CALL: Run If You Want!

Southern California is earning a well-deserved reputation as the “freeway-chase capitol” of the world … and rightly so. At least once or twice a week now, the evening news reports on another semi-brain dead simpleton who apparently believes he can outrun the police.

Recently, however, one chase was especially interesting. The suspect speed off like all the other car-chase celebrities but then added an extra component … running out of gas, he jumped from his vehicle and fled on foot; then, jumping a guardrail, he inadvertently leaped over the edge of a 400 foot embankment … the final section of which was a vertical, 75 foot drop to the canyon floor.

The suspect broke his pelvis, both shoulders, and suffered multiple head and body lacerations and scrapes. He was arrested in the hospital after being treated for his injuries. Local authorities expect a lawsuit to follow.

I recall another man who tried to run from a higher authority: the prophet Jonah. He tried to flee from God when called upon to preach to Nineveh. In the case of the prophet his leap was aided by fellow travelers and ended in the gut of a great fish.

In the end his injuries were more emotional than physical … and of course the cliff-jumper will end up in prison, while the prophet ended up in the gospels, being cited by the Lord Jesus Christ as the only sign this adulterous generation will ever receive. But the lesson is the same: run, but don’t expect to hide when God is calling!

Christianity, Illustrations,
Religion, Calling

DISCERNMENT: Know thyself!

"Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times?"

Matthew 16:3b

Our church was blessed with a godly pianist; Avery Dacus was his name. He was one of our seniors, but you’d never know it.

Avery played almost everything from memory. We would name a hymn, he'd start playing as the second or third word left our lips. If he didn’t recognize it by name he'd say, “Gimme the number”; he'd say, “Oh!” and pow his fingers would start playing.

We even heard hymns from our denomination’s out-of-print hymnals. He'd say, “Do you know this one?”

He complained a lot, though. Not about having to play, but humbly, about his finger-work; “They’re not what they used to be, I can’t get them to do what I want them to do!” We are all dumb founded; his piano playing is some of the best southern gospel, ragtime, honky-tonk sounding church music we’ve heard. He just looked at us and said with tears in his eyes, “Well, it’s not!”

Why did Avery insist his finger-work wasn’t up to par, when the rest of us thought it was great? Because he knew his fingers and we didn’t. Years of playing and practicing with those hands let him know what they were capable of; he knew his own hands.

We should all be like Avery when it comes to our own hearts and minds. We should know them so well from years of use that we can tell in a moment if things aren’t right.

God gave us a mind to reason with, to "take every thought captive" (2 Corinthians 10:5). He gave us a heart which, with use, will be soft and supple, a heart which can discern spiritual things. And a spirit with which the heart and the mind can communicate with one another.

Oh, a heart that is used often and discriminately, in combination with a mind that is righteous and just, creates such a powerful conscience in man, once he has the whole armor of God on, and the Spirit gives assent, he is invincible.

Christianity, Discernment,
Illustrations, Religion

WISDOM: Two kinds are available; Understand both!

DRINKING UPSTREAM: [James 3: 13-18]

In America's Old West there was hard rule among range riders ... "Always Drink Upstream from the Herd."

Good advice for those of us who are in the world but not of it!

Yes, there are two kinds of wisdom; yes, we should know the difference between the two ... "un uh em is piesun'd; tha uther is pure sweet heaven'."

DISCERNMENT: It's all about using common sense!

FOLLOW THE BOUNCING BALL: [Acts: 17:11]

Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.

When I was a teen ... way back before the flood ... me and my friend Methuselah would go to the movies together. During the intermission ... for those of you under fifty, an intermission was a break between movies ... the theaters showed newsreels, cartoons, and commercials for their concession stand.

Some of the cartoons and commercials had lyrics to songs scrolling across the bottom of the screen, a pong ball bounced from note to note acting as a surrogate conductor, leading all of us in singing the silly little ditties.

What amazed me was how many of us actually sang; like little robots we joined in on the first bounce, not realizing we had a choice.

Many in the Church today are like those of us who responded without realizing we had minds of our own ... we were naive and trusting.

I'm not suggesting Christians should not trust their leader's teachings, but they are naive and should be discerning.

Insight

Hole in the Wall [Ezekiel 8:7-9; other topics - Discernment]

Our newspaper reported a hole had been blown in the wall of Police Headquarters; police are said to be looking into it.

[JokesEveryDay; June 24th, 1999]

DISCERNMENT: Blind cave salamanders & other sightless, lightless things!

For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.

2 Peter 1:9

There exists in our south central states (Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas), a troglodytic (cave-dwelling) salamander, which is blind and virtually colorless: where its eyes ought to be are two black dots. In the Ozark variety, eyelids do develop but promptly fuse over eyes that do not function. Most remarkably, when raised in ambient light the salamander’s eyelids degenerate even more abruptly.

The Ozark variety was the first such blind cave salamander to be found in North America. All varieties of the Typhlomolge Rathbuni appear to be on an endangered species list somewhere.

In our text, Peter is writing of the fruitful life in Christ Jesus we ought to have; he offers virtues we should add to our character in order to possess this life.

“He writes of faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, patience, godliness, and brotherly kindness. He concludes with charity, or love, Christian love, which is completely unselfish love.

"Without these characteristics, says Peter, the professed Christian is as totally unable to discern spiritual things as the salamander is unable to discern physical things.” [James A Tucker]

Man living without these virtues is a man living in darkness. Over an extended period of time, man’s spiritual eyes have grown shut, his heart-eyes degenerating to the point of being non-functioning. The first sightless human was found in the Garden of Eden; but praise be to God, all varieties are on the Lord’s endangered species list.

See also - Follow the Bouncing Ball

2 Peter, Christianity, Discernment,
Illustration, Religion