in Me and believes in Me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?’  ‘Yes, Lord,’ she told Him. ‘I have always believed You are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who has come into the world from God.’”  (John 11:25-27 NLT)

Perhaps it is only when we realize and celebrate the intrinsic value of every human life that celebrity -- true celebrity -- shines most brightly. On our death beds, none of us will speak of the jobs we’ve held or the stuff we’ve acquired in our lifetimes; here Bull Markets and Nielsen ratings are irrelevant. A life-threatening illness jettisons pretention in no time flat. Death is the great equalizer. Death dares us to define what really matters. 

-- Nancy Cobb in “In Lieu of Flowers: A Conversation for the Living”

#6352

FROM DESPERATION TO WHOLENESS

Mark 5:25-34 tells the story of a woman who had suffered for twelve years with a condition that left her physically drained and socially isolated. Her story reminds us of the transformative power of faith in Christ.

The woman, having exhausted all earthly options, approached Jesus in desperation. Her faith drove her to reach out and touch His garment, believing that even the smallest act could connect her to His power. Often, it is in our lowest moments of desperation -- when we recognize our own limitations -- that we truly open the door to God’s miraculous intervention.

For years, her condition had left her ostracized, an outcast in her community. But Jesus didn’t just heal her physically; He publicly acknowledged her, calling her "Daughter." In that moment, she was restored not only to health but to belonging. God’s power doesn’t just address our needs -- it draws us into relationship with Him and with others.

The touch of Jesus didn’t merely stop her bleeding; it made her whole. God’s power goes beyond the surface, bringing complete restoration to body, mind, and soul. When we turn to Him, we experience not just healing but transformation into the fullness of life He intends for us.

Let this passage remind us that no matter how desperate or isolated we feel, God’s power in Christ is available to bring us into healing, community, and wholeness. May we, like the woman, reach out in faith to Christ and experience His transformative love. 

-- Based on a sermon by Pastor Wes Olds, Grace Church, Cape Coral, Florida  

#6080

A MIGHTY FORTRESS IS OUR GOD

A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;
Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and pow’r are great, and, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.
 
Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing,
Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.

(Verses 1 and 2 from “A Might Fortress Is Our God” by Martin Luther)

Like many, [Martin] Luther’s behavior did not always reflect his theology. Still, his discovery in Scripture that people by God’s grace can have a right relationship with God vastly changed his outlook on life. Having that fundamental relationship secured, he believed that a joyful and loving life would follow.

During a period in 1527 when he suffered from dizziness and from a disease occasioned both by high fever and physical weakness, Luther succumbed to a feeling of psychological abandonment. The prayers of his wife and friends sustained him in his despair. During this time he composed “A Might Fortress Is our God.” A clue to his faith lay in his admission that “the prince of darkness grim” raged in his life. Luther surmounted these personally trying times with the assurance that he need not fear the devil’s onslaughts because “one little Word shall fell him.” That Word is Jesus Christ. The reformer survived his rough moments by naming and clinging to Jesus Christ. 

-- K. James Stein in “Spiritual Guides for the 21^st Century”

And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His Truth to triumph through us;
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
One little Word shall fell him.
 
That Word above all earthly pow’rs, no thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him Who with us sideth;
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill: God’s Truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.

(Verses 3 and 4 from “A Might Fortress Is Our God” by Martin Luther)

#6035

THE STORY OF OUR LIVES - Part 1 of 3

Some chapters in our lives are marvelous mountaintops filled with joy. Recently I officiated at the wedding of a wonderful young couple. Seeing their happiness, listening to the bride’s father toast his daughter and brand-new-son-in-law, and watching the kids dance together was a moment of joy. Kids going off to college, babies being born, big promotions coming our way, these are joy-filled chapters of our lives. You may be in the midst of one of these chapters right now. You never want this chapter to end.

But any great story includes its share of conflict, challenges, struggles, and pain. Yours will include these as well, not because God brings pain into your life, but simply because pain is a part of every life.

Right now you might be walking through one of the difficult chapters in your life. Perhaps you must persevere through the death of someone you love or find hope when you have been out of work… Maybe your marriage has just ended, or you are facing a frightening illness. You don’t know what the next chapter will hold, but you trust that there will be a next chapter.

The biblical story reminds us that the difficult chapters are never the final chapters of our story. 

-- Adam Hamilton in “Why? - Making Sense of God’s Will”

#5012

LAMENTATION IN A STRANGE LAND

“How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?”  (Psalm 137:4 KJV)

Depression is widespread, but troubles are universal. People have always suffered, still suffer, ill health and broken hearts, bereavement and betrayal, financial and vocational woes. Sometimes these troubles keep us from praying. Often they drive us to prayer.

Our personal or social difficulties may be dramatic or extreme -- life-threatening illness, becoming unemployed, victims of crime. But there are many other circumstances, some of them curses of the present age, that can reduce us to states of desolation: the sheer overload of the lives of working adults, particularly if they are also parents, the despair of youth, the isolation of our elders, or the social dislocation that leads to loneliness and lack of a primary community. Many of us find ourselves in a strange land both figuratively and literally...

The prayer of lamentation is a venerable tradition: we name the suffering and groan prayerfully (or not so prayerfully), inwardly or aloud, because that is all we can do at the time. Sometimes there is no naming, only a moan…

We find hope inside our tears; yet only inside our tears could we find hope. “Have hope in God; I will yet praise Him, my everpresent Help, my God.”  (Psalm 42:12)

-- Adapted from “When In Doubt, Sing: Prayer In Daily Life” by Jane Redmont

#4827

RESURRECTION POWER

“I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection…”  (Philippians 3:10a NRSV)

The benefits [of the resurrection] are innumerable. To list a few: Our illnesses don't seem nearly so final; Our fears fade and lose their grip; Our grief over those who have gone on is diminished; Our desires to press on in spite of the obstacles is rejuvenated... Our identity as Christians is strengthened as we stand in the lengthening shadows of saints down through the centuries, who have always answered back in antiphonal voice: 'He is risen, indeed!'

-- Charles R. Swindoll

#4323

PAIN CAN PUT LIFE IN PERSPECTIVE

Affliction is particularly effective in helping us reevaluate our priorities.  When Thomas Chalmers became pastor of the church at Kilmany, Scotland in 1803, he was a young man of twenty-three with little real interest in religion.  He had taken the parish primarily so that he could also teach mathematics and astronomy.

As time went by, Chalmers neglected sermon preparation and the care of his people.  The church went into steady and precipitous decline.  After several years he was stricken with a serious illness.  For four months he was unable to leave his sick room, and for almost a year he did not preach.  Slowly he came to realize that his view of Christianity as simply an ethical system was not sufficient to see him through this valley of the shadow of death.  There in the lonely place of his illness he faced himself and the shallowness of his beliefs, until he experienced a dramatic religious conversion.

In the years that followed, Chalmers became the most powerful preacher in Scotland.  And with it, he came to have a compelling social conscience.  The finest pulpits in Scotland were available to him, but he also chose to minister to the poorest of the population in special services on a tanner's second story.  A century later Lord Roseberry said of him, "An illness lifted him into a higher sphere, and he soared aloft."  Illness can do that to us, because it helps us get our values in order.

-- J. Ellsworth Kalas in “If Experience Is Such a Good Teacher Why Do I Keep Repeating the Course?”


#4261

THE POWER OF SHARED SUFFERING

Once, when my parents were visiting from Illinois, I needed to run to the hospital to see one of our church members who’d had open-heart surgery the day before. My dad, who’s had a multiple-bypass operation himself, asked if he could tag along. He said, “Don’t worry, I’ll stay out of the way."

But when we got to the patient’s room, a powerful dynamic took over. When I told the man we were visiting that my dad had had the same surgery, he lost all interest in me [his pastor]. He turned his attention to my dad and started asking questions. The next thing I knew, dad pulled a chair up beside the bed and the two of them were sharing experiences I couldn’t begin to relate to. I had to smile as I stood back and watched the two of them bond. I knew I was observing the awesome power of shared suffering.

--  Mark Atteberry in “Free Refill”

#4145

HE MAKES ME LIE DOWN

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures...”  (Psalm 23:1,2a)

Sometimes God puts us on our backs in order to give us a chance to look up: "He makes me lie down." Many times we are forced, not by God, but by circumstances of one sort or another to lie down. That can always be a blessed experience. Even the bed of an invalid may be a blessing if he takes advantage of it!

-- Charles L. Allen in “The Twenty-Third Psalm”


#4110