The Last Post of 2017

For this year's last edition of A Believer's Broadside, the printing staff is presenting its Christmas edition of The Fish Wrapper, an annual publication about the family behind this blog. We're looking forward to publishing more editions of ABB in the New Year. 

We wish you a blessed Christmas and a very happy 2018!

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Live in the Moment

I struggled with what to call this post. By “live in the moment,” I don’t mean to abandon planning or to ignore the consequences of today’s decisions, or pay no attention to what has happened in the past. What I mean by it is something along the lines of what Moses meant in his psalm. Yes, I did mean Moses.

Smack dab in the middle of songs written by David is this ancient, powerful text by Moses. Psalm 90 contrasts the infinite nature of God with the finite fragility of man. It is peppered with passages like these: “from everlasting to everlasting you are God,” “a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday when it is past,” “You carry [our years] away like a flood,” and  “we finish our years like a sigh.” Then, in the middle of all this figurative wistfulness, comes this tangible observation and very practical request:

The days of our lives are seventy years: and if by reason of strength they are eighty years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. Who knows the power of Your anger? For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath. So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Incredibly, millennia later, the average life expectancy remains 78.8 years. Our brief existence, compared to God’s infinite timeline, doesn’t even measure a micrometer. What’s more, the brevity of our life is a reminder that we live, as Moses did, in a world under God’s judgement. Man was not created to die—we were created to live forever. But sin altered that design, and we live with its consequence each moment, including a fixed lifetime.  Moses’ reaction to those hard facts is a humble plea that God teach us to “number” our days. The Hebrew word for  “number”  literally means “to count” or “ to reckon.” It provides the picture of a bookkeeper taking inventory of precious resources for a business. Life is the most important business there is, and time is the most precious of resources.

Now, I don’t mean to get all dour, especially on an occasion as joyful as Thanksgiving. So, let me try to turn the corner…by turning to the book of Ecclesiastes. “Sure, Joel,” you are thinking, “that will liven things right up!” As the Narnian marshwiggle Puddleglum would put it, Ecclesiastes will teach you to have a sober view of life more than any book will. But even it has this bright commentary to share:

I have seen the God-given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end. I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives, and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God. (Ecclesiastes 3:10-13)

King Solomon, the Preacher of Ecclesiastes, arrives at the happy conclusion that even though life is short, life, and all that it encompasses, is a good gift from God. And even though our lives on this earth may be fixed, the essence of who we are as image bearers of an infinite God, keeps us mindful that we are in fact made for eternity. Earthly lives aren’t all that there is.

So how does this all come back to “live in the moment?” Ever since childhood, my tendency has been to fixate on what I deem to be the exciting times of life: weekends, vacations, birthdays and holidays. As an adult, I find that my childish fixation hasn’t changed much: I try to hurry the workday along to quitting time; I try to hurry the workweek along to Friday afternoon; I’ll even try to hurry these next 3 pesky filler days along to Thanksgiving Thursday! I tend to do the same thing with the seasons of life of my family, hurrying my toddler onto when he can be independent enough to put on his own clothes and ditch the diapers for the potty. I hurry my infant onto when she will sleep through the night and be able to communicate with us through more than just cries.

But in each scenario, I’m missing Moses’ humble request and Solomon’s happy conclusion. Each moment of my day, be it Monday or Saturday; each day of the year, be it Thanksgiving, an overcast day in February, or a dog day of summer; each season of my children’s lives, whether infancy, adolescence, or adulthood; all of them are a part of the beautiful, but limited, gift called life. I don’t want to blow past these God-ordained moments. I don’t want to hurry through the mundane in order to get to something merrier. I don’t want to be too overwhelmed  by all that I haven’t done and want to do, that I lose focus on what I’m presently doing. And I don’t want to miss out on precious moments with my children in each stage of their lives for what I imagine to be an easier stage in the future.

I want to learn to number my days, and then, with a heart of wisdom, enjoy each moment of every one, as God’s gift. That’s what I mean by living in the moment, and I’m hoping that maybe, just maybe, I’ll have learned how to do it by next Thanksgiving. 

Photo credit by Marco Verch in creative commons.

What the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation Means for Christian Families

Tomorrow, October 31, people throughout the world will mark the 500th Anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. Although the seeds of the Reformation were planted long before, 1517 was when its green shoot popped up from the darkness of the medieval sod. Martin Luther’s nailing of his Ninety-Five Theses on the door of the chapel at the University of Wittenberg ignited the figurative underbrush of Europe, a spiritual forest parched of Living Water for centuries.

Dr. Luther’s Theses blasted away at abuses arising from the practice of selling indulgences, documents for purchase which certified forgiveness of particular sins. “Any true Christian…participates in all the blessings of Christ and the church; and this is granted him by God, even without indulgences letters,” proffered Luther. “Injury is done to the Word of God when, in the same sermon, an equal or larger amount of time is devoted to indulgences than to the Word.” Thesis No. 62 summarized best what Luther had personally discovered: “The true treasure of the church is the most holy gospel of the glory and grace of God.” These truths were sweet rain to a spiritually thirsty culture.

Still, 500 years later, it may seem a little strange that so much fuss is made about a German monk’s heady mumbo-jumbo discussing teachings that have long since been tossed alongside the theological wagon trail. What does anything Luther did five centuries ago have to do with anything we experience as Christian families today? Well, nothing…unless these kinds of questions ever come up in your day-to-day conversations with your children:

Does God love me? How can I know?

What do I have to do to please God? Does He still love me when I sin?

How do I go to heaven? Will I go to hell if I’m not good enough?

How can I know God? Does God know me? Does He even care?

Christian parents in 2017 can answer these questions clearly, confidently and definitively. But most Christian parents in 1517 couldn’t. Put yourselves in their shoes for a moment. In answer to your children’s spiritual questions, you point them to God the Judge, a Deity that demands their perfection to earn His approval. To give your children some solace in light of this bleak outlook, you teach them to ask help from Mary or the saints, since they can identify with the plight of humanity, more than the ascended Christ.

There is no “Jesus Loves Me This I Know” or “God is so Good” to sing with your young ones. There is no Bible to read, let alone to teach, to your children. Spiritual life consists of the mysteries of the Mass, a worship service conducted in a language neither you nor your children understand. There is no such thing as “Bible Study” or “Sunday School.” Your personal and familial devotional life is reduced to static rosaries, icons and shrines. And worst of all, the genuine spiritual concerns you have for yourself and for your children are cleverly exploited, not compassionately addressed, by a corrupt religious infrastructure. Indulgences are peddled like Girl Scout cookies, and relics are displayed with all the novelty of a “Ripely’s Believe It or Not!”

The Reformation changed that reality into our reality, the Christian home of the 21st century. The Bible is easily accessible (literally at our fingertips!) for family and personal devotions, as well as in corporate worship (where it is expounded for practical application). The Gospel can be clearly articulated, understood and believed. Our children can know that God loves them, and they can know God through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. They can know that God’s love is unmerited and lavishly given. They can know that their Intercessor isn’t Mary or some other fallible saint,” but the God-Man Christ Jesus, who can “sympathize with [their] weakness,” and who makes it possible for them to “come boldly to the throne of grace...” (Hebrews 4:15-16). Their devotional life is limitless, guided by the Holy Spirit through the “living and powerful” word of God (Hebrews 4:12). And even though  corrupt religious charlatans may still peddle their wares, your children need never be deceived—they can give each teaching the Berean Test, searching the Scriptures to see “whether these things [are] so” (Acts 17:10-11).

So yes, Luther’s 16th century Halloween Facebook post, and the viral world-wide fallout that followed, is incredibly relevant to today’s Christian family. Without it, most of the tools of discipleship that we take for granted today, including translations of the Bible in the layman’s vernacular, would simply not exist.

The question for us is whether or not we in the Western church will continue what Luther started. The world we live in is not so much different from the world of 16th century Europe. Natural disasters, the threat of radical Islam, political intrigue, societal unrest, and Biblical illiteracy are as real now as they were in Luther’s time. But the difference is that we have the equipment to engage the culture in ways that the Reformers never did. What we lack is their fortitude and their zeal. Despite the abundance of tools at our disposal, far too few Christian families are seriously discipling their children. The rediscovery of the truths of the Gospel created energetic conviction in the Reformers. Unfortunately, our overfamiliarity with them has bred a type of careless contempt, demonstrated by just how easily we back down from those truths in our culture today.

The kind of conviction Luther and the other Reformers possessed isn’t easily blown away by the winds of adversity, but it also isn’t formulated in a bed of roses. As recent Luther biographer, Eric Metaxas, has observed, it was Luther’s own relentless pursuit of the Gospel that made him so indomitable. Pressed by his own despair at the inadequacy of himself to satisfy the just demands of a holy God, he finally found the peace he craved in the promises of God. And with those promises he was ready to withstand the onslaught of the world, the flesh, and the devil. “My conscience is captive to the Word of God,” declared Luther at the Diet of Worms. “Thus I cannot and will not recant, because acting against one's conscience is neither safe nor sound.”

And so, the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation is both a celebration for the Christian family, but it is also a charge. Our homes are where the legacy of the Reformation must daily continue. It’s time to experience with our children the same joy as Luther did at the treasure of the Gospel. Luther observed that parents “can do no better work and do nothing more valuable either for God, for Christendom, for all the world, for themselves, and for their children than to bring up their children well.” No doubt, for Luther, bringing up children “well” is to disciple them in the Gospel, and to teach them to make their own consciences “captive to the Word of God.”

Armed with those spiritual weapons, our children may just turn the world upside down for Jesus—just like Martin Luther.

Photo by chop1n in creative commons 

Good Work, Pre-planned, Just for Me

Each year, Americans celebrate the importance of work by taking a day off from it. Labor Day, as holidays go, is a bit of an odd-ball, and this post really wont’ help you understand why we have it. Check out this article if you want that backstory.

Whatever you know or may not know about Labor Day, the day itself is a reminder that  most Americans spend the majority of their lives laboring to survive. Paid work is a necessity for most of us, and work of any and all kinds is the reality for every American, whether we get a paycheck for it or not. Strange as it is, as much as we appreciate a day off from work now and then, we realize that its absence is harmful to every aspect of our humanity. We need to work because were made to work.

And speaking of work, I recently changed jobs, and in so doing, career fields. After several years in the legal profession, God has now placed me in the realm of education, as an administrator for a private Christian home school academy. I don’t blame you if you think that’s a little strange—I wouldn’t have believed it myself if you had told me 10 years ago what I’d be doing now. Ironically, it was about a decade ago that a mentor, after hearing me lay out my life-plans for the next several years, wryly advised me to be on my toes because God just might throw me a “curve ball.” Turns out, he was right. God has a beautiful way of pitching us curve balls by taking us directions we hadn’t anticipated. But He also masterfully prepares us for those unexpected curve balls, so that if we’re paying attention, we’ll still connect for a base hit.

The wonderful thing I’m learning as a Christian, now in my third decade of life, is that I don’t have to plot out my life’s vocational journey. I’ve often fretted over whether I’m on the proper rung of the professional ladder, given how old I am and the training I’ve received. But God is showing me more and more that I’ve really had it backwards. He’s the Planner for my professional life. In fact, He’s got a complete file on all the stuff He wants me to do for His Kingdom. How do I know that? He told me:

For [I am] His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that [I] should walk in them. - Ephesians 2:10

Long before I came into existence, God already knew that I would be. He knew I would be born a sinner, but that I would also be adopted into His family. And, as my adopted heavenly Father, He personally and perfectly prepared good works, His Work, for me to do.  This means that all of my work, professional or otherwise, has been specially chosen for me by a loving Overseer. It also means that it isn’t up to me to figure out how I’m going to make my mark on the world through my career, or scheme my way up the ladder of earthly success. My responsibility is to be faithful to do the work God has for me, right now, in this season of my life, until He brings me a new assignment.

Oh, and by the way, if you’re interested in a job, Dad says He’s always looking for new hires--He's got plenty of work for you to keep you busy.

Photo by Peter Miller in creative commons. 

The Peace of the City

This Tuesday marks the 241^st anniversary of the signing of America’s birth certificate, the Declaration of Independence. The Fourth of July has always been a favorite holiday for me, in part because of its proximity to my birthday. But my love for America’s heritage, and my passion for the ideas that led to its founding, has always made Independence Day especially important.

The 4^th also creates a certain discord in my spirit, as I imagine it must for other patriotic, God-fearing Americans. The United States is in crisis, and much of the mess is a direct result of the bad choices we’ve made corporately, and individually, as Americans, over the last 70 years. The principles of divine accountability, limited government, and moral absolutes have been replaced by unrestrained autonomy, expansive government, and moral relativism. What our forefathers took for granted, we refuse to take seriously. And God, the Person the signers of the Declaration acknowledged as the Endower of the inalienable rights of men, and the Supreme Judge of the world, have deemed, at best, irrelevant to public discussion.

Why then, with such sober realities in mind, do we devote a day to celebrating America? A day on which we show our national pride? A day on which we inevitably utter the words, “God Bless America”?

God tells us to.

That’s right. While God’s Word doesn’t directly discuss Independence Day celebrations, the ever-relevant Holy Scripture does gives the guidance we need to properly celebrate this Tuesday.

Take for instance, Jeremiah 29, a letter written by a prophet of God to God’s people, now captives in a pagan culture, hostile to their faith:

Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all who were carried away captive...Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit. Take wives and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters—that you may be increased there, and not diminished. And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray to the Lord for it: for in its peace you will have peace.”

Jeremiah’s words must have rattled his readers. Seek the peace of Babylon? Pray to the Lord for His blessing upon the Chaldean hordes? Yes, because their future was inseparable from the Jewish captives.

Lest you think times have changed since God’s people were in Babylon, similar directives have been given to believers in the New Testament. I Timothy 2:1-4 admonishes intercession and giving of thanks for all men, including government officials, and I Peter 2:13-17 directs Christians to use our freedoms to serve God and to “honor the king.”

My responsibility then, as a Christian, is to live boldly for Christ in my country, to be involved in its culture, to pray for it, and to do all I can to bring about its peace. In other words, God wants me to be a blessing to this nation. I cannot think of any better way to be a blessing to my country then by asking God to bless it: with wisdom to know what is right and wrong; with protection from those who would seek to destroy it; and with freedom for the consciences of every American living inside its borders.

Such blessings of liberty are what the 56 signers entrusted to us on July 4^th, 1776. May God bless us, the patriots of today, with the fortitude and grace to keep that trust. The peace of our nation depends upon it.

A Legacy to Keep

Americans commemorate Memorial Day with barbeques, parades, and gatherings with family and friends. In my growing-up years, the holiday typically found our family on a day hike, enjoying the grandeur of God’s creation in the Pacific Northwest. But for far too many of us, the day passes without reflection on its intended purpose: honoring those who gave “the last full measure of devotion” in service to their country. Since the first humble minutemen, whose blood was spilt on Lexington Green in 1775, American soldiers have willingly given the ultimate sacrifice to ensure the continued legacy of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" to future generations of Americans. Today is the day we remember them.

Sometimes I become discouraged and even doubt if the ideal of true liberty, the philosophy of limited, constitutional government, and the notion of a nation grounded in Biblical law and morality, is worth fighting for. Perhaps those principles just aren’t worth the cost.

            

But then I wonder...what would I say to the Continental soldier at Valley Forge, with his bloodied feet leaving scarlet footprints in the snow, his tattered "uniform" barely giving him the slightest protection from the elements, and his life hanging by a thread? What would he say to me, if he knew that two centuries later I would so casually give up the principles for which he fought and bled—the dream of liberty to which he so tenaciously clung in the war's darkest hour?

            

What would I say to the defenders of Ft. McHenry who, during the war of 1812, gallantly flew the Star-Spangled Banner in defiance of the British fleet bombarding them through the long night? What would I say to the “honored dead” of Gettysburg, Blue and Gray alike, who valiantly struggled for the American ideals of freedom and justice? What would I say to the U.S. Marines whose blood stained the sands of Iwo Jima as they fought to preserve what the men at Valley Forge had died to create? 

What would I say to my own grandfather, who faithfully flew reconnaissance missions for the U.S. Navy off of Alaska's western shores to ensure his country's safety during the Second World War? And what would I say to Navy Seal Caleb Nelson, a man I knew personally, killed in Afghanistan in 2011, leaving behind a wife and two young sons? 

No, I could not, and as Americans, we must not be so ungrateful, so flippant, so callous, as to toss aside the legacy of freedom and liberty that these patriots, and millions of others, have given us at the cost of their very life's blood. We must be grateful sons and daughters who remember what our fathers and mothers have given us, and in turn give our utmost to see that their legacy is continued.

So please, thank the Lord today for these brave Americans of our day and of times past, who have given us the "new birth of freedom" we continue to enjoy. And may God give us the courage and commitment to see that their legacy lives on.

The Beauty of Birth

Just over a week ago, in the hours of early morning, our home was filled with cries of joy and delight at the arrival of our daughter, Ada. As we huddled together in the inflatable birthing pool in our living room, with Ada in our arms, I stared in wonder and relief at the culmination of 9 months of preparation, toil and waiting. And without question, I knew it had all been worth it.

I’ve now witnessed my wife experience two pregnancies, and walked with her through two very different labors and deliveries.  Our son, Liam, was born at our local hospital at 42 weeks following an induction and 30+ hour labor. His first 24 hours were spent in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in order to ensure the stability of his breathing. In the end, despite the unexpected trauma, we deemed it an overall positive experience.

Ada was born at home, after two days of early labor, and seven hours of active labor. She was born under the water, without complications, and was snuggled with us within mere seconds of her exit from a watery womb, to the watery world. I even got to cut the umbilical cord, her last attachment to her old life, as she began establishing the vital attachments for her new one (like breastfeeding!)  The home birth was all we’d prayed it to be—calm, comfortable and peaceful. Well, as much as things can be calm, comfortable and peaceful during birth.

Walking with a woman through pregnancy and delivery will impact a man more than he will ever realize. Unfortunately, men’s participation in the pregnancy and birth process has been historically sparse, either because of cultural mores or because of their own disinterest. This is ironic, since, as we heard during birthing class, the “man got the baby in, he should be there to help get the baby out!” Beyond that obvious fact, taking an active role in pregnancy and delivery opens our male eyes to wondrous things about our wives, and the children they bear us. Here are some of those observations.

A pregnant woman is uniquely beautiful. In a culture that is obsessed with the perfect body, the last thing pregnant women ever hear is that they are beautiful. Sure, there are things in pregnancy that aren’t terribly attractive: the morning nausea at our breakfast table, the intrusive body pillow that shared the bed with us since the second trimester, and the increasing belly size that made it harder to draw my wife into a close embrace. But all of these are swallowed up in the true wonder of that baby-belly. It reminds me that my wife is a life-giver, specially equipped to nurture this little unborn person, and at the appointed time, bring her into the world. That beautiful bump testifies to the love that Mikaela and I have for one another, a love that will sustain us as we care for the little ones God has sent us.

A pregnant woman’s endurance level is astonishing. My wife experienced morning sickness (which uncannily seems to show up in the afternoon and evening too) in both of her pregnancies, but it was especially intense during her pregnancy with Ada. Add to that the complete rearrangement of a woman’s physiological structure to accommodate the baby’s increasingly rapid growth, with the resulting soreness, aches, and strains from neck to feet. Then there are outside conditions that collide with the pregnancy—the stomach flu for instance. Labor itself has all the intensity of a runner’s sprint, but with the duration of a marathon. And to get to the finish line, she has to jump through the “ring of fire,” the excruciating pain associated with the final push to get the baby out into the world. All this adds up to this important truth: pregnancy, labor, and delivery aren’t for sissies.

Pregnancy, labor and delivery are divine symbols for our own spiritual salvation. Jesus told Nicodemus that in order for him to enter God’s Kingdom, he had to be “born again” (John 3:3). It’s not by accident that Jesus chose the picture of birth to illustrate the process by which a person is reconciled to God and made spiritually alive. I’ve watched as my wife has cared, tended, and labored to bring our children into the world. With joy, with sorrow, with determination she has done so, and yes, even with great, great pain. And so has our great God. With tender love and care, He brings us to repentance. By the pain of Calvary’s Cross He wrought us eternal life. And by his Holy Spirit, He brings us forth as His redeemed children. There is great joy in His house too, when a new child is born into His kingdom (Luke 15:10).

Baseball, Fathers and Forgiveness

I recently finished reading my first John Grisham novel.  I suppose that’s a little surprising, seeing as I’m a legal professional who loves to read. But I’m not that big into “thrillers,” even legal ones. So, I guess it’s not surprising that my first Grisham would be his very non-legal, non-thriller short novel about baseball: Calico Joe.

Set in the 1970s, Calico Joe tells the fictionalized account of the events leading up to a fateful at-bat between two major league ballplayers: Joe Castle and Warren Tracey. Castle, a rookie for the Cubs with the hottest bat in baseball, faces off against Tracey, a veteran, but fading, pitcher for the New York Mets.  The story is narrated by Warren’s son, Paul Tracey, who was an avid 11-year- old baseball fan in the summer of 1973, the season of the notorious confrontation between his father and his idol.

Written from the vantage point of 30 years later, Paul recounts his childhood as the son of a professional baseball player, while giving the play-by-play of his present-day attempts to reconcile his father and Castle before Warren Tracey’s impending death of cancer. Warren is a hard man, arrogant and abusive, and his self-absorption destroys his relationships, particularly with Paul.  Warren’s not much different during Paul’s adulthood, though Warren’s cancer allows him the opportunity to finally voice his long-held regrets. In contrast, Joe Castle, or “Calico Joe,” is all a good sportsman should be: full of gentility and grace on and off the baseball diamond.

Paul’s boyish idolization of Castle puts him into a conflicted emotional state as Warren Tracey pitches to Castle in a Mets-Cubs game on August 24, 1973. Spoiler alert: in an act of sheer spite, Tracey “beans” Castle in the head, permanently injuring him and ending his professional baseball career. Thirty years later, Paul, who has since married and started a family, does his best to bring Tracey and Castle together for one sole purpose: to give his dad a chance to make at least one thing right in his life before he dies. Tracey and Castle do meet, and (spoiler alert), an apology is made by one and forgiveness is extended by the other.

Oddly enough, the character who gave me most cause for reflection by the novel’s end was the person telling it: Paul Tracey. There’s much to like about Paul. Though the product of a broken home, he’s caring, courageous, responsible, and a devoted family man. Paul is nothing like his father, something he takes pride in.  Much as the older brother viewed the prodigal in Jesus’ parable, Paul sees his father as the bad guy, the one who spoiled talent and relationships on a hedonistic existence. The reconciliation between Warren and Joe is, as far as Paul is concerned, an act of penance for Warren than an instance of restorative forgiveness. As for the chances of Warren Tracey trying to make things right with anyone else in his miserable life, Paul says “fat chance.” Ironically, while Paul can accept Joe Castle forgiving Warren Tracey for ruining Joe’s life, he will never forgive his father for ruining his.

Calico Joe ends with Paul satisfied with how things turned out between his father and Joe.  And despite the apparent resolution between Warren and Paul, it’s neither satisfactory nor really healing. Both men remain wounded and broken.

The most glaring unresolved relationship in the story, however, is the most important: that of each man with God. Warren never seeks God’s forgiveness, and ironically, just like his father, neither does Paul. Apparently secure in his own “good” life as an adult, a life without the mistakes of his father, Paul misses out on the forgiveness that could have redeemed and brought healing to them both. His own self-absorption in being the man who isn’t his father, makes him even more unlikely a candidate to find the forgiveness (and consequent healing) he desperately needs.

Calico Joe is a well-crafted tale, with substantive characters, and valuable insights, particularly on relationships between fathers and sons. But its most poignant lesson is that without Jesus, seeking, arranging, or even extending forgiveness is nothing more than another good, but empty, work. For without receiving the forgiveness of a just and holy God, each person’s at-bat on Judgment Day is sure to end in a strike-out. 

Photo credit by Matthew Stratton in creative commons. 

The Living Word

In just a few weeks, we will somberly remember the last days of Jesus: His betrayal, His arrest, His trial and His crucifixion. And then, we will joyously celebrate Jesus’ triumph over death by His resurrection.

But these events are not merely events. To be certain, they are as historically true as Abraham Lincoln’s birthday or Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation. But they also represent the choices of a real, living Person. Unlike the biographies of men and women who were born, lived, and died, the Easter Story is the account of One who existed before He was born, and then was born, lived, died, and lives again. The written Jesus cannot be separated from the living Jesus:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God…And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-2, 14)

This Easter-time, as you recall Christ’s upper room communion with His disciples, His agonizing prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, His devastating separation from His Father at Calvary, His total sacrifice for our sins on the cross, and His total victory over darkness by His resurrection at the empty tomb, remember that this same Jesus lives today. The Living Word is speaking through His written Word.

Are you listening to Him?

Photo credit by Ted in creative commons.

Who is Jesus?

If time travel were possible, I’d choose to visit the Holy Land during Christ’s 3 years of earthly ministry. In particular, I would choose to tag along with the twelve disciples, the specific men Jesus chose to give up-close and personal, intensive training about the Kingdom of God.

One of the places I’d like to go in my time-travel journey with “the Twelve,” is on a road to a place called Caesarea Philippi, a Roman city 25 miles north of the Sea of Galilee. Road conversation was pretty typical for Jesus and the disciples, but this particular discussion would have been especially poignant.  One of them, a former tax collector named Matthew, recorded it in his Gospel:

When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, ‘Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?’ So they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered and said, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.’ (Matthew 16:13-16)

I imagine Jesus posing this question as they walked on the hot, dusty road, and the group strolling on with several disciples tossing out the representative answers. But then I picture Jesus stopping abruptly, and the group halting with him, and then posing the follow-up question: “Who do you think I am?” I can hear a long pause, and then watch Peter, after looking around at the others, resolutely turning his head to Jesus and making his great declaration: “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” In an astonishing moment, Jesus affirmed Peter’s declaration: “ Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 16:16-17). No disciple could have gone to sleep that night without the dawning realization that this Jesus they were following was far more than they could have expected.

The significance of that ancient roadside conversation remains. Our culture, like the culture of Jesus’ day, has many things to say about Him, about who He is, and how He fits with a particular agenda or another. During the past presidential GOP primary, I heard a caller on a talk show argue that Jesus would favor one particular candidate, and that He most assuredly would not be in support of another. I recently saw a bumper sticker that read “Jesus was a Feminist.”  It seems that no matter the particular corner of culture, Jesus has been co-opted into their cause.

Peter’s answer to Christ’s question shattered all preconceptions the modern culture had of Jesus; He wasn’t just a good prophet, He was the One the prophets had foretold.  He wasn’t just a political Messiah to save the Jews from the Roman state, or a social reformer come to put the religious elite in their place.  He was the Son of the Living God, who had come to be the Savior of the World.

This same Jesus shatters all the preconceptions that our world attempts to box Him into today. Despite the attempts to label Him and co-opt His message, Jesus Christ cannot be reduced to an ideology, or simplified to a slogan. To borrow from C.S. Lewis’ description of the Christ-figure Aslan of the Narnian chronicles, “he is not a tame lion.” Eventually, every ideology is confounded by His teaching, overruled by His lordship.

Meanwhile, Jesus confronts every person with the same question with which He confronted His disciples: “Who do you say that I am?” The answer cannot be merely intellectual. It must be answered with the conviction of genuine belief, as did Peter, or else it has not been truly answered at all: “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”

Photo credit by Chapendra in creative commons

Build the Wall and Love the Immigrant?

“We have to protect our country from external threats.”

“We need to show compassion to those who are in need.”

If I asked the average American if he agreed with each of those statements, doubtless he’d say yes. But if I asked him if he agreed with either one of those statements in the context of our national immigration policy, he’d probably choose one or the other to summarize his views, and probably quite forcefully. And so it seems our American populace has done on the issue—one side forcefully arguing that national security is the guiding principle when it comes to immigration, the other also forcefully arguing that compassion should be so instead.  The two positions appear, in their raw, simplified explanations, to be mutually exclusive.

But are they?

Some years ago, a wise friend of mine explained that we often look at situations in terms of “either/or.” We think we have to choose either one thing or the other, elevating the one and excluding the other. But my friend pointed out that God usually doesn’t demand that kind of mutual exclusivity when it comes to real life. For example, God commands that we are to love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. But such paramount love for Him doesn’t mean our love stops there. The same God commands us to love our neighbors as ourselves (Mark 12:30-31). Instead of “either/or,” it’s a “both/and.” We love both God and our neighbor. Sure, God has the priority, but love for Him doesn’t exclude the need to love our neighbor—in fact, the one actually helps us to do the other one even better.

I recently heard Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, President of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, apply the paradigm of “both/and” to the immigration issue. He pointed out that both sides of the debate have legitimate concerns that should be factored into a workable, sensible, and Biblical immigration policy. Immigration law should be enforced to prevent illegal immigration, while at the same time, preservation of immigrant families should help guide that enforcement.

I heartily echo Dr. Rodriguez’s sentiments. In all the commotion surrounding how to address immigration, terrorism, and national security, we’ve rather forgotten that the concerns being raised aren’t contradictory. Let me give you a bit of word picture to help make the point.

Let’s say you’re a home owner who has a leaky roof and a broken furnace. You wouldn’t say you can’t fix the roof because you have to fix the furnace, or vice versa. One might have priority over the other, but both can be properly addressed in due time. And in so doing, you would want to have the appropriate person fix each respective problem: a roofer for the roof, an HVAC technician for the furnace.

So it is with our country. Last Tuesday night, President Trump declared to our Congress that he wasn’t President to represent the world; he was president to represent America.  Of course, he’s right. His responsibility, by order of the Constitution, is first and foremost to the United States. And the security of our nation ought to be at the top of his “to-do” list. Part of that security is enforcing our existing immigration laws and seeking, where necessary, additional policies that will keep, as the President has put it, “our communities safer for everyone.” In other words, he’s been hired to fix the leaky roof.

But what about refugees seeking safe haven from horrific persecution? What about people from other countries seeking to better their lives and the lives of their families? What obligation does President Trump owe them? No more than the roofer owes to the furnace. The President of the United States cannot place the concerns of non-Americans at the same level of priority as Americans. He wasn’t elected to do so. However that doesn’t mean we don’t address their plight, any more than the homeowner ignores his broken furnace.

Well-meaning Christians may lecture the President on the need to implement an immigration policy that prioritizes the Biblical principle of showing compassion to the alien. But this is asking the roofer to fix the furnace. It’s up to the HVAC technician to fix the furnace because he’s the person best equipped and most knowledgeable to do the job. Social welfare is best delivered through private means.  There is no better group of people than the Church of Jesus Christ, to reach out to the immigrants and refugees in our midst, and to help provide relief to refugees outside of our borders. That’s our job, by divine mandate, (James 2:15-17), just as it’s the government’s job, by divine mandate, to protect our nation from harm and to punish those who do it evil (Romans 13:1-5). Our tasks aren’t mutually exclusive; they can be done in tandem.

Remember, the government, including President Trump, isn’t the owner of this House we call the United States of America. We the People are. And if we remember whose job it is to fix the roof, and whose job it is to fix the furnace, we may just end up with a sturdy roof that weathers the fiercest storm, and a furnace that warms the house in double time. Yes, there will be occasions when the roofer and the HVAC technician might get in each other’s way. But when that happens, the homeowner can make the needed adjustment to see that both guys have the room they need to get their respective jobs done.

Photo Credit by qbac07 in creative commons

In the Words of the Presidents

In case you or your calendar publisher missed it, today is Presidents’ Day.  And in case you were wondering “what’s that all about?” I thought this little snippet from the History Channel’s website was helpful:

Presidents’ Day is an American holiday celebrated on the third Monday in February. Originally established in 1885 in recognition of President George Washington, it is still officially called “Washington’s Birthday” by the federal government. Traditionally celebrated on February 22—Washington’s actual day of birth—the holiday became popularly known as Presidents’ Day after it was moved as part of 1971’s Uniform Monday Holiday Act, an attempt to create more three-day weekends for the nation’s workers. While several states still have individual holidays honoring the birthdays of Washington, Abraham Lincoln and other figures, Presidents’ Day is now popularly viewed as a day to celebrate all U.S. presidents past and present.

No matter what your party affiliation, every American ought to be able to concede that there isn’t a more stressful job than the presidency of the United States. As comedian Brian Regan has put it, there’s nothing like being awakened every morning to: “Problems. All kinds of problems!” And while they are often ambitious folk, these remarkable individuals give up 4 years (maybe 8, or even 12 if you’re FDR) of their lives (in the case of 4, literally), their privacy, and their public reputations to do their very best in leading our country. A lonely post in the best of times, few leave office without the indicators of the wear and tear the intensity of the presidency leaves.  Each one has left a unique legacy, a mark on American history. And each one deserves the gratitude and respect of the American people.

With that in mind, I’ve decided to mix the wisdom of our presidents with a little fun, and present to you ABB’s first ever Presidents’ Day trivia quiz! Below are fifteen quotations from our presidents, with four choices as to which president the quote originated from. Take a few minutes to take the quiz (without using Google for a reference!) and email your answers to the Printer at believersbroadside@gmail.com by March 6. The reader who gets the most questions correct will receive an inspiring book from ABB! The Printer will have one more question in store in case of a tie.

And so, without further adieu, I give you the Presidents of the United States of America, in their own words:

1) “My movements to the chair of government will be accompanied by feelings not unlike those of a culprit who is going to the place of his execution.”

    a)   Abraham Lincoln

    b)    John Quincy Adams

    c)   Harry Truman

      d)   George Washington

2) “You will never be alone with a poet in your pocket.”

      

     a)      Franklin Delano Roosevelt

     b)   Zachary Taylor

           c)    Martin Van Buren

           d)    John Adams

3) “The storm of frenzy and faction must inevitably dash itself in vain against the unshaken rock of the Constitution.”

a)      Thomas Jefferson

b)      William Jefferson Clinton

c)       Franklin Pierce

d)      Lyndon B. Johnson

4) “Ideas are the great warriors of the world, and a war which has no ideas behind it, is simply a brutality.”

      a)   John F. Kennedy

      b)   George. W. Bush   

      c)   James Garfield

      d)   Gerald Ford

5) “If it were not for the reporters, I would tell you the truth.”

a)      Donald Trump

b)      Theodore Roosevelt

c)       Andrew Jackson

d)      Chester Alan Arthur

6) “Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt.”

a)      Herbert Hoover

b)      George H.W. Bush

c)       Dwight Eisenhower

d)      James Carter

7) “Next to the right of liberty, the right of property is the most important individual right guaranteed by the Constitution and the one which, united with that of personal liberty, has contributed more to the growth of civilization than any other institution established by the human race.”

a)      John Tyler

b)      James Madison

c)       William Taft

d)      Ronald Reagan

8) “I believe also in the American opportunity which puts the starry sky above every boy’s head, and sets his foot upon a ladder which he may climb until his strength gives out.”

a)      Benjamin Harrison

b)      William Henry Harrison

c)       Franklin Delano Roosevelt

d)      Theodore Roosevelt

9) “The Secretary of Labor is in charge of finding you a job, the Secretary of the Treasury is in charge of taking half the money away from you, and the Attorney General is in charge of suing you for the other half.”

a)      James Monroe

b)      Ronald Reagan 

c)       Lyndon Johnson

d)      George W. Bush

10) “I know no method to secure the repeal of bad or obnoxious laws so effective as their stringent execution.”

a)      Abraham Lincoln

b)      Rutherford B. Hayes

c)       Calvin Coolidge

d)      Ulysses  Grant

11) “Whatever starts in California unfortunately has an inclination to spread.”

 a)      James Carter

 b)      Ronald Reagan

 c)       Barack Obama

 d)      Richard Nixon

 12) “Being a President is like riding a tiger. A man has to keep on riding or be swallowed.”

  a)      Grover Cleveland

  b)      Harry Truman

  c)       William McKinley

  d)      Andrew Jackson

13) “I have noticed that nothing I never said ever did me any harm.”

  a)      Calvin Coolidge

  b)      James Buchanan

  c)       James Polk

  d)      Thomas Jefferson

14) “Stabilize America first, prosper America first, think of America first and exalt America first.”

 a)      Donald Trump

 b)      Warren Harding

 c)       John F. Kennedy

 d)      Martin Van Buren

15) “That’s all a man can hope for during his lifetime—to set an example—and when he is dead, to be an inspiration for history.”

a)      George Washington

b)      Millard Fillmore

c)       William McKinley

d)      Grover Cleveland

                   Photo Credit by Mobilus in Mobili in Creative Commons