Keeping An Eye On the Ball

 

Monday, March 15, 2021

There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee.  After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus.  “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us.  Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.”  Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”  “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus.  “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”  Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.  Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.  So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’    The wind blows wherever it wants.  Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”  “How are these things possible?” Nicodemus asked.  Jesus replied, “You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things?  I assure you, we tell you what we know and have seen, and yet you won’t believe our testimony.  But if you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things?  No one has ever gone to heaven and returned.  But the Son of Man has come down from heaven.  And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.  John 3:1-15

It was 1964, time for spring baseball practice at our high school.  Our coach began the infielder’s practice by having us throw the ball around to each other.  I was positioned at third base, and, from first base on the other side of the diamond, Greg threw the ball to me.  Greg was also a pitcher, so that ball got to me in a hurry.  I stuck out my glove to receive the incoming meteor and felt nothing, except the meteor’s wind path as the ball whizzed past, in-between my glove and left ear.  My first thought was:  If Greg throws that thing at me again there’ll be no place to hide.  My second thought:  Gotta tell Mom to get my eyes checked.

So, what does a 60-year-old memory of high school baseball have to do with Nicodemus?  Well, for starters, he and I had the same problem.  No, he didn’t play shortstop for the Hauppauge Eagles’ baseball team.  But Nic did have a problem with his sight, his spiritual sight.  He got the basics right, figuring out that what Jesus did on a regular basis, healing the sick, blind, and even changing water into wine; these were not your normal things.  He went further, understanding that God was at back of Jesus’ doings.  What whizzed past Nic’s glove and left ear was the point of it all…he failed to see why Jesus was doing what He did.  With each miracle on earth Jesus was pointing to a reality in Heaven.  Jesus was revealing His Father’s loving heart, showing the kind of life that was possible for those who would believe.  Nicodemus saw the miracles; Jesus told him he was blind as a sixteen-year-old third baseman who needed glasses.

If Nic had gotten his spiritual eyes checked, he could have recognized that Jesus was telling him the origin of this miracles and messages fastball, and where it was going after it whizzed past his left ear.  Listen again to the last words Jesus spoke to the curious (but spiritually dull) Pharisee about the meaning of the cross he would bear, and upon which he would bring the greatest miracle:

…the Son of Man has come down from heaven.  And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.

To Nicodemus’ credit he eventually “got it”.  He spoke-up in Jesus’ defense as a voice for reason when the Pharisees started plotting to kill Jesus.  And I’m certain, God used Nicodemus’ words of truth as convicting evidence of the Pharisees’ sin.

Nicodemus finally recognized this was a move of God showing all humanity the pathway home to their Heavenly Father.  And when he realized the truth, he was not ashamed to speak it.

For You Today

When the fastball of truth whizzes past your left ear it’s time for an eye exam.  You can’t stay in this game of life without keeping an eye on that ball.

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

[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com    Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©

Wisdom from Above

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Wednesday, January 2, 2019

If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom.  But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying.  For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom.  Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic.  For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind.  But the wisdom from above is first of all pure.  It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others.  It is full of mercy and the fruit of good deeds.  It shows no favoritism and is always sincere.  And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness.  James 3:13-18(NLT)

It’s easy to recognize a porcupine – especially up close!  Wisdom is a little tougher to nail-down.  But James tells us the foremost quality of wisdom is its purity.  Joined to purity is a love-affair with peace, constant gentleness, willingness to give-in, mercy, good deeds, impartiality, and unfailing truth.  Where do you find such people?

Ordinarily, when I think of Godly wisdom, the picture includes someone solemn, spewing out sayings that make you ponder and wonder; it’s usually someone older (although finding those at my age is getting to be more of an issue).

But, sometimes wisdom, especially as James describes it, shows up in unexpected ways, and in the least-expected people.  Elizabeth’s Aunt Frances comes to mind.  I met Aunt Fran the year Elizabeth and I met in high school (1964).  She was in her early 30’s, the youngest sibling to Sofie, Elizabeth’s Mom.  There were 20 years (or so) between Sofie, who was the oldest, and Frances, the youngest of more than a dozen.  Fran was more like a sister to my bride than an aunt. 

Fast forward to this past November.  Frances was still living in New York, so phone calls were the visits we wish we could have had in person.  On the last call before Fran died, Elizabeth was discussing her upcoming cataract surgery.  Her aunt’s comment was in true Yogi Berra style:  I have no problems with my eyes; I just can’t see.

We laughed long and hard over that with Aunt Fran.  And in the days following we asked each other as we passed in the house, rode in the car, or talked about Elizabeth’s upcoming cataract removal:  Do you have any problems with your eyes that seeing wouldn’t fix?  Aunt Frances provided us with many such moments over the years with her innocence and unguarded sharing of whatever was on her mind at the moment.

It’s only now, after she has left us, that some of what she said has begun to sink-in.  If true Godly wisdom is characterized by pure hearts, peaceable lives, and gentle good deeds, Aunt Fran wasn’t far from what Jesus tried to teach us.

In Jesus’ earthly ministry, and later speaking through the apostle, John, to the church at Laodicea, the Lord reminded us that self-satisfaction was opposite of any kind of wisdom.  He reminded the Laodicean church that, though they were well-off financially, and didn’t suffer persecution as others did, their way of serving God was the worst kind of poverty – indifference towards the things of God caused by spiritual blindness.  They had eyes, they just couldn’t see.  Jesus recommended:

…ointment for your eyes so you will be able to see.  I correct and discipline everyone I love.  So be diligent and turn from your indifference.  Revelation 3:18b-19(NLT)   

Sometimes Aunt Frances had a little trouble connecting the dots.  But she was fun, positive, unguarded and always gently going about the business of blessing your life with good deeds and a peaceable heart.

I’m going to miss her, but I’m going to think about her often.  I’m praying God will let me have a Frances-kind of pure heart, because, as Jesus told us:

God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.  Matthew 5:8(NLT

For You Today

If you’ve already caved on that sticking-to-the-diet resolution, or exceeded the speed limit on the way to work today, or perhaps let one of those bad words fly out when you got cut-off on the Interstate, perhaps adding a little Godly wisdom of purity and peaceableness to your list is in order.

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

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[1] Title Image:  Pixabay.com