Paralyzed, Disabled, & Stricken

Little 12-year-old Luca has muscular dystrophy.  As a result, he is extremely limited in what he can do.  In fact, the only movements he can make are very small, feeble motions with his fingers.  Because of his disability, Luca has often imagined himself doing things most boys his age are able to do.  One day he asked a photographer if there was any way to take photos which made it look like he was in motion.  The photographer came up with the idea of posing Luca on the ground, developing the scenes around him, and then taking the pictures from above.  Thanks to Luca’s imagination and some very creative photography, this boy was able to see pictures of himself riding a skateboard, shooting a basketball, break dancing, and even climbing stairs.  Take a look (Click Here For All Pictures):

What touching photos these are.  It is heart wrenching to think about how much Luca desires to do these things but is unable to do so.  There so are many in our world today who are paralyzed or are suffering with various kinds of disabilities and problems.  Many years and millions of dollars have gone into research to find cures and fixes for today’s aliments.

It is for this reason that verses like Matthew 4:23-24 are so incredible: “Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.  The news about Him spread throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them” (emph. mine).

No disease or physical problem was ever too much for Jesus.  He was able to heal every single person that came to him!  If this still happened today, people all over the world like Luca would be desperately searching for Jesus to be healed by Him.  While it is sad such cures are unavailable today, there is good news.  God is preparing a place where “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain” (Revelation 21:4).

No matter how large or small our problems are here, none of them will carry over into heaven.  Let’s make sure we are living according to God’s commands so we can partake in this wonderful prize!

SINGING WITH THE UNDERSTANDING: Ivory Palaces

Neal Pollard

A little less than a century ago, Henry Barraclough wrote one of the most unique, lyrically-rich songs in our songbook.  The musical arrangement is soothing in a way that matches the meaning of the words.  However, its poetry has caused some problems.

The first verse begins, "My Lord has garments so wondrous fine, and myrrh their texture fills; Its fragrance reached to this heart of mine, with joy my being thrills."  This and the following verses must be understood in light of the chorus, which essentially tells us that Jesus left the perfect splendor of heaven to come to this sinful earth because of His unmatched love.  With that background, we understand Barraclough's meaning to be figurative.  Jesus did not wear the clothes of a king while on earth.  Thus, the writer seems to speak of the qualities of Jesus' character, the power and influence of it.  Myrrh  is a perfume, a theme the writer uses through the various stanzas of the song.  So, this first verse speaks of the attractiveness of Jesus' character.

The second verse talks about the sorrow and pain He allowed Himself to endure.  While we think of aloe as a healing plant, the writer speaks of it in the sense of its bitter root (see the footnote at the bottom of the song in Praise For The Lord). While Jesus was a king, He was also the man of sorrows, acquainted with grief (cf. Isa. 53:3).

The third verse shifts the focus to Jesus as the Great Physician.  He's an attractive king, He's a suffering Savior, but He's also the able healer.  The word "cassia," as once again a footnote supplies, is a "medicinal herb."  The idea is that He rescues us from our sin problem.

The final verse refers to Jesus' second coming.  He will bring the faithful Christian to heaven.  Taken together, we see Jesus in the "garb" (clothes) of King, Savior, Physician, and Judge.  Driving it all is "only His great eternal love."  Understanding the underlying theme of the songwriter helps us to better worship and better appreciate the perfect Son of God. 

"For What Purpose Will The Day Of The Lord Be To You?"

Neal Pollard

While the English translations give wide variety to their rendering of Amos 5:18, a consistent thread prevails between them.  The simple prophet, after having shown his people the sins of the nations, is now preaching to his own people.  Their religious transgressions have piled high, and they must now prepare to meet God's wrath in His judgment of them (4:12).  They refused to seek Him, so they would not live (5:4-6,14).  Judgment would come in the form of foreign invasion, captivity, and destruction.  Amos is not speaking of the final judgment at the end of time, but rather God's fulfillment of a promise that went back centuries to the days when the tribes of Israel stood on Ebal and Gerizim.  They had forsaken God, and now He was going to judge them.

His own people were filled with hypocrisy.  They did not hate evil and love good (5:15). They kept the "form" of religion but they had rejected the "substance" (cf. 5:21ff).  As they looked to the future, Amos tells them they should not long for "the day of the Lord."  He asks, "For what purpose will the day of the Lord be to you?" For most of them, it was a day of "darkness and not light" and "gloom with no brightness in it" (cf. 5:20).

Regarding the final judgment of all mankind, each of us would do well to ask, "For what purpose will the day of the Lord be to me?"  Jesus shows us the available options.  It will either be a day of rejoicing and reward, or it will be a day of rejection and rift.  For the few, it will be a day to receive the victor's crown.  For the many, it will be the first day of an eternity full of total darkness, gnashing of teeth, unending terror, and indescribable pain.  It is not enough for that day to be a happy day for spouse, parent, child, sibling, or friend.  Their salvation will based on how they lived in their body (2 Cor. 5:10).  For what purpose will the day of the Lord be to you?  A day for you to eagerly anticipate or for you to continually dread?  

The good news is that no matter what we have done in the past, we can come to Christ in obedient faith.  He promises to forgive, and He wants to eternally save (2 Pet. 3:9).  Dread can be replaced with desire!  It is what God wants for you.  "For what purpose will the day of the Lord be to you?"

Treasure Hunt

 

“One of the better known treasure hunts in modern times is the quest to find the rumored wealth known as the "Beale treasure."  The hunt began when an eccentric man, who left the East for the gold and silver mines of the West, returned home, supposedly hid a vast amount of wealth, then disappeared forever.  All he left behind were several messages written in a mysterious code.  One of those messages when deciphered told of the treasure and its approximate location.  The other documents, then, would narrow down the site.  Since the Beale documents first came to light, thousands of man-hours and hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent attempting to break the codes and find the legendary treasure” (Today in the Word, MBI, December, 1989, p. 14).

People have always been willing to put tons of time, effort, and resources to find treasure.  The Beale treasure was no different.  In Scripture there also a treasure spoken about.  Matthew 13:44 says, “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field."

There is no treasure on this earth that is as great as the kingdom of heaven.  People have always given up so much to obtain physical treasures.  So what are we willing to give up to obtain this great spiritual treasure?

The Purpose In Life

Josh McDowell told this great story:

An executive hirer, a "headhunter" who goes out and hires corporation executives for other firms, once told me, "When I get an executive that I’m trying to hire for someone else, I like to disarm him.  I offer him a drink, take my coat off, then my vest, undo my tie, throw up my feet and talk about baseball, football, family, whatever, until he's all relaxed.  Then, when I think I've got him relaxed, I lean over, look him square in the eye and say, "What's your purpose in life?"  It's amazing how top executives fall apart at that question.

"Well, I was interviewing this fellow the other day, had him all disarmed, with my feet up on his desk, talking about football.  Then I leaned up and said, 'What's your purpose in life, Bob?'  And he said, without blinking an eye, 'To go to heaven and take as many people with me as I can.'  For the first time in my career I was speechless."

What a great answer!  Clearly, this was something Bob often thought about and actually lived.  Put yourself in this interview for a minute.  What would you have said to this executive headhunter?  Would you have an answer or would you fumble around trying to think about the right thing to say?

Many times we as Christians have been told about the purpose of life.  The problem is, we don’t take it literally.  We may know the right answer, but we don’t actually think it and live it.  Can something really be our purpose in life if we rarely think about it and don’t live it?  Certainly not.

Bob had it right.  Our purpose in this life is to get to heaven (Ecclesiastes 12:13; Matthew 7:21-27; 1 Peter 3:21), and take as many with us as we can (Matthew 28:19-20).  Let’s not just know, but actually LIVE the purpose of this life, “To go to heaven and take as many people with me as I can.”