by R. Herbert | Jan 7, 2014 | The Life of Jesus
Seeing Shepherds, oil on canvas, by Daniel Bonnell (c) 2010. Reproduced with permission.
I don’t usually include discussions of paintings on this web site, but in this case I am happy to make an exception. A few days ago I saw this astounding painting by Daniel Bonnell, an artist whose work I only recently came to know and appreciate.
The picture is the subject of this week’s short article “A Shepherd for a While” on the Strategic Understanding page. The article represents a musing on the picture and its subject – the importance of which is not limited to a particular time of the year.
Don’t miss the picture at larger size on the article page. It amazed me and I think it will amaze you, too.
by R. Herbert | Jan 5, 2014 | Prayer, Tactical Notes
You know how a compass works. The floating needle or direction arrow points toward the earth’s magnetic pole. You also know what happens if the compass comes close to a local magnetic source – the direction arrow gets pulled away from its proper orientation and will not work properly until it is freed from the nearby influence.
Each of us lives with a spiritual moral “compass” we have developed which, if guided by God, points us in His direction, but sooner or later – and usually sooner – our spiritual compass gets pulled away from true by the physical influences that surround us. At that point we must reset the compass by freeing ourselves from the negative physical influences or, knowingly or not, we are headed in the wrong direction.
That “reset” would seem to be the exact purpose of the beginning of the
model prayer outline that we call “The Lord’s Prayer.” Jesus taught that before making our requests to God we should begin by praying “Our Father which are in heaven, hallowed be your name “ (Matthew 6:9). These simple words, if expanded and prayed with sincere thought, reset our spiritual compasses and get us pointing in the right direction again. It is as we pray thoughtfully, concentrating on what God is, His nature, and His relationship with us that that we align and prepare ourselves for the requests we are about to make.
It’s all too easy to forget or skimp on this aspect of prayer, especially when our minds are crowded by our own needs and the needs of others, but it is to the degree that we do first align ourselves that we are better able to see things from the perspective God wants us to have. Without this realignment we eventually find ourselves asking for the wrong things in the wrong ways for the wrong reasons.
So, consider the importance of the opening thoughts of the Lord’s Prayer before asking for specific requests. Jesus’ words help us in showing that alignment should always precede asking, and resetting should always precede requesting.
by R. Herbert | Jan 2, 2014 | Love
The Book of Luke tells the well-known story of how Jesus was invited to the home of a Pharisee named Simon. While he was there, a woman who was a prostitute slipped into the house and, weeping at His feet, wiped her tears from Him with her hair before kissing His feet and pouring expensive perfume onto them.
When Simon began to think that Jesus surely could not be a prophet of God, or he would have known the sinfulness of the woman, Jesus rebuked him by comparing her loving behavior with the loveless failure of the Pharisee.
The story has additional significance because if we read it carefully, we see that it actually reveals important aspects of true and complete love for others. This week’s article on the Strategic Understanding page, “
Three Components of Real Love,” shows what those aspects are.
by R. Herbert | Dec 27, 2013 | Prayer
I was never in business, so the ways of the business world are often news to me. Take, for example, when I found out that some businesses have a direct private line to the CEO that is made available to the most important clients. Not to the rest of us, of course. We have to go through the recording with a raft of choices only to hear “There are twelve people ahead of you” then perhaps eventually be transferred a couple of times and perhaps put on hold for several minutes before we finally get an answering machine. All this to call companies with only a few thousand callers. Can you imagine what it would be like if we had to reach our Heavenly Father by phone? “There are four million three hundred and twenty five thousand seven hundred and fifty six callers ahead of you.”
The truth is we all have a direct private line that is always there. It’s humbling to think that we are each, individually, important enough to Him to have a direct line to the CEO of the universe. We don’t have to wait on hold in order to get through eventually – the line we are given is direct and instant. At any time. There isn’t even a weekend plan where we have to wait to call because we are low on minutes. It’s really a wonderful thing that we so often take for granted. No downed or bad lines, no poor satellite signal, no answering machine or dropped calls – ever. We can actually reach our heavenly CEO faster than we can get through to our doctor’s office or the manager of the local grocery store. Have you ever given thanks for that?
The fact that we have direct access to our Heavenly Father is truly a great gift – and it is sad that many do not understand that the access is there, but believe they can only call on God through various intercessors. Jesus’ words are clear on this, however, that although we ask in His name (John 16:23) and are only able to approach through His sacrifice (John 14:6), we do not need any intercessor, but may pray directly to the Father (John 16:26, Mat 6:9).
Another thing to remember is that our calls are always answered. Although we talk about answered prayer and unanswered prayer, I find it helps to remember that prayer is like a phone call that’s always answered. God is always there and the “phone” is always on. He may not give us what we ask for, or as quickly as we ask for it, for our own good, but we should remember the sincerely made call is always answered (Psalms 86:7, Jeremiah 33:3). Something else for which we should be constantly thankful.
There’s only one catch to the direct private line package, and it’s a relatively small one. We have to use it or we lose it. It’s not like that legendary “hot line” between the leaders of the US and the old Soviet Union – there to be used if circumstances become desperate enough that it is needed. Remember Paul shows we should pray in all things. But it’s not hard to do. In fact, we don’t even need a reason to call, God is always desirous to hear from us and happy to take our call. So if you haven’t done that recently, why not make the call and give thanks for your direct private line!
by R. Herbert | Dec 22, 2013 | Bible Study, Growth
I owe the origin of this thought to Philip Shields who recently wrote “Learning is for Transformation – not just Information.” It’s an important idea in Christianity, and sometimes we need to remember this basic concept. The thought grew in my mind after recently visiting a Christian website where dozens of well-researched and well-meaning articles pondered scores of technical points and minutiae of the Scriptures. I came away impressed and better educated, yet feeling that in no way had I grown. If anything, had I been sidetracked? So Philip’s recent article “
WHY Do We Study the Word of God?” resonated with me, and we reproduce a slightly condensed version of it on our site this week as the second article in our series on Bible study.
As Philip writes, the apostle Peter stressed that we should grow in grace
and knowledge (2 Peter 3:18), and the two go hand in hand – or should do. Focusing on growing in grace alone can be problematic in many ways. We can end up limiting ourselves and even hurting others through misunderstandings and lack of real knowledge. On the other hand, developing only the cerebral aspects of our religion and filling only our “encyclopedia” cells can be even more limiting and ultimately damaging to Christian growth.
We do need to grow in both knowledge and grace, information and transformation. Just knowing is never enough – facts should lead to change or they are little more than Bible trivia. Paul shows this goal clearly: “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is …” (Romans 12:2). Notice that the goal is to be
transformed by the
renewing (not just the filling) of our minds. The changes accomplished are more important than the memorized facts.
Simply put, we need information and we need transformation; but if we err to one side of the road, it’s better if our wheels are more solidly on the transformation side of the highway.
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