Be Like Jesus

When I was in high school, Lucy, a girl a couple of grades ahead of me, seemed to be a “misfit.” She looked “different,” though I could not say how. She had no friends. My friends were not in study hall with me, so I sat across the table from Lucy. We made small talk as much as allowed, and mostly just studied. Lucy had a problem, but I didn’t know what it was.

One day, with my head down over my book, I heard a small commotion in front of me. I looked up to see the study hall teacher, a sturdy man, behind Lucy with his arms around her in a tight bear hug. I saw Lucy’s eyes roll back in her head. Teacher and student trembled and thrashed violently for a few moments, the teacher struggling valiantly to hold on to her. Shortly she went limp, then took a long breath. Teacher asked, “You OK?” She nodded and he went back to his desk.

I was stunned. I had not known Lucy was prone to violent seizures. But it was just “normal” for her; the teacher didn’t even send her to the nurse.

We have songs with words like, “Be Jesus to someone today,” or “I will be Christ to you.” How do we do that? It must be something more than just, “Be nice.”

The teacher knew what the problem was; I wasn’t even aware of it. He knew the symptoms; I didn’t even see it happening right in front of me. He knew what to do about it; I did nothing. He stepped in and rescued her from the power of her illness and the consequences of it. Had he not intervened, the seizure would certainly have caused her to injure herself. He took a bit of a risk that she would hurt him. I’m sure that was not as great a concern to him as the possibility that his help would fail and she would be hurt in spite of his efforts. He was like Jesus to her; I was just a nice bystander.

All those things Jesus knew about us -- the problem, the symptoms, what to do. And he had the physical and moral strength to do what was necessary. We were suffering from something worse than seizures – he called it death. He stepped in and rescued us far more dramatically than our teacher rescued Lucy.

We can’t “be Jesus” and save people’s souls, but we can help because the Bible tells us the problem, the symptoms and the solution. If we remember the depth of the grace and forgiveness that God gives us, we will want that for everyone. Can we put our arms around someone and offer rescue from the worst malady – eternal death?

--Lynda Shenefield

Justice and Mercy in the Courtroom

In one of William Shakespeare’s lesser known plays, The Merchant of Venice, a young man named Antonio signs a loan with the wealthy money lender Shylock on behalf of his friend who needs the money to woo his love. Convinced he will be able to pay back the loan in time, Antonio agrees to Shylock’s request that the fine not be financial interest but a pound of his own flesh. And while his friend is able to impress and marry the girl he loves, Antonio is not so fortunate. His wealth is bound in his ships at sea, and tragically, the ships founder and sink. Antonio is not able to pay back the loan.

The story climaxes in Act 4 at the trial scene. Shylock, who has been hated and mistreated for being a Jew, sees this as his opportunity to get revenge on Antonio who has called him a dog and spat on him. He is adamant that he is owed the pound of flesh from near Antonio’s heart. He wants justice. A contract was signed and should be followed. Justice must be served. The duke overseeing the trial begs Shylock to show mercy. After all, who could be so cruel as to take a pound of flesh? But Shylock, sharpening his knife on the sole of his shoe, will not relent. He wants the letter of the law, and the duke knows that he cannot overrule a contract.

If you want to find out how this story plays out, you must read it for yourself. We just finished it in my seventh and eighth grade English class. As my students read the trial scene, we talked a lot about justice and mercy. One question I asked them was whether or not Shylock was justified in his determination to take the pound of flesh. Justice must be satisfied, right? The contract upheld? But what about mercy?

The same week that this conversation took place in my classroom, a trial scene was playing out in the news. A year prior, a young woman in Texas had walked into an apartment thinking it was hers, and had shot a young man sitting in his own apartment. He died almost instantly. It was a tragic situation.  As this court case came to a close and the young woman received her prison sentence, the victim’s brother asked to speak. Surprisingly, he offered forgiveness to the woman, extending mercy, stating that if it were up to him, she would serve no jail time. His faith in Christ showed as he urged her to give her life to Christ. He stood up and hugged her as she sobbed in his arms. What a picture of mercy!

At the same time, while also offering forgiveness, the young man’s parents asked for justice. They wanted an investigation of how the court case was handled, and they wanted the woman to be held accountable for her actions. They were gracious but firm in their desire for justice.

As I pondered both the fictional story of Shakespeare and the real-life story in Texas, I was reminded that we have a God of both justice and mercy. We cannot choose one against the other. At the cross, both justice and mercy met as God poured out his wrath in divine judgement for the sins of man. Justice was served; sin was atoned for. Yet here we see the beautiful mercy of the Father and love of the Son as Christ Himself bore that wrath, so that we could be spared. What mercy! And now, for those of us who call ourselves God’s children, we no longer stand under judgment, because the justice has been satisfied. God’s gaze towards us who believe is always one of mercy. Praise the Lord!

As Christ’s followers, we ought to be concerned with justice. We ought to pray for and act for those who are mistreated and abused. We should support our law enforcement and government as they seek to bring about justice for victims everywhere. Yet, imitating our Father, we are not only concerned with justice. We ought to love mercy and be people of mercy who bend out the same grace and longsuffering towards others as our Heavenly Father does toward us.

--Amy O’Rear

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

I have spent almost two weeks marveling over Ruben Danger Roberts, my first grandson.    He made his appearance October 1, just before midnight.  I got to be there, got to see the miracle of birth from a different side, as I watched my daughter Sarah.  In the last few days I have cradled that boy, talked to him, sung to him, studied him.  I am rejoicing in every quirky expression, every wiggle of his little body, almost every cry.  What a miracle he is.  I want to breathe him in.

“Fearfully and wonderfully made.”  Sarah wore a necklace during his birth with these words.  I have spoken these words over Sarah many times through the years.  And now they are for this precious little one.

Psalm 139:  13-18.  “You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb.  I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.  My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.  Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed, and in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.

“How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!  How great is the sum of them!  If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You.”

My thoughts on Psalm 139 have been wandering.  It is easy to look at this baby and say that he is fearfully and wonderfully made.  It is easy for me to look at his mother, Sarah, and say that she is fearfully and wonderfully made.  But shouldn’t I be able to look at myself and say that I am fearfully and wonderfully made?  God knew me, too, before I came out of the womb.  God knew me and He knows me now.  He knows my inward parts; He knows my frame; He knows all my substance.  His thoughts toward me are precious.  I forget that sometimes.

I have taken it even a step further.  God considers every single person fearfully and wonderfully made.  He knows my family and my closest friends; He knows those I have casual acquaintance with; He knows those who are easy for me to love and those who have wounded me.  As a Christ-follower, I must believe that He also loves even these and thinks of them as precious.  That thought should determine those relationships.

Lord, help me to see people as You see them, “fearfully and wonderfully made. . .precious!”

                                                                        ~~Faith Himes Lamb

Oaks of Righteousness

Reading through my One-Year Bible, September 30, this verse caught my attention:

Isaiah 61:3b “They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor (for His glory).”

On my list of 14 desires for our home here in Cincinnati was that the Lord would give us trees and walking trails.  Off our back deck is 730-acre Sharon Woods (Sorry, Winnie the Pooh, ours is more than your 100-aker woods), one of the largest of many parks in the city.

I love trees! In fact, my daughter Debbie gives me a special calendar each year by Susan Branch. Even though Susan doesn’t know me, she included this verse just for me on one of the months:

Trees! I love to look at the trees out back with leaves that are now turning bright yellow and orange. Trees come in all sizes and kinds (just like we do). They bear delicious fruit, beautiful leaves, even nuts! J They give shade and provide wood to use for so many things, including heat. Sometimes we just plant them to give us beauty in our yards.

So many truths we can learn from trees that will go along with this encouraging verse in Isaiah 61:3.

OAKS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS: How does this happen in our lives - so that people see a beautiful “oak of righteousness” when they look at you or me? First of all, this is not our righteousness that makes us a strong oak.  

II Corinthians 5:21: “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

Have you received the Lord Jesus as your Savior so you can be righteous because of Him? That is the only way you can be a strong “oak of righteousness” for others to admire and then they benefit from the “fruit” that you bear for the Lord.

PLANTING OF THE LORD:  Ahhh! There is the secret! The Lord plants the Oak...He plants us. My prayer is, as God promised to Judah, that I would grow like this:

Isaiah 37:31: “Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.”

This can only happen when we practice Psalm 1:2-3:

“But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
³ He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.”

Read Psalm 1 again...put your name in the place of “his” or “he.” “But Maylou’s delight....”

Then what happens? We, as beautiful oaks of righteousness, planted by the Lord, will

DISPLAY HIS SPLENDOR...FOR HIS GLORY!  What is “splendor”? “Brilliance, magnificence, beauty.” Is your “splendor” for God’s glory or for your own?

Just as we look at beautiful trees this fall and thank our Creator for them, others should look at us and see “oaks of righteousness” that stand firm during all seasons of life and thank our Creator-God who has “planted” us to bring glory to Him.

--Maylou Holladay