Germ Warfare

Wednesday of Holy Week, April 8, 2020

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up.  And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.  We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.  Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame.  Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.  Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up.  Hebrews 12:1-3

A Christian couple had a missionary family visiting.  When the missionary children were called in for dinner, their mother said, "Be sure to wash your hands."  The little boy scowled and said, Germs and Jesus.  Germs and Jesus.  That's all I ever hear, and I've never seen either one of them.^[1] 

The writer of Hebrews has given us a no-nonsense definition of faith:

Faith assures us of things we expect and convinces us of the existence of things we cannot see.  Hebrews 11:1(GWT[2])

It is not so strange that faith is invisible – there is some pretty wide company. According to one source 98% of all the matter in the universe is invisible.^[3]  The little boy was right, like the wind, faith is an invisible quality; like the wind, however, you can see its results when things start happening! 

We are in one of those crunch-time moments.  It’s been more than a month since we were given the word to hunker-down and not leave home without an essential reason.  No travel or mingling down at the Post Office, or even a Sunday School class party.  And no sports on TV, other than a golf tournament replay from 5 years ago.  For the average American we’re already tapping the table with impatient fingers…will this never end?

Enter Holy Week, the time of preparing to suffer the Gethsemane betrayal, kangaroo court of a mock trial, scourging, trudging through the stations of the cross dragging your own gallows, and, for all that labor, stretched-out naked and bleeding between crossbeams on the town garbage dump.  Could the timing be more precise?  We have been told this next week to 10 days will be the toughest, most death-filled time of Coronavirus anguish. 

Whatever truly Heaven-ordained purposes are being worked-out by Sovereign God in this time of purging, where the unimportant toys and baubles of life are being sidelined in favor of a desire for relationships unimpeded by face masks and sterile gloves, the suffering caused by an unseen enemy, and the care offered by an unseen God speaks volumes to me about both.

For You Today

Like the writer to the Hebrew Christians giving some hope and encouragement to people who were undergoing some unimaginable persecution and privation, I also want to point us to the endurance and perseverance of Jesus.  He bore every part of what was laid before him for our benefit. 

Whatever you’re facing in this time of crisis, whether it’s the germs you can’t see, or the stack of bills you can’t not see, try to keep in focus the Jesus, whom your heart has convinced you, you don’t need to see in order to follow.  Keep your spiritual eyes on Him; he will never leave or forsake you.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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Title Image:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

For other posts on Hebrews 12 see Can You Give Me a Reason to Go On? and Strength to Go On

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[1] Vesper Bauer, Audubon, Iowa, Christian Reader (Sep/Oct 1998)

[2] God’s Word, Copyright © 1998, Parsons Technology, Inc.

[3] Harper's Index, Harper's (May 2002), p. 11

Walking on Troubled Water

[1]

Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Immediately after this, Jesus insisted that his disciples get back into the boat and head across the lake to Bethsaida, while he sent the people home.  After telling everyone good-bye, he went up into the hills by himself to pray.  Late that night, the disciples were in their boat in the middle of the lake, and Jesus was alone on land.  He saw that they were in serious trouble, rowing hard and struggling against the wind and waves.  About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water.  He intended to go past them, but when they saw him walking on the water, they cried out in terror, thinking he was a ghost.  They were all terrified when they saw him.  But Jesus spoke to them at once.  “Don’t be afraid,” he said.  “Take courage!  I am here!”  Then he climbed into the boat, and the wind stopped.  They were totally amazed, for they still didn’t understand the significance of the miracle of the loaves.  Their hearts were too hard to take it in.  Mark 6:45-52^(NLT)

When I put myself in the boat with the disciples, and it’s 3:00 AM, and the storm is about to swamp our little boat, AND with all our scurrying around to keep the boat from sinking, suddenly there’s a guy strolling around ON the water as calm as your neighbor out walking the dog…well, it’s just a little weird, thank you!

But if that first sighting was weird, what came next had to have made every disciple wonder if maybe they need to see a psychiatrist.  It turned out to be Jesus, and their master simply says, chill out, I’m here.  And then he climbs in the boat and the wind stops; they’re safe, all is well, and they hardly notice it because their minds are reeling from having seen a man walking across the water.  (Mind you, this is well before hover boards!).

Mark reminds us that the reason the disciples were so confused is because their minds were still reeling from the previous day when Jesus fed a crowd of many thousands with just a boy’s lunch. 

The explanation Mark tacks-on about why the disciples had such a hard time getting their minds around what just happened was a severe case of weak faith, due to hardened hearts.  Mark was in a position to judge this; it’s difficult to admit hard-heart syndrome, but this apostle’s truthful assessment of his own heart, and that of his brothers in the boat, makes sense, because it happens to all of us.  Let’s face it, when troubled waters threaten, we all do the same things:

1.      We worry – the disciples couldn’t help remembering all those other times those familiar, unfriendly waters had threatened life and limb.  We all have our troubled waters.  We worry, and…

2.      We waffle – the men in the boat were doing what they knew to do, struggling against the waves.  Just the day before they had witnessed the miracle of Jesus caring for the crowd, multiplying fish and loaves to feed them.  And now, it was back to life as usual.  And that’s the issue with waffling; the miracle was to teach all of us that Jesus wants us to look to Him much more than struggle with waves!  We worry, waffle, and…

3.      We wonder – the disciples didn’t know what to think because they were wondering HOW Jesus could do that…calm the waves of an angry sea just by showing up.  They had their eyes on the miracle instead of the Master.

Our hearts can be either hard, or receptive.  The key ingredient is a mind trained to look past the circumstances to the heart of the One behind the circumstances.  It’s not so much WHAT is happening to you; it’s more a matter of WHO is driving what’s happening to you. 

The mere fact that Mark opens his own life for our inspection, that we might see a heart that had not yet fully-trusted Christ, should speak loudly to what must be done.  If you’re going to follow Jesus, there must be a surrender of the heart…fully.  Just this week I heard it (again) in a sermon that the Lord requires our commitment to Him if we would be His disciples.  And the only kind of commitment that is genuine is 100%.[2]  Lacking that, we will always wind up worrying, waffling, and wondering what happened.

For You Today

As you walk through this day, if the water gets more than a little troubled, remember Jesus will walk on it – or anything else He needs to – to come to you.  So, don’t worry, waffle, or wonder; it’s not the waves He’s watching, it’s you!  Return the look; keep your eyes on Him.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day. 

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[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com

[2] Paul Leland, Bishop, Western NC, United Methodist Church, Annual Conference sermon, 6/24/18 (my paraphrase of the Bishop’s remarks)