Day by Day

[Soldier4Christ]

"Clean Water"

"Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst." John 4:14
   

How concerned we would be if we discovered that a sewage stream had broken out of its channel and had run right through our basement! We would say: “We don’t want this germ-filled filth in our house. It endangers our health.”

Yet such a river of spiritual filth can flow right into our living rooms through television – cable and regular. Bad enough that the lyrics of some radio songs border on pornographic or pornophonic! Bad enough that spiritual sewage comes through the mail, through books and magazines, even anonymous telephone calls! Now the complete medium of sound and sight, television, has the potential of becoming a channel of immoral materials and motivation to immorality. Not only open sex but also violence is involved. Someone has found that in prime time there are 1.7 crimes per TV show. Add immoral philosophy. A woman in a soap opera justifies her illicit relationship by saying: “I wouldn’t feel this good if it weren’t right!” And it is before their TV screens that people spend thousands of hours – some young people more hours there than in school.

What to do? Mere deploring gets us nowhere. It helps, of course, to voice one’s objection to program sponsors. And it helps a lot to exercise one’s choice, to have the self-discipline to turn off offensive programs.

But needed most of all is to have a clean river flowing through one’s house. The psalmist says: “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God” (Psalm 46:4). This is the stream of clean, clear living water flowing from the Word of God. The Holy Scripture is such a fountain because it is, as our children sing, the “Jesus Book”: “Jesus loves me, this I know for the Bible tells me so.” From Jesus comes the water of life which refreshes, quenches our spiritual thirst, and edifies. Jesus opened up this stream, which flows into our hearts and homes, when He gave His life for our redemption from sin and for continued renewal of life in Him. Is this stream refreshing your home?

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"It Takes Time to Grow"

Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. Ephesians 6:4
   

There is a time schedule, a hurried one, that is strictly for the birds. A scientific bird-watcher learned how quickly a pair of mourning doves can raise a family. Eggs that were laid on April 18 hatched on May 1. By May 14 the fledglings had left the nest. A few days later the parents started a new brood.

How fortunate we human beings have a longer childhood, to have more time with our parents and they with us! Of the childhood of Jesus it is said: “The child grew and became strong; He was filled with wisdom and the grace of God was upon Him” (Luke 2:40). Other Bible versions say that He increased also in favor with people. His was a well-balanced, fourfold growth: physical, mental, social, and spiritual.

Our children should develop that way, and all of this takes time. Parents have to take the time not only to provide for the physical, educational, and social needs of their children, but also for spiritual growth. Birds and other creatures of God have no need for a spiritual life, but human beings do. As children they learn that Jesus loves them and gave His life for them. He did this to redeem them from sin, to make them the sons and daughters of God. They learn to pray, to please God with their life, to serve one another at home, in school, in church, and in the community.

In fact, we need to grow spiritually all of life, as Saint Peter bids us: “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). We do this through Bible study, family and personal devotions, worship in church, and the use of the sacraments.

There are no shortcuts to the Christian upbringing of children. There are no 90-day wonders. It takes time and effort, but these are richly rewarded, to God’s glory and the joy of parents.

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"God Gives Us What We Need"

"I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh." Ezekiel 11:19
   

A serious error was made when a heart patient in a St. Louis hospital was given the wrong heart. The patient had Type A blood, but the transplanted heart was type B. Fortunately the patient was able to survive the error.

God, our heavenly Physician, makes no such mistakes. When we pray: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me,” God the Holy Spirit gives us the kind of heart we need. What we ourselves are unable to do to meet our spiritual needs – and we know our inability – God can and will do, as He has promised through the prophet Ezekiel: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you” (Ezekiel 36:26). He replaces the heart of stone with a heart of flesh.

This new heart is not a physical organ, such as beats in our chests. It stands for the human mind, soul, and spirit by which we are enabled to harbor and hold the saving faith that God grants through the Gospel (and, as a result of it, a warm, living heart of flesh).

Having given us the right kind of heart – a heart that trusts in the life-giving, forgiving, sin-atoning death of Jesus – God grants also the other spiritual gifts we need. Jesus has promised that the Father in heaven gives good gifts to those who ask Him. He is unlike such fathers who give their children a stone when they ask for bread or a snake when they request a fish (see Matthew 7:9). This would be a cruelty far beyond the nature of our good and gracious Father in heaven.

We are like our divine Father and perfect Physician when we share God’s blessings with others who need them and when we exercise great care to supply them with the right things they need. It helps very little – it may hurt, in fact – when we give a type B gift instead of the needed Type A. Worse still is the giving of empty words when loving deeds are in order, such as saying, to quote Saint James, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but then doing nothing about it (James 2:16).

God blesses His children so that they can be a blessing to others.

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"Jesus, Our Intercessor"

“Sir,” the man replied, “leave it alone for one more year.” Luke 13:8
   

Usually fig trees, when properly cultivated, yield fruit. “He who tends a fig tree will eat its fruit,” states the writer of Proverbs (Proverbs 27:18).

In a parable Jesus speaks of a fig tree that for several years had disappointed its owner. No figs! So he ordered it cut down. But the vinedresser interceded for the tree, asking that it be spared for another year. In the meantime he would tend it carefully. If it then yields fruit, fine! If not, well, it will be soon enough then to remove it from the vineyard.

Jesus did not tell stories just for the sake of stories. His parables made a point pertaining to God’s kingdom. Here the point is that for a long time God had expected His chosen people, whom He “planted” in the land flowing with milk and honey, to bear the fruits of obedience and faith. But such evidence of spiritual life was largely absent. He considered bringing His people under final judgment. In his time, Moses interceded, asking for more time and even offering to have his name expunged from the book of life if thereby Israel could be spared (Exodus 32:32). Then came Jesus at the fullness of time. He desired that the time of grace be extended. To His intercession He added intervention. He went all the way to Calvary’s cross for the salvation of all. Then He rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and sent the Holy Spirit as promised.

Jesus pleads for us today when we are unfruitful. Saint John writes, “If anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense – Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:1-2). What is more, Christ has sent – and still sends –His Holy Spirit to intercede for us “with groans that words cannot express” (Romans 8:26). We have two intercessors, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, to give us prayer support.

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"Remaining Firm and Faithful"

Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God. Psalm 43:5
   

School children learn of the bravery of Captain James Lawrence. During the War of 1812 he commanded the frigate Chesapeake in a sea battle with the English ship Shannon. While he, mortally wounded, was being carried below, he told the men: “Don’t give up the ship.” This has become the slogan of the U.S. Navy.

The spirit of persistence, supported by a strong sense of loyalty and devotion, comes from our spiritual lives. In fact, it has its roots in the Christian faith. “Don’t give up!” is written in large letters in the message of the Bible. When the situation seems hopeless, many people are ready to throw in the towel. The psalmist admitted that he was downcast and disturbed. But he rallied his faith and declared: “Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God” (Psalm 43:5).

In the face of so many temptations from without, to say nothing of personal weakness within, it is easy to take the way which is usually the way of sin. But Saint Paul encourages us not to yield to evil, but to “offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life” (Romans 6:13). Jesus brought us to life by sacrificing His own life to redeem us from sin and to get us started in the new life in Him. It would be a great mistake to give up what Jesus provides, as people do when they surrender to sin.

The easy road is not usually the right one. Our Savior tells us “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction. … But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life” (Matthew 7:13-14). The hard road of suffering led to Jesus’ resurrection and to life for us.

Victory comes to those who stand firm and fast, trusting in God, as did the psalmist. When the little craft that is your life is greatly threatened, take to heart the captain’s words: “Don’t give up the ship!” Keep fighting!

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"Learning from God’s Lesser Creatures"

"See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these." Matthew 6:28-29
   

Referring to a pair of Canada geese building their nests in metropolitan St. Louis, a newspaper article said: “Unlike many West County residents, Canada geese keep the same mate for life, forming new relationships only when widowed.”

The Bible urges us to learn from lesser creatures -- diligence, for instance: “Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!” (Proverbs 6:6). Gratitude can be learned, as Isaiah writes: “The ox knows his master, the donkey his owner’s manger, but … My people do not understand” (Isaiah 1:3) – do not understand that God is the giver.

As for caring about the young, is there a better example than a mother bear attending to her cubs? Animals are known to be faithful, like the Skye terrier of Edinburgh, Scotland, named Greyfriars Bobby, who for 14 years stayed at his master’s grave. The city built him a statue.

Faithfulness, diligence, gratitude are qualities we can learn from God’s lesser creatures. Jesus bids us consider the lilies of the field, the birds of the air, even the lowly sparrows, learning from them to trust in God’s providence. Some truths, however, God’s lesser beings cannot teach us – truths about our spiritual well-being. For this we have to turn to the Word of God, to people who can teach us the Word. Saint Paul tells Timothy that his mother, Eunice, and grandmother, Lois, had taught him the faith (2 Timothy 1:5). And where did they find this faith? In “the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15). Not only from adults but also from little children we can learn this truth: “Jesus loves me, this I know; for the Bible tells me so.” It takes Christian humility to learn from God’s lesser beings.

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"Christ’s Church – Like a Ship"

God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. 1 Peter 3:20
   

Before the Pilgrims, aboard the Mayflower, landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620, permanent settlers had come to Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. Their little known ship was the Godspeed. The name implied the much-needed prayer: “God speed you!” that is, “God give you a prosperous journey!”

Such a prayer was certainly in order when Noah and his family entered the ark to escape destruction in the great flood. In the New Testament mention is made of this unique vessel, the ark, and of the faith involved in building and entering it. We are told: “By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family” (Hebrews 11:7). Further, Saint Peter in his first epistle draws a parallel between Noah’s salvation then and our salvation now in the church through the water of Holy Baptism (1 Peter 3:18-22).

From ancient times the church of Christ has been compared to a ship whose passengers are safe from the perils of life’s journey. Jesus Christ is the captain of this spiritual vessel. He built and founded it when, in His great love, He gave His life for the church. After rising from the dead, He commanded His apostles to launch this ship by preaching the Gospel everywhere in the world.

The apostles then – and those following in their footsteps to this day – were to extend this invitation to all who were floundering in the sea of sin and death: “Come aboard! In the ship of Christ’s church you are safe.”

The church would well be named Godspeed, as was the ship of the first Virginia settlers, for in and through it God saves and blesses all who enter it and sail under the captaincy of Jesus Christ. Our individual response is: “Jesus, Savior, pilot me over life’s tempestuous sea. Unknown waves before me roll, hiding rock and treacherous shoal. Chart and compass come from Thee. Jesus, Savior, pilot me.”

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"What is a Human Being Worth?"

"What can a man give in exchange for his soul?" Matthew 16:26
   

Several centuries ago, in his effort to modernize his country, the czar of Russia, Peter the Great, visited lands in Western Europe. He saw in Koeningsburg, East Prussia, an instrument of torture that interested him. Himself a cruel man, he asked to see a man broken on it. The local authorities said they had no criminal on hand just then who deserved such a punishment. Peter was astonished at this. He exclaimed: “What fuss about killing a man!”

Human life, also in our times, is often regarded as cheap and worthless, or even as a hindrance to be removed, as shown by the destruction of millions of unborn babies. Thousands starve to death during famines. A related tragedy is the loss of human lives on highways because of drunken driving.

What is a human life worth? Is it thirty pieces of silver, the price of a slave in ancient times? Does its worth consist in the value of the chemicals in a human body, said to be worth something like ten dollars?

The Bible gives us the right standard of evaluation. Human life is precious because God gave it. He created the first human beings in His own image. Besides divine creation, our divine redemption by the blood of Jesus Christ makes every person most precious. Jesus said that you could give nothing, not even the worth of the whole world, in exchange for your soul. Saint Paul tells us not to cause weak brothers and sisters in the faith to stumble because of our bad examples, for Christ died for them.

It is good to ask: In what light do I consider my own worth? Do I appreciate the fact that God made me, Jesus redeemed me, and the Holy Spirit made me a temple of God?

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"The Meaning of ‘Christian’"

If you suffer as a Christian … praise God that you bear that name. 1 Peter 4:16
   

Active in Lebanon’s civil war were military groups called “Christians.” They did what is usually done in war: kill, burn, destroy. They massacred whole camps of refuges. One has to bear in mind that “Christian” here referred to a political party who may have had only the vaguest identity with the Christian faith. We ask, are these Christians? People find this puzzling.

Also in other lands the “Christian” label can be misleading. The United States is sometimes called a Christian nation, probably because many of the citizens make a Christian confession. But officially America is not a Christian nation.

What does “Christian” mean? Historically the name was given to Jesus’ followers in Antioch around A.D. 43. Twice more they are called by this name in the New Testament writings: in the book of Acts, where King Herod Agrippa II is quoted as telling Saint Paul that he questions whether to be come a Christian (Acts 26:28), and in First Peter, where the apostle writes: “If you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed” (1 Peter 4:16).

Obviously, “Christian” is derived from the word “Christ.” It designates persons who believe in and follow Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah, the Appointed One. Together they form the holy Christian church, the communion of saints. The creeds of Christendom – the Apostles, Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds – state what Christians believe, notably about the Triune God and about the person and saving work of Jesus Christ, God’s Son.

Christian life is very important – what Christians say and do. This is what the outside world hears and sees. Christian life is based on the Ten Commandments, and the motive for it is the love that comes from Christ. It has been said that non-Christians do not read the four gospels – of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John – but they do read the fifth gospel, that is, the gospel according to you as a Christian.

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"‘Me First’ Is Sometimes in Order"

He [Jesus] poured water into a basin and began to wash His disciples’ feet. John 13:5
   

Geoffry Chaucer, in his “Canterbury Tales,” describes various persons who are on a pilgrimage. He says of a village priest that he taught others the teachings of Christ and the apostles, but adds: “First he followed it himself.”

Jesus, although He was God’s Son, took the lead in serving. On the eve of His death He girded Himself and washed the disciples’ feet. He said, “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you” (John 13:15). Jesus was indeed the Servant who had come to serve and to give His life as a ransom for the redemption of us all.

The prophet Isaiah volunteered and said: “Here am I. Send me!” (Isaiah 6:. He was a “me first” person and so was the apostle Paul, who applied the Word of Christ to himself, “so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize,” the crown of eternal life (1 Corinthians 9:27).

A “me first” person is one who expects of others only what he has first expected of himself. In the home, parents teach the children good manners and obedience to the Word of God. But they follow it themselves.

Those are good teachers who first do, then say. Otherwise they are involved in a contradiction, such as: “Do as I say, not as I do.”

Spiritual leaders in the church know that they can lead only when they practice what they preach. Jesus, in His time, faulted the religious leaders who sat in Moses’ seat as teachers but lived contrary to what they taught.

There are “me first” opportunities where you live and work – you first in showing love to Christ and to all whom He calls His brothers and sisters.

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"The Foundation Must be Solid"

"Everyone who hears these words of Mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock." Matthew 7:24

When excavations were begun for the historic Arcade Building in downtown St. Louis in 1917, a bed of quicksand was discovered, and no solid foundation could be built on it. The problem was solved when caissons were driven 50 feet below the subbasement.

Jesus was not a building contractor in a physical sense. He built human life and character, based on faith in His Word and redeeming work. In a parable He calls attention to the folly of a man who built his house on sand. He declares: “The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash” (Matthew 7:27). The man who built his house on a rock had a foundation that could withstand the elements.

The sayings of Jesus are like this rock. What our Lord said and taught was the eternal truth. What He said about mankind lost in sin was true. What He said about the love of God was true: He so loved the world that He gave His only Son, Jesus Christ, to reconcile it by the shedding of His blood.

What He said about living a life of wisdom and righteousness was true and is true to this day. The wood, hay, and stubble of human opinion cannot serve as a foundation for life. Only the Word of God is the abiding bedrock on which to build.

Christian education is based on the truths of the Law and the Gospel. It is begun in the home, continued in Christian schools, and applied in the day-to-day encounters of our world.

All persons – parents, children, teachers, business people – says Saint Paul, should be careful how they build. “For,” he says, “no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11). Quicksand, as building contractors know, cannot support a building, but solid rock can. In our spiritual lives Jesus Christ is that rock.

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"A People Prepared for the Lord"

"Many of the people of Israel will he [John the Baptist] bring back to the Lord their God." Luke 1:16
   

On April 15, 1912, the giant ocean liner Titanic sank, with the loss of some 1500 lives. This disaster at sea has been the subject of many books. In the Library of congress, only books on Christ and on the Civil War (in that order) have exceeded those on the Titanic. Attention is called to the lack of preparation for such an event. The ship was considered unsinkable. Not nearly enough lifeboats were available.

Adequate preparation for all of life’s events and eventualities needs to be made. Parents help us to prepare for school. We need to prepare for the transitional time known as adolescence. As adults we prepare for marriage, for family life, for our jobs. We can’t run the risk of taking too much for granted. The most important preparation we need to make is to be right with God. Years ago crude signs along highways read, “Prepare to Meet Your God.” It was not altogether improper to post such signs along busy roads, for there many motorists meet their God in fatal accidents.

The need to prepare to meet God calls for more than a casual road sign. It calls for a more complete context – for a setting of life in which we are at peace with God as we travel or abide at home, as we work or rest, as we fulfill our overall vocation as Christians.

We were put on good terms with God at the time of our Christian baptism, when we were “implanted,” so to speak, into the atoning death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The faith created by water and the Word was nurtured through our reading and applying of God’s Word and through frequent participation in Holy Communion. Living in a state of grace, we are always prepared to meet God, regardless of when He calls us. Helping us are our pastors, whose calling it is, as was John the Baptist’s, “to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:17).

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"Maximum Christianity"

Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house.” Luke 19:9
   

It is said that a man who had knowingly underpaid his income tax was troubled in conscience and had difficulty sleeping. So he sent a check for $150 to the Internal Revenue Service with this note: ‘I hope this is enough. If I can’t sleep now, I will send you the rest of the money.”

We read in the Bible about another man who cheated on taxes: the publican Zacchaeus of Jericho. As a tax collector he charged people more taxes that what they owed, putting the surplus into his own pocket. Perhaps also his conscience bothered him, for he resolved to do more than make restitution for his thefts. He said: “Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount” (Luke 19:.

The first man had not really repented because he wanted to settle for the minimum amount – just enough to find peace and rest. Zacchaeus, on the other hand, practiced maximum Christianity. Little wonder that Jesus commended him highly!

Maximum Christianity means doing the most we can to serve Jesus Christ, who gave everything He had – His very life – to give us peace with God and eternal salvation. Maximum Christian faith gladly and freely goes the limit out of love to Christ. The lazy Christian will do the least he can. If anyone asks him to walk a mile with him, he will go a fourth or, at the most, half a mile. Jesus said: “If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles" (Matthew 5:41).

Jesus might have reasoned: Isn’t it enough if I earn half a salvation for people and let them work out the rest of it themselves? But He didn’t think or act that way. He practiced maximum love. Shouldn’t we do the same?

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"Waste Not!"

He said to His disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” John 6:12
   

Ours is a time of carelessness and waste. Taxpayers’ money is wasted when manufacturers overcharge the government for defense equipment. How different in the Civil War, when Commodore Foote told his riverboat gunners to make each shot count because, he said, each one costs the government eight dollars!

Wastefulness is common also in civilian life. We waste food when elsewhere many go hungry. Because of planned obsolescence, we throw away things still usable. Some people, even when on public welfare, waste what money they have by betting on horses or buying lottery tickets. Wastefulness leads to want.

Our Lord was opposed to wastefulness. After He had fed the multitude with a few loaves and fish, He told the disciples: “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.”

Our daily bread comes from God, for He gives rain and sunshine for crops to grow. It would be unthankfulness on our part to waste food. A resourceful cook knows how to make tasty meals from left-overs. And what food we don’t need for ourselves we can – and should – share with the hungry.

Much more serious is the waste of human beings who were made in the image of God – waste of their minds, waste of their skills, waste of the remaining talents of retired persons.

As there is misuse of goods that hurts people and dishonors God, so there is a right use of them – a use that glorified God, the Giver. When Mary of Bethany anointed Jesus’ feet with a precious ointment, Judas Iscariot called it a waste. But our Lord was pleased with this love offering (see John 12:1-8). Soon He would be crucified and would give His life for the salvation of all. He gave the best He had: Himself. We honor Him when we, instead of wasting our goods, give them to the poor.

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"Lasting Love"

"I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness." Jeremiah 31:3
   

Sometimes human love fails. In 1908, when he was 26 years old, the Hungarian musician Bela Bartok began to compose a violin concerto for his lady friend, a violinist. But by the time he had finished it, his beloved had married somebody else. She accepted the concerto as a gift but laid it away and never looked at it. It was not found until after her death in 1956.

Divine love is not like human love. God’s love is not subject to changes – to whims, unstable emotions, or a change of heart. God declares through Jeremiah: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.” And through Isaiah, this: “Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet My unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor My covenant of peace be removed” (Isaiah 54:10).

The apostle John follows through on these declarations of God’s love, saying: “This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins”: (1 John 4:9-10). What gives God’s love such validity is the permanence of it. What Saint John wrote of God’s love nearly 2,000 years ago is still true. We can rely on it.

After the example of God’s love, we too remain steadfast in our love to God and to one another – that should be our concern. Love that changes with the wind is worthless. Abiding love is precious. Gifts of love – whether Bartok’s violin concerto or any other expression of love – are to be appreciated and put to good use. That is what God wants. He desires that we pass on His love, and that we can do only if we cling to it ourselves.