You'll Never Walk Alone

When you walk through a storm
Hold your head up high
And don't be afraid of the dark.
At the end of the storm
Is a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of a lark.

Walk on through the wind,
Walk on through the rain,
Tho' your dreams be tossed and blown.

Walk on, walk on
With hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone,
You'll never walk alone.

This song by Rodgers and Hammerstein, made me stop and think.  I had the television on in the background while getting some things done, when a commercial played this familiar tune.

I did a little research and found it has been recorded no less than 80 times by various groups, including Elvis Presley and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It was sung at the culmination of every Muscular Dystrophy Association Telethon from 1964 to 2010.

What is our fascination with this tune? And, is it true? “Walk on, walk on with HOPE in your heart, and you’ll never walk alone.”  Really, all we need is hope?  

Let’s assume for a moment the statement is correct. If you have hope, you’ll never walk alone. Where does this hope come from?

I believe it comes from belief in the Lord, Jesus Christ and Him alone. If your hope lies in Jesus Christ, then in fact, you have His hope in your heart, and indeed you will never walk alone.

But, if you have not the Lord Jesus in your heart, then where lies your hope?  Are you your hope?  Does it lie in your own ability? Or is it in some nebulous, feel good desire?  If hope is not based on something beyond yourself, then it is only a wish. If it is rooted in something greater, then it becomes realistic expectation.

Trust and faith in the Lord God Almighty means I have the hopeful expectation of victory through the power that breathed the stars in their place. Is there anyone more qualified to hold your hope? Is there any other hope upon which you can rely that will never disappoint?

Lord Jesus, Thank You that we can know we will never walk alone. Thank you for your hope that fills our hearts and walks with us, nay carries us, through any storm.  We love You Lord God, our only hope and we praise Your holy Name!

Te-Bow or Not Te-Bow, That is the Question

There has been considerable debate recently on the comment boards from even within the Christian community. There are those who believe Tim Tebow is a hero for boldly standing for Christ and giving the glory to God for his successes. And then there are those who believe he is a hypocrite and should be obeying Jesus’ command to go into your closet to pray.

True enough, Christ did say not to go out and pray on the street in order to be seen by men, and that when you pray in private your Father in heaven sees and rewards you openly.  Yet one must ask, is this reference being used in context, and is there also biblical support for an opposing position?

First, let’s examine the excerpt to which these believers are pointing.

^“5Also when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward in full already.

    ⁶But when you pray, go into your [most] private room, and, closing the door, pray to your Father, Who is in secret; and your Father, Who sees in secret, will reward you in the open.” Matthew 6:5-6

We can see clearly when these scriptures are read completely and in context, Jesus is speaking against the practice of praying on the street corners with the intent of being seen by others. It is unmistakably a matter of the heart.  We are told that they have already received the reward which they sought, specifically, the admiration of men rather than approval or blessing from God.

Now, to what scripture may we look to build a divergent argument?  Perhaps we could look again to the words of Jesus in Matthew:

^“15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. ¹⁶ Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:15-16

And again the words of Jesus in John:

“¹⁴ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:14-15

Jesus is telling us in both of these passages that the light of Christ must be held up plainly for all to see.  We should not hide it from the world, but rather let it be seen in order for Him to be believed. 

John 3:14 refers to Moses lifting up the serpent in the desert.  Let’s consider this story from during the exodus.  The story is actually recorded in Numbers:

“⁸ Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” ⁹ So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.” Numbers 21:8-9

Once again we see a physical representation in the Old Testament of a spiritual Truth in the New Testament.  In the Old Testament, the people were perishing. They were experiencing physical death as a result of their sin. Moses was to make a serpent and lift it up on a pole.  Anyone who was perishing could look up to it and be saved.  Did you catch that? If anyone was perishing in their sin, they could look up and see the (serpent) and be saved.

Christ said in the John account that He like the serpent of Moses needed to be lifted up so that those who were perishing could see Him and be saved.

We must hold Him up for others to see. The serpent didn’t do anyone any good on the ground, it had to be lifted up to be seen.

The Matthew account tells us to let our light shine before men. Well, our light is Christ. How can the light be seen unless we put it up on a stand?

But part of the verse says, “that they…may glorify your Father who is in heaven.”  Ah hah. Now we see the difference: If your intention is to be seen by men, then go to your closet. If your intention is for God to be glorified, then let your light be seen.  It is entirely dependent upon the heart of the person doing the deed, be it praying or giving alms, etc.

Every time Tim Tebow is interviewed he gives glory to God. Therefore, it seems pretty clear for which purpose he does what he does.  However, no one knows his heart except for the Father and Tim, and the Father knows it even better than Tim does.

Personally, I love to see any public figure openly praising God. Carry on, I say. Bravo!

A Sobering Lesson in Obedience

Did you know that the Word of God tells us that we are responsible for the souls of those with whom God instructs us to share the gospel and we don’t? What a sobering thought. If the Lord is leading you to share the gospel with someone and you disobey, you will be held accountable.

Consider:

“⁴Then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, and the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.     ⁵He heard the sound of the trumpet and did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But he who takes warning shall save his life.     ⁶But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any one of them, he is taken away in and for his perversity and iniquity, but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand.“ Eze 33:4-6

“¹⁷Son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel; therefore hear the word at My mouth and give them warning from Me.     ¹⁸If I say to the wicked, You shall surely die, and you do not give him warning or speak to warn the wicked to turn from his wicked way, to save his life, the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at your hand.     ¹⁹Yet if you warn the wicked and he turn not from his wickedness or from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity, but you have delivered yourself.” Eze 3:17-19

“But,” you may say, “I am not a watchman.”

Consider:

“That you are not [consciously] falling behind or lacking in any special spiritual endowment or Christian grace [the reception of which is due to the power of divine grace operating in your souls by the Holy Spirit], while you wait and watch [constantly living in hope] for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and [His] being made visible to all.” 1 Cor 1:7

^“17And take the helmet of salvation and the sword that the Spirit wields, which is the Word of God.     ¹⁸Pray at all times (on every occasion, in every season) in the Spirit, with all [manner of] prayer and entreaty. To that end keep alert and watch with strong purpose and perseverance, interceding in behalf of all the saints (God's consecrated people).     ¹⁹And [pray] also for me, that [freedom of] utterance may be given me, that I may open my mouth to proclaim boldly the mystery of the good news (the Gospel),” Eph 6:17-19

“So call to mind the lessons you received and heard; continually lay them to heart and obey them, and repent. In case you will not rouse yourselves and keep awake and watch, I will come upon you like a thief, and you will not know or suspect at what hour I will come.” Rev 3:3

We are called to watch for His coming, and as in the passages in Ezra, we are called to warn others of His coming.  We are called to speak to warn the wicked to turn from his wicked way and to save his life.

Several years ago as a relatively new Christian, I went with a fellow Christian to visit at a nursing home, and we were to have a ministry meeting following a Bible study with the residents. At the end of the study, one of the senior ladies, whose salvation was questionable, asked my friend to take her for a walk (she was wheel-chair bound) around the grounds before he left. As we were to have a meeting, he declined. The Lord prompted me, “You take her.” “I can’t Lord, You see I have this very important meeting and people are waiting for me, blah, blah, blah.”

The following Tuesday evening when we returned, I learned she had had a stroke and was unconscious in the ICU.  Further, she had suffered the stroke early on Wednesday of the week before.  The next Tuesday, sadly, I learned that she had passed away.

The Tuesday evening she had asked the Christians simply to take her for a stroll was the last opportunity she had to hear and receive the gospel. The Lord had compelled me to take her, but I was much too busy with my important ministry work; too busy doing what I wanted to do for the Lord to consider doing what He was telling me to do for Him.

According to the Ezra passage, I will be held accountable, not only for my disobedient rebellion, but also I will answer for her soul.

It was a sobering lesson. When the Lord compels, obey. You will never regret being obedient, but you may regret a disobedience. I pray that mine did not cost that woman her eternal life.

“¹⁷So faith comes by hearing [what is told], and what is heard comes by the preaching [of the message that came from the lips] of Christ (the Messiah Himself).” Romans 10:17

She could have heard it, but I was silent.

   

Global Evangelism via "Comments"

Well, it was my intention to use some quiet time this evening to write another post. However, “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.”   I’m learning to always say, “Lord willing…” as my mother-in-love has taught me.

Instead, I spent this evening doing another thing I love to do. It is still writing, and it is still sharing God’s love and encouragement. 

I confess, I love to go onto the comment boards of articles that promise to be controversial and get into spiritual conversations with non-believers.  Now, don’t worry. I don’t do it to be confrontational. I am using it to

·         hone my bible defense skills,

·         practice speaking the truth in love

·         share the good news to those who are perishing, and

·         encourage believers I’ll never meet this side of heaven.

It is very exciting, especially when you get the chance to see someone who is clearly aggressively anti-Christian step back and admit that we’re not all “a bunch of hypocrites,” or that we don’t hate people who don’t believe.

There was one particular man I hope to meet at the throne, who was openly hostile toward America and specifically Christians. Over the course of several conversations, I watched him soften. In our last conversation, I found out that his daughter was volunteering in a medical clinic in a war zone and that he had lost his son in a war. I asked him if I could pray for him and his daughter. Based on his response, he was clearly moved to tears. He said that he would be honored, and I never saw him there again spouting anti-Christian, anti-American rhetoric.

I would encourage you to give it a try. It is much easier to do than face-to-face evangelism. Yet, it will challenge your bible knowledge and skills.  Just remember to have a bible with a concordance available or, I just open an extra tab and keep biblegateway.com up and ready to use at a moment’s notice.

This evening’s foray involved a Christian who hates Jews, at least I think he was Christian. It was hard to tell for all his yelling and ugly epithets. However, he did respond courteously when challenged respectfully to be less offensive.

One warning: It can be very time-consuming and addictive! Enjoy!