Faith Not Sight

July 20, 2020

I don’t like the fact that our bodies disappoint us with aging or disease or both. Somehow it just doesn’t seem fair that the best body we will ever have is at age 18 (at least in this life). We see the aging process in others, but eventually we have to admit to it in ourselves. What Paul called “the outer person wasting away” is observable in life (2 Corinthians 4:16).

Yet Paul placed beside this unwelcome fact another wondrous observation. In Christ, the inner person can continue to grow and become better. “Our inner person is being renewed day by day” (1 Corinthians 4:16). God is transforming us to become more and more like His Son. Our character, our kindness, and our love can grow and mature throughout our lifetime. The best our inner person can be in this life may be the day we breathe our last.

Paul compared this body that disappoints us to a tent (1 Corinthians 5:1). Tents are temporary. They are fragile and frail in comparison to a permanent structure. The disappointments of our bodies are reminders we are sojourners here. We are just passing through; this is not our enduring home. A tent may become frayed and worn until it wears out, or it may be suddenly pulled down, but it is never permanent.

The God who renews our inner person also builds us a permanent dwelling. As Paul wrote, “[W]e have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (1Corinthians 5:1b, ESV). In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul described our physical bodies with words like “perishable,” “dishonor,” “weakness,” and “natural”. While the resurrection body that we await at Christ’s return is described by words like “imperishable,” “glory,” “power,” and “spiritual.” The transient will be swallowed up by the eternal.

The processes of the outward wasting away and inward being renewed take place in the course of daily life. Daily life filled with its ups and downs, its trials and temptations, and its moments of doubt and faith. Paul used the word, “groaning,” to describe this present life. He spoke of “slight momentary affliction,” although slight affliction doesn’t seem to adequately describe Paul’s life (see 2 Corinthians 11:23-28). He could only call it that when weighed on the balance with eternal glory. The eternal outweighs the transient and makes the walk of faith worth it all.

Paul had confidence that to be away from the body is to be at home with the Lord. The God who is doing a great work of renewing and transforming in our inner person is also preparing for us a permanent dwelling place. Eternal glory is worth it all “for we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7, ESV).

— Russ Holden

Leave a Comment » | 2 Corinthians 4:16, 2 Corinthians 5:1, 2 Corinthians 5:7, building not made with hands, faith, sight, tent | Permalink
Posted by Russell Holden

God Gives the Increase

July 10, 2020

Jesus said to go into all the world and preach the gospel. Today’s world population is about 7.8 billion. It’s a staggering task. When viewed like this, it can be paralyzing. What can one person do? What can one church do?

Yet I recall the words of Jesus, “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much” (Luke 16:10a, ESV). And in the parable of the talents, the approved servants hear these words:

His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’   Matthew 25:21, 23, ESV

It seems that the global picture will take care of itself when we learn to be faithful even in the little things.

Take the story of Fred Asare, the director of the Village of Hope. His older brother received the World Bible School lessons, and he encouraged Fred to take them too. The WBS teacher sent
the lessons to the then nine-year-old Fred. Fred was very young, and he felt like he had received too much help from his brother in doing the lessons, so he asked to take the entire lesson series over again. The WBS teacher sent the lessons again. (I admire the patience.) The WBS teacher sent an invitation to Fred to hear some missionaries preach. Fred invited his school mates. They were baptized. After college, Fred was invited to be the director of the Village of Hope – a work that had previously failed. Fred accepted the challenge, and many have joined in that work. But I want you to notice the small acts of faithfulness – the small beginnings that lead to great things being done. 

Thank goodness for farmers. They prepare the soil. They plant the seed. They care for their crops waiting patiently for the rain. Yet, they feed the world. I might despair at the task given the smallness of the seeds. Yet, the farmer knows that our beneficent Creator knows
how to multiply seeds into abundant crops.

It is to this that Paul compares the task of sharing the gospel. “I  
planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase” (1 Corinthians 3:6, NKJV). God knows how to multiply our efforts. He seeks people of faith, who can be faithful even in the little things. He desires people who can encourage, invite, share, and give. You never know where your faithfulness may lead. Your faithfulness may be part of a golden chain of events that moves mountains. Pray for open doors and the faith to go through them. For it is God who gives the increase.

– Russ Holden

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Aren’t You Being Judgmental?

July 3, 2020

If you stand for Christian values, you will likely hear someone say, “Aren’t you being judgmental?” I like the story of Swami Vivekananda, a Hindu philosopher. He came to the World’s Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893. In his address to the delegates, he said, “We [Hindus] accept all religions to be true,” and “[it] is sin to call a man [a sinner].” Of course, in making the statement, he himself has called someone a sinner (i.e., the one who calls another a sinner). I find it amusing. The charge of being judgmental is always a boomerang.

But what about “Judge not, that you be not judged”? Doesn’t that forbid judging. Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 7:1-6 has three parts. The middle part uses the image of getting a speck out of someone’s eye. The image of getting a speck out of someone’s eye is a way of talking about counseling or confronting someone about sin in his or her life. This isn’t forbidden, but we are first to get the beam out of our own eye. Jesus is concerned about hypocritical judgment.

But what about “Judge not, that you be not judged’? It is indeed a warning about judgment in a section that confirms we will indeed make judgments. What is Jesus’ point? The point is found in the explanation that starts with “for.”

For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Matthew 7:2, ESV

Jesus is warning us about unmerciful judgments. If we want mercy from God, then we need to extend mercy to others.

Finally, Jesus warns about uncritical judgment, a failure to evaluate a situation and its dangers. Holy things are not to be given to dogs, and pearls are not to be thrown to pigs, because pigs trample, and dogs attack. Wisdom can know ahead of time how certain things and people will be treated by others. Jesus is warning us of an uncritical judgment in the face of persecutors.

Jesus is not opposed to us making judgments. He is giving us warnings about unmerciful, hypocritical, and uncritical judgments. It is impossible to live the moral life without making judgments.

The charge of being judgmental is always a boomerang, because it too is a judgment. The question in such cases is do we have an agreed upon basis for moral decision making. If we are both Christians, we should in the moral teachings of the Bible. If we don’t have a common basis for morals, then the problem is likely not judgmentalism regardless of the charge, but our competing ways of deciding what is moral. Both of us have the right to attempt to persuade the other, but in the end, if we can’t agree on the basis, we may have to lovingly disagree and wait for God, the Judge.

— Russ Holden

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Posted by Russell Holden