Humble Origins

Posted on June 27, 2016 by Don Merritt

There is nothing remarkable about this old house; it’s a typical “working man’s” home of the mid 19th century.  It has three rooms, a kitchen and parlor and a single bedroom.  The house isn’t located in a glamorous location, in fact it’s in a town you may never have heard of before, Galesburg, Illinois.  I doubt that most people would look at it and guess that one of America’s greatest writers was born and grew up here; Carl Sandburg.

There are many stories about great people who come from humble beginnings, in fact America is rather famous for this sort of thing.  If you continue down the interstate, you’ll come upon the very humble place where the young Abraham Lincoln kept shop.  Three hours to the west is a very similar house where Herbert Hoover was born, and (more or less) in between is the humble home where Ronald Reagan was born.

These kinds of stories, while a hallmark of America, are hardly unique to this country.  God’s Son was born in a stable because there was no other place to stay.  He never had a home to call his own and yet he has changed the lives of hundreds of millions and provides the hope of eternal life to this day.  Those who followed him, his disciples, were largely of equally humble origins.  There was nothing in particular to recommend them, they were not educated and very young, and yet God used them in a mighty way.

You and I may not be from the most famous of families, we may not be the best educated or the greatest in the sight of men, and yet God can and will use us to do great things for His Kingdom.  It doesn’t matter who you are or where you’re from, for God is not interested in how this world views you, in fact for those who come from humble origins there is quite an advantage for serving God’s Kingdom: We aren’t caught up in the trap of riches and worldly position. For those of humble origin, greatness in God’s Kingdom is awaiting.  The only question is: Will we answer His call?

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Photo of the Week: June 22, 2016

Posted on June 22, 2016 by Don Merritt

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Bittersweet Reflections

Posted on June 22, 2016 by Don Merritt

This has been an interesting week so far at my house; my schedule is simply all messed up!

And in the process, we’ve added a new member to the family.  Yesterday, as I was holding my new grandson for the first time, I couldn’t help but wonder what his future would be like in a world that is becoming more dangerous and unstable, and with parents who haven’t exactly been known to make the wisest decisions thus far.

When I grew up, I lived in quite a different world, one in which my parents could establish geographical boundaries containing roughly a square mile in which I could go anywhere without permission, as long as I was home at the specified time, without any need for worry about my safety or getting into much in the way of mischief. In our neighborhood, my parents and I literally knew everyone, and nearly all of the moms were home all day; if I misbehaved, my Mom knew about it before I came home. If I fell off of my bike and got hurt, several moms would be there to take charge of the situation, and with all of those eyes present, there was no crime going on anywhere around there.

Sadly, neither my children nor grandchildren have ever seen a world like that; far from it.

To be sure, if you never lived in that world, I think it’s much harder to see what factors existed then that don’t exist now, and as time moves on, fewer and fewer people will ever realize that such an environment is even possible: Very sad.

Holding a newborn grandson is surely bittersweet.

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Hard Work

Posted on June 22, 2016 by Don Merritt

I came across this scene on a hot summer day once and do you know what popped into my head?  Wow, looks like a lot of work!

Good old-fashioned hard work has been considered a great virtue for as long as people have been tracking virtues, and I quite agree.  I remember reading years ago a book on executive management that made a very interesting observation about hard work in saying that the greatest time-waster of all is diligently working at something that doesn’t need to be done. While I’m certain that the work represented by this photo doesn’t fall into that category, it is something worth thinking about…

Is all of our work something that we really need to do?  How many times have people told me that they have too much to do and they can’t find a way to have time for prayer?  How many times I’ve been told by someone that they have so much work to do that they couldn’t possibly help out in the Lord’s work.  How often people come up with something the church needs to do, but they don’t have time to do anything themselves…

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,  for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

Phil. 2:12-13

I wonder… how many people have just enough time to do the things they want to do?  I wonder, is all of this endless work really necessary; are people trying to avoid something?

I completely understand the demands of everyday modern life and its hectic nature, but I find that I have all the time I need for prayer and service when I make time for them. Hard work is a very good thing, and I am all for working hard, but in the process, we must have the priority system that puts the things of God first.

In my own experience, I’ve found that putting God first solves an awful lot of problems and the things that really need to be done seem to be accomplished in the end… of course I almost never watch TV!

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To Forgive, or Not to Forgive

Posted on June 21, 2016 by Don Merritt

It isn’t always easy to forgive people who have hurt us; it isn’t always easy to forgive ourselves for that matter.

Our Lord told us to forgive, can we just skip it?  I used to say that I believe strongly in forgiveness… as soon as massive retaliation had been achieved.  I was only joking of course…

Forgiving others is an essential part of the Christian life.  It is necessary for several reasons, first because our refusal to obey the command of our Lord is sin.  Second, because we would be utterly hypocritical if we expected God to forgive us while we refuse to forgive others; God will not be mocked.  Third, if we don’t forgive others when they hurt us, we carry the scars of those hurts with us through life, and if we are overloaded with baggage of emotional hurts, we can’t follow Jesus very far for we are carrying too heavy a load.

Over the years I have had quite a few couples ask to speak with me when they had  difficulties in their marriages.  I am not a counselor and always make that clear, but it seems that they ask anyway because I am their teacher and because they believe that I will not take sides, and this is true.  In the course of this, many of the couples were reconciled, and some were not.  Bear in mind, none were cases of addiction, violence or crime… just “everyday problems” you might say.

In every single case, the whole thing came down to one single point:  Could the couple agree to set self aside and forgive one another?  That is always the bottom line in my experience.The couples who could forgive were reconciled, and they are still going strong both in the Lord and in their marriages.  The couples that could not forgive tore their families apart to the detriment of all concerned.

Is there any wonder why we must be willing to forgive?

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Moving Forward

Posted on June 21, 2016 by Don Merritt

Acts 17:1-15

The great adventure was not nearly over when Paul and the others left Philippi; it was just getting started. Luke mentions a number of towns they visited, and then tells us of some of the details of the visits to Thessalonica and Berea, and in doing so; we find an interesting contrast between the two communities.

In Thessalonica, Paul begins by teaching in the synagogue for three Sabbath days. He showed them, using the Scriptures, that Jesus was indeed the long-awaited Messiah, and a fair number of the people came to believe. Yet others were “jealous” and these decided to recruit a bunch of unsavory characters to instigate a riot, with the result that Paul and Silas left town, and Jason had a very close call before the magistrate; but a church was established in spite of all of this phony riot business.

When Paul and Silas reached Berea, they found a quite different group of Jews. These people eagerly examined the Scriptures as Paul taught, wanting to see if his message was true, and upon finding that he was indeed telling the truth, they gladly received his message about Jesus. From Luke’s narrative it would appear that no one in Berea was “jealous” of the message Paul and Silas taught, but word of their activities would soon reach Thessalonica, and the unsavory characters were soon dispatched to Berea, and Paul was soon secreted to Athens where the rest of his party would soon join him.

The contrast between the two communities is obvious enough; one had a large number who were jealous, and the other had a large number who were willing to verify what was true, and act according to their truth findings. As for the manufactured riots using unsavory characters… that is a political tactic that is still used to this day.

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Crime and Punishment

Posted on June 20, 2016 by Don Merritt

Acts 16:16-40

As the story continues, Paul, Silas and the rest of their group were teaching in Philippi when one day they were accosted by a slave girl who had a demon. The spirit had been irritating Paul for days, always shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved”. On this particular day, Paul had had just about all of this he could stand, so he drove the spirit out of the girl.

The slave girl and her demon were a real money maker for her owner, because the spirit enabled her to tell the fortunes of paying customers, and when her owner discovered that his slave girl could no longer do this, he realized that he had just lost a key part of his business, and was understandably upset; he brought Paul and Silas before the local magistrate looking for justice, after all, he had suffered actual and verifiable financial damages because of what Paul had done. Certainly in our day, there would ample cause for a legal action, and this was no mere nuisance case. As plaintiffs tend to do, the man exaggerated his claim just a tad, claiming that they had not only damaged him financially, but that they were advocating illegal customs and practices (which was arguably true) and that they had created an uproar in the city (which from the evidence we have to work with, appears to be not quite accurate).

For any good Roman magistrate, the mere hint of a possible public unrest would result in harsh action, so Paul and Silas were ordered to be beaten with rods, a form of torture that killed a man about as often as not, and then had them thrown in prison to bleed to death or die from infection or shock.

During the night there was a severe earthquake and the chains on all of the prisoners came loose; they could all have walked out of the place, but for some reason, they didn’t.

The jailer, assuming that his charges had taken their opportunity to escape was about to kill himself, for a horrible death would surely be his fate when daylight came anyway… but Paul stopped him. When he realized that no one had escaped, he realized that something very amazing had just happened and he asked Paul and Silas how he could be saved; they told him about Jesus.

The jailer and his entire household believed and were saved and Paul and Silas were attended to.

The next morning, the magistrate ordered them to be released, but Paul wasn’t quite finished with the magistrate… In speaking with the messengers who had come to release them, Paul dropped a little bombshell: He and Silas were Roman citizens, and the action of the magistrate was a gross violation of their rights as citizens; the magistrates would have to “make it up to them” and personally escort them out as an acknowledgement of their illegal actions of the day before. Of course there was the obvious implication that if they didn’t, there would be charges filed against them.

The magistrate complied with this demand, and escorted them, and after visiting Lydia’s house, the party moved out of the city.

I’m quite certain that the effect of these events left a powerful testimony for both salvation and God’s glory in that town; I doubt I need to explain this any further at this point.

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God of the Living

Posted on June 20, 2016 by Don Merritt

As we go through our days, we have a God who is concerned about us and who knows our names.  He loves each one of us, He wants only the best for us, and He wants each one of us to be in relationship with Him.

It is really amazing when you think about it; with all of the billions of people on this earth, God not only knows your name but He cares about you. I find that people sometimes forget about this or take it for granted.  It’s like we know it on an intellectual basis, but we don’t always take it into account on a practical level.  Sometimes I find that people seem to have the attitude that God only really cares about them when they die and that they are on their own while they live… OK, I’ll admit it: Sometimes that’s me!

Jesus taught otherwise:

 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”

Matthew 22:32

Our God is the God of the living! We are never alone!

To tell you the truth, I can’t really think of a better thing to keep in mind as we begin a new week.  God loves you, cares about you and knows your name.  Let’s go through this week with prayer, thanksgiving and praise for Him… and maybe, just maybe we might want to consult with Him as we go through our week of  making decisions and choices and consider what He would have us to do.  I have a pretty strong hunch that if we did this, we would have a better week…

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Macedonian Adventures

Posted on June 17, 2016 by Don Merritt

Acts 16:6-15

Paul and his party began to move throughout Asia, but as they went along and passed through various towns with potential as mission fields, the Spirit held them back; we should take note that they obeyed the Spirit, even though they didn’t understand why He was keeping them from proclaiming the Gospel. Finally, Paul learns in a vision that their target was not Asia as he had expected, but Macedonia.

We should take careful notice that right after mentioning this vision, Luke suddenly begins writing in the first person plural: “We”. Up to this time, it has always been “they”. Most commentators and I’ll include myself in their number; believe that Luke joined Paul’s missionary team at this point. So, it was on to Macedonia…

Upon arrival they headed for Philippi, the leading city in the area and as Luke put it, “a Roman colony”. We might expect the group to head for the synagogue on the Sabbath day, but this was a “Roman colony” and it would be reasonable for us to infer that there wasn’t a synagogue there for them to go to. Whatever the case may be, they headed outside the city to the river seeking a place of prayer. When they arrived, they found, of all things, a group of women, one of whom was a woman named Lydia. Macedonia was unusual in the first century in that within this province, women actually had legal rights. They could initiate divorce, enter into binding legal contracts, engage in trade and own property, among other things, and as Luke tells us, Lydia was a merchant from Thyatira who dealt in the fine purple cloth for which that city in Asia Minor was so famous. It would also seem from the text that Lydia was not only a businesswoman, but a successful one, having a house in Philippi large enough to house the missionary party.

She also believed in God.

Lydia accepted Paul’s message of salvation through Jesus Christ and was baptized on the spot. Following this, she insisted that Paul and the rest of his party stay in her home, which would have been quite a relief for them, not to mention a testimony to her faith.

The Macedonian adventure had gotten off to a good start, but as we will see next time, this was not going to be a cake walk…

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Now That’s Interesting

Posted on June 17, 2016 by Don Merritt

Paul came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was Jewish and a believer but whose father was a Greek. The believers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him. Paul wanted to take him along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. As they traveled from town to town, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey. So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.

Acts 16:1-5

In this little tidbit, we can pick up a little more insight into Paul’s second missionary adventure. Notice that he has arrived in Lystra, with no mention of Silas, and it would appear that he was looking for a young believer who had been brought to his attention as a potential member of Paul’s traveling party. Luke gives us some interesting personal information about this young man named Timothy; his mother was Jewish, his father Gentile, and clearly he was well respected in the church.

Since Paul wanted Timothy to travel with his party, he circumcised Timothy, because the Jews in the area knew his father was a Greek… and then Luke tells us that they went from town to town telling the believers about the results of the Jerusalem conference and how they need not be circumcised to be a Christian. At first blush, this seems beyond bizarre; didn’t Paul just violate the Jerusalem decision?

Well… yes and no.

“Yes” in the sense that Timothy didn’t need to be circumcised to be a Christian; but “no” because Timothy was not a Gentile, even though his father was, for his mother was a Jew, and that means that Timothy was also a Jew, a Jew who hadn’t been circumcised. Since the other Jews in the area knew that Timothy had not been circumcised, Paul did not circumcise him so that he would be accepted as a Christian; he did it so that Timothy would be accepted as a Jew.

We don’t really come across that situation very often…

So they went around with the Conference news and strengthened the churches in the area, and their numbers continued to increase. After a time, the party moved on to Macedonia as we will see next time.

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