Better or Worse?

by | Nov 7, 2013 | Updates

Our view of the world can impact our daily lives in many ways.  Do we see the world as getting constantly better or worse?  For Christians the question is a conundrum.  If we see the  world as getting worse by the day, we can suffer discouragement and fail to try to do good. If we see the world as improving steadily, we can fall into the other ditch and fail to take our part in fighting the problems seriously enough.

This  week, on the Strategic Understanding page,  we reproduce an editorial  column written a few  years ago by Calvin Burrell in the Bible Advocate.  Although not recent,  the article is as fresh as when it was written and deserves our attention today.   “I Think . . .”    looks at what is happening in the world around us and provides a wisely balanced and realistic understanding that can help us in answering the question “Are things getting better or worse – and what should we do about it?”
“In the Dark”

“In the Dark”

by | Nov 3, 2013 | Popular Culture

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The recent hit movie Gravity starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney does an excellent job of showing the feeling of near-helplessness the orbiting astronauts experience when they lose radio communication with their Houston base.  Cut off from their source of hope, the astronauts send transmissions “in the dark” – not knowing whether they are being heard or not. 

At one time or another all Christians have experienced the feeling of unanswered prayer and the suspicion that they are not being heard.  Fortunately for us, the Bible gives some very clear instruction on why prayer is sometimes not answered – and what we can do about it.

This week’s new article “When Prayer is Unanswered”  looks directly at the question of why our prayers sometimes seem to be unheard.  The good news is that even if we feel cut off  and we just don’t seem to be “getting through”, there are things we can do to change that – we don’t need to stay “in the dark”.

Persecution – Present Tense

by | Nov 2, 2013 | Persecution, The Church & the World

I had no sooner uploaded a blog post late last month on the seemingly endless number of special days that now exist (pointing out the very worthwhile National Forgiveness Day, however), than I became aware of  another very worthwhile “day”.  November 10  is designated as International  Day of Prayer for the Persecuted (http://www.persecution.org/).  Often people think about the persecution of Christians as something that happened in ancient Rome or in the Middle Ages, but in the past 100 years an estimated 35 million Christians have been killed for their faith, and the problem is ongoing in many parts of the world – it is real and it is now.

Although we can rejoice when facing unavoidable persecution (Matthew 5:10-12), that does not mean we should ignore the needs of those in peril in this way.  In some cases there are things we can do to aid those in danger because of their faith (see the persecution.org website “Take Action!” link for suggestions), but according to the organizers, the  number one thing persecuted Christians ask for is prayer.  As the website reminds us, even when we can do nothing physically,  we are equipped to meet that need!  This day is not only an  opportunity to pull together on behalf of those who face persecution, but also a good reminder that the need is ongoing and that there is something we can do about it.

Extreme Activities

by | Nov 1, 2013 | Discipleship

Mountain climbing was always challenging enough for me, but I am amazed by some of the extreme sports people get into now.  People routinely do things that are extremely challenging, difficult, and often downright dangerous – all in the name of excitement and sport.   I was watching and listening to some of the practitioners of these sports on television recently and I must admit their commitment is amazing – their extreme activities are their lives!

Do we take our calling that seriously?  Extreme sports require extreme dedication, extreme training, and sometimes they do involve extreme danger.  In all these things they are like Christianity.  Now I’m not suggesting for a minute that Christianity is a sport,  just that like extreme sports, Christianity has some extreme challenges.   Although the Book of Ecclesiastes says that “Whoever fears God will avoid all extremes” (Ecclesiastes 7:18 NIV), that is talking about being extremely bad on the one hand, or self-righteous on the other. The Bible makes it clear that true living religion is going to involve some extremes:

* Extreme dedication:  “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5).

* Extreme training:   “Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever” (1 Corinthians 9:25)

* Extreme danger:   “Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea” (2 Corinthians 11:25).

This last extreme may not apply in our own situation. We may be spared the dangers faced by believers  in many parts of the world (http://www.persecution.org/), though we should, of course, be involved in praying for those who are endangered.  But the truth is, Christianity should be an extreme activity.  If our Christian walk is not extreme in the first two of these ways, perhaps we are missing out on something.

The rewards of our extreme commitment and training certainly far outweigh the “blood, sweat and tears” put into them.  Paul makes it clear  in 1 Corinthians 9:25 that the rewards are far beyond the momentary highs of extreme physical activities:  they are both extreme and eternal. Just as extreme sports often become the lives of those practicing them, shouldn’t the extreme activities of our calling become our lives, too?

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This week we uploaded a new article on the Strategic Understanding page,  “The Truth About Tebow”.   This reproduces a Bible Advocate article Sherri Langton wrote early last year looking back on the Tim Tebow phenomenon.   Although, as Sherri rightly surmised, the phenomenon would pass, her retrospective on Tebow’s impact has some very interesting thoughts on how events  sometimes work out in the scheme of things.

Praying Always

Praying Always

by | Oct 27, 2013 | Prayer

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This week’s new (for this site) article, on the Tactical Living page, is by an old friend,  Philip Shields.  “Do We ‘Pray Without Ceasing’?” is condensed from the June 15, 2013, blog posting on his website at lightontherock.org.   As for the title, when the apostle Paul spoke of praying  “without ceasing” and “praying always”, he was talking about the elderly and sick and those with plenty of time on their hands, right?  Surely he wasn’t talking about those who have to commute to work, mothers with young children, active duty service people, and all the rest of us? Philip’s article looks at what Paul meant by “praying always” and how that can apply to all of us.