Three Angels

Friday, November 24, 2023

And I saw another angel flying through the sky, carrying the eternal Good News to proclaim to the people who belong to this world—to every nation, tribe, language, and people.  “Fear God,” he shouted.  “Give glory to him.  For the time has come when he will sit as judge.  Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and all the springs of water.”  Then another angel followed him through the sky, shouting, “Babylon is fallen—that great city is fallen—because she made all the nations of the world drink the wine of her passionate immorality.”  Then a third angel followed them, shouting, “Anyone who worships the beast and his statue or who accepts his mark on the forehead or on the hand must drink the wine of God’s anger.  It has been poured full strength into God’s cup of wrath.  And they will be tormented with fire and burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb. The smoke of their torment will rise forever and ever, and they will have no relief day or night, for they have worshiped the beast and his statue and have accepted the mark of his name.”  Revelation 14:6-11

Understanding human behavior isn’t simple.  Long ago I learned that the arts reflect humanity, and humanity is influenced by the arts.  An artistically-gifted young man sees a violent act and he reacts to his shock and fear by painting a violent scene in dark mode on the side of some building.  The young artist hopes all who pass-by will be shocked by his four-color screaming.  The shadow lurking behind that hope is to move others to action, to prevent more violence.  Unfortunately the artist’s work isn’t always understood, particularly by the naïve, or those ill-equipped to grasp the art’s intended response.  The art unintentionally  influences human behavior, and creates more violence.

Anyone who has looked at a baby child’s face knows we are born with a hopeful sense of wonder and optimism.  Then comes hunger and diaper-rash, followed by crankiness and sleepless parents.  Those difficult things we experience mold us into the characters we become, entirely different from our Creator’s perfect design.  We have been created to appreciate beauty, warmth, and pleasure; our world, steeped in the ugly darkness of cold hearts, selfishness, and death paints a very different picture.  And the contrast is frightening.  But it’s complicated further when the darkness parades itself as light.  Drugs give pleasure…for a season, but we know how that turns out; the same with alcohol, lust, greed, anger, and on through the seven deadly sins.

In a way, we humans in our sinful behavior, have created a humanity in darkness on the canvas of history…our own screaming fear.  As today’s text so graphically-illustrates, God reacts with judgment to our collective darkness.  Judgment comes via God’s servants, angels who pour-out justice in God’s name.

I do not want to make this canvass any darker than Scripture has painted; indeed, I couldn’t.  This burning with fire and sulfur, night and day, for eternity, without let-up, is darkness of the ultimate kind, absent of any hope.  It is so dark many people won’t believe it could happen.  You’ve known them; perhaps you’ve even said it yourself – a good God wouldn’t send people to a place like that to suffer.  But the evidence is contrary – if God is good, there must be judgment like that.  Otherwise the suffering of those who humbly worship God would be a farce.  The cross would be murder, and resurrection a fairy tale.  There are only two possible choices – God is either true, and Jesus died for sin, rose from the grave, and will come again to judge those who do not believe – or God is a lie, and doesn’t exist.

For You Today 

The challenge for every human of every era in history, present, or future, is to believe or reject.  How say you?

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

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There are about 2,600 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road library.

Today’s title Image from Wikimedia Commons  

Images without citation are in public domain or cited via weblinks.  

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©   

Anatomy of a Journey

Friday, August 11, 2023

All this happened so they would follow his decrees and obey his instructions.  Praise the Lord!  Psalm 105:45

The Psalmist traces the steps of Joseph, beloved son of the patriarch, Jacob.  His brothers sold Jacob like a piece of cloth to a band of nomadic traders headed for Egypt.^[1]  There are enough plot twists and sub-themes in this rags-to-riches success story, to make any Hollywood screen writer drool!  However, the message isn’t just about Joseph’s perseverance through hard times, and prevailing through the unjustness of power structures.  The story of Joseph is a version in miniature of how God does what humans do not understand (particularly those who don’t know God).  It’s a microcosm of spiritual warfare, in which God’s power, often working behind the scenes, is worked-out despite whatever the forces of evil can manage against it.  And it all happens to the glory of God.

Have you ever dreamed of something that is (in your limited understanding) incredibly unreachable?  A dream job?  A home with a thousand acres?  A body that doesn’t sag here and there?  Deep breath without pain?  World peace?  Your version of that story has you in the middle of it; and that is what is so wrong with most versions of Eden…the perfect place, with everything just right.  That dream hardly starts with a group of Ishmaelite traders taking a load of gum, balm, and aromatic resin from Gilead down to Egypt.^[2]  Most dreams like that have the end result as starting point.  We picture ourselves in the lap of luxury, white sandy beach, palm trees, gentle breezes, and a coconut pina colada in a hammock. 

In truth, life may start out gently, a calm, favored child status; Andy and Opie in Mayberry.  But life is hardly tame.  Life’s journey has its twists and mountains, times of up, down, and blindly-sideways.  Some stuff is mundane and predictable, like what to eat for breakfast, or getting that bill in the mail or inbox.  But the kind of day that starts off with:

·       …there was a mistake on your account…or

·       …the test result may have been incorrect…or

·       …I wanted to help you, but…and the all-inclusive promise of doom: 

·       …I’ve decided you aren’t….

These are the excruciating days…resume’ of Joseph kind of stuff.  You get set-up by kin or friend, let-down in a pit, sold-out to the highest bidder, and assassinated by behind-the-back gossip.  It’s easy to draw the cynical conclusion that Mayberry was a conspiracy-theory in reverse; it was Alice in Wonderland’s dream, and you are the Mad Hatter…off to a very important date with your own demise.

It must have seemed that to the disciples when the Healer of Galilee was condemned to die.  He’d preached the Good News of God’s blessing, land of milk and honey, and all the tears wiped-away.  He had told them of life-eternal, and all your dreams come true.  Then he was betrayed, belittled, beaten, and nailed-naked to crossbeams on the town garbage dump.  There wasn’t even enough left in the purse Judas had emptied to buy him a grave…it was a borrowed tomb.

Now, this kind of post-mortem is hardly an advertisement for that thing you get told as a kid:  You are beautiful, you can do anything, or it will all work out in the end.  By the world’s standards, your beauty will fade, you’ll find out some things are way beyond your skills, and how it all works out is way beyond your pay grade.

For You Today 

If you’re tracking with me, and I haven’t lost you yet in gloom, despair and agony-on-me, go just one step further than Friday’s darkness-laden cross and tomb; go all the way to Sunday’s bright revelation; He is risen!

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

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There are about 2,600 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library. 

Title Image:   Pixabay.com

Images without citation are in public domain.   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©  

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[1] Joseph’s complete story is found in Genesis 37-50. 

[2] Genesis 37:25

Will Your Rope Hold?

 

Thursday, January 5, 2023

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.  Hebrews 12:1-2

I have heard people talk about the Christian life as if it were a rope.  There are as many theories as there are people as to how to go about living that rope-life.  But they distill-down to about three:

1.    The Latent Atheist:  When you come to the end of the rope…let go…there was nothing there in the first place, only the end of the rope.  It’s over.

2.    The Budding Optimist:  When you come to the end of the rope…let go, because God will catch you.

3.    The Uncompromising Pragmatist:  When you come to the end of the rope…tie a knot and hold on, because that’s what people do.

I’m not at all sure you can take any of those in raw form and build a plan for life which is Biblically-sound.  Certainly not atheism; there’s no future in the absence of hope.  Optimism may sound good on a mountaintop, but Christians are called to walk in the valleys of life.  Pragmatism is the other side of a dry well because it smacks of humanistic self-reliance, the very opposite of surrender to the will (and Providence) of God.  Besides, human strength goes only so far.

So…what to do?

A case can be made for both perseverance and faith.  Perseverance is tying the knot, and faith is engaging life, walking, trusting God for the ground under your feet with every step.  It is the game plan for the surrendered life in Christ.  It is not an absence of fear, but putting your leg to the next step despite fear, depression, hurt, wonder, or any other of the six billion things that might short-circuit following in Jesus’ footsteps.  You breathe, in and out, you walk daily, serving, loving, and waiting on His direction.

There’s an oft-repeated line in a poem entitled When He Comes.[1]

There’s a King and captain high, Who’ll be coming by and by.

And He’ll find me hoeing cotton when He comes.

When He comes!  When He comes!

And He’ll find me hoeing cotton when He comes!

For You Today  

The Christian life of surrender to God’s will is filled with hoeing cotton, a euphemism for doing what God brings your way; you walk with Him in prayer and obedience, and you engage your community in every way, both the simple and complex.  As Paul put it: 

Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.  Colossians 3:23

Today, breathe, pray, get moving, keep serving and loving…hoe all the cotton He gives you…and keep looking for when He comes.  You won’t have to worry about whether your rope will hold…you know the One who holds the rope!

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

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

Holy Huddle  and  Strength to Go On

Images:  Title Pixabay.com   Images without citation are either personal property of the author, or in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©  

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[1] When He Comes, French E. Oliver, 1921

The Thin Line Between Black Friday and Good Friday

[i]

Friday, November 25, 2016

The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil.  So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth.  It broke his heart.  And the Lord said, “I will wipe this human race I have created from the face of the earth.  Yes, and I will destroy every living thing—all the people, the large animals, the small animals that scurry along the ground, and even the birds of the sky.  I am sorry I ever made them.”  But Noah found favor with the Lord.  Genesis 6:5-8^(NLT)

I’m always thankful for Thanksgiving.  The atmosphere of family gatherings and a pause from the rat race to catch up with loved ones and take intentional moments to offer thanks to God for blessings…well, it just seems to put me in a good frame of mind. 

Of late that frame has had some of the shine rubbed off its edges.  I have been besieged with an inbox full of Black Friday deals.  Amazon, Cokesbury, Macys, Sears, J.C.Penney, and anyone who ever got my email address want to offer me pre-Black Friday discounts and special, big-time-you-are-special-to-us-our-personal-friend-and-lifelong-buddy, Mr. R. Brownworth, customer #988979734572…shipping and handling separate, of course!

I now know how God felt when he decided to wipe humans off the face of the earth; enough is enough!

But I cannot read Genesis 6 without being caught up by that hopeful tag line:  But Noah found favor with the Lord. 

Noah’s day was not all that different from our Black Friday mentality.  The mood of the day was party, party, and…well, party!  But Noah kept his focus on the calling God had laid on his life.  Frankly that’s hard to do when the noise of a culture says:  Turn up the volume, this party’s just getting started!  The focus of Noah’s life was to get ready for the event that would be a new beginning for the human race.

And so was the other Friday – Good Friday. 

If ever there was a moment of new beginning, the moment that itinerant insurrectionist of love spoke while hanging on a cross, Father, forgive them, they don’t know what they’re doing…it opened the flood gates of grace.

It’s a thin line between Black Friday and Good Friday. 

On Black Friday the store floodgates open at Midnight and it’s all heels and elbows running like would-be matadors ahead of the bulls at Pamplona, crashing through the Apple Store entrance to snatch up the merchandise monster’s grace discounts. 

On Good Friday the world stood silent while God died.

It’s somewhat schizophrenic to gather on Thursday, offer humble prayers of Thanksgiving around the table of God’s bountiful blessings, and then spend the afternoon watching football while searching your I-Phone for the best midnight specials.

But that is the picture of Noah’s day and our day; it is the picture of humans-in-need-of-forgiveness-day!  It’s our human-race family picture.

It is the picture of who we are…walking a thin line between the different Fridays.

For You Today

I saw a report on the news of a survey that asked if you were going to participate in the wee-hours shopping craze known as Black Friday.  The report predicted a sharp decrease this year. 

I had two immediate thoughts:  Wall Street must be shaking in their boots, and perhaps God has more Noah-like people than I ever imagined. 

Maybe Black Friday will turn out to be a Good Friday.

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

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NOTES

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[i] Title image: By Powhusku from Laramie, WY, via Wikimedia Commons & By Ambrozd (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons

Running with Edison

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

I truly wish I could have a little more of what Thomas Edison had.  He, of course, was an innovative scientist/inventor with a brilliant mind.  I could stand plenty more of that brilliant mind stuff.  But it was his outlook that intrigues me most of all.  Edison was a man who knew how to put the past in the past and go forward.  He was a “Paul”!

As seen through the eyes of his son, Charles:

On the night the entire laboratory burned to the ground, Thomas A. Edison was a giant of optimism.  When his son, Charles arrived, his 67 year old, white-haired father was standing watching the flames consume years of work. 

“My heart ached for him,” Charles said.  “He was no longer a young man.  But then he spotted me and shouted, ‘Charles, go find your mother.  Bring her here.  She’ll never see anything like this as long as she lives.’” 

And the next morning Thomas A. Edison remarked, “There is great value in disaster.  All our mistakes are burned up.  Thank God we can start anew.”[1]

Today…for you

Perhaps it has been some time since you experienced a loss. 

Or maybe you’re in the middle of losing something or someone dear and precious.

Whatever your circumstance, begin right now to thank God that, on the other side of this temporary loss, there is a Savior waiting to walk alongside you in a great opportunity to write a new chapter.

Remember – His promises, like His mercies, are new every morning!

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[1] In a sermon, The Walnut Street Baptist Church