When John Lost His Head

 

They cut off John the Baptist’s head and served it on a platter. What a gruesome thought! John, the one Jesus proclaimed as greater than everyone else. It seems that most of the key players in the Bible faced martyrdom or severe persecution. We love the stories of Moses, Joshua, Daniel, and David. We love to hear about Jesus’ miracles, and even His tortuous death is softened in our minds by the Resurrection. But what about every apostle that was martyred? Tradition holds persecutors boiled John in oil and exiled him to a deserted island. What about the prophets? One was sawed in half! Seemingly, in many cases, God does not intervene in the deaths and sufferings of his saints, especially if it is for the sake of the gospel. Does this bother you? 

And what about those comforting words in the Psalms regarding God being our rock, fortress, and deliverer? Physical deliverance may not always come, but God meets us in an inward place that cannot be touched by the wicked. This is the place where God’s Spirit communes with our spirit. 

People speak of dying grace. Is this a real thing? I think so. What was John’s last hours like? Did an angel appear to him and offer comfort and assurance? Being filled with the Spirit, maybe the Spirit filled him with unexplainable peace? Did the heavens open like with Stephen? I do not know. But I have walked to the edge of death with both of my parents, and God was there. I have experienced the fear that comes with a cancer diagnosis. God was there. He never promises tough times will not come, but he never leaves us.

 

Isaiah 43:1-2, “But now thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob,
    he who formed you, O Israel:
‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
    I have called you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
    and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
    and the flame shall not consume you.’”

 

Here is an interesting article regarding God equipping people for suffering: 

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/god-equips-martyrs/ 

An excerpt: “Suffering times are times when the Lord is pleased to give his people some sense of his favor. When they are in sufferings for righteousness’s sake, for the gospel’s sake, then usually God causes his face to shine upon them. Now they shall hear best news from heaven when they hear worst from earth…It was God’s lifting up the light of his countenance that made the martyrs to sing in the fire, to clap their hands in the flames, and to tread upon hot burning coals as upon beds of roses. This made Vincentius say, when he felt the flame come to his beard, ‘What a small pain is this, compared to the glory to come? What is a drop of vinegar put into an ocean of wine? What is it for one to have a rainy day, that is going to take possession of a kingdom?’…For the confirmation of some, for the conversion of others, and for the greater conviction and confusion of their adversaries, who wonder, and are like men amazed, when they see the comfort and the courage of the saints in times of suffering…For the praise of his own grace, and for the glory of his own name. God would lose much of his own glory, if he did not stand by his people, and comfort them and strengthen them, in the day of their sorrows. It makes much for the glory of God, that his people are cheered and comforted, quickened, and raised, spiritualized and elevated in the day of their sufferings. Oh, the sight of so noble a spirit in the saints, causes others to admire God, to lift up God, to fall in love with God, and to glorify God, for owning his people, and for being a light to them in darkness, a joy to them in sorrow, and a palace to them in prison.” This author goes on to give examples of those who rejoiced in suffering. 

This world can discourage and frighten us if we gaze on it too much. Focus on Jesus! Remember how He has helped those who have faced frightening things. He says, “Do not be afraid!” We do not have the big picture. He’s got this! 

joyce hague

Invisible

 

One of the attributes of God which makes it easy for people to say they don’t believe in Him is His invisibility. People can somehow ignore the heavens’ declaration of the glory of God and the earth’s display of His handiwork. Some want to claim they believe only what they can see, handle, or work with according to the scientific method. (Then they attribute those physical things to some
invisible “force” or to macro evolution, which cannot be proven by the scientific method. We won’t go into the illogic of that here.) The writer of the book of Romans tells us, in the very first chapter, “Since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”

We are visible and may consider it a virtue of sorts. People have to accept our existence because they can see, hear, and touch us. But, in fact, mankind has often fought against our own visibility because it is limiting! What child has not, at some time, wished to be invisible, usually in order to get away with something otherwise forbidden or to escape an uncomfortable situation? What sci-fi author has not produced, or at least considered, a book, TV program, movie, or article with an antagonist or protagonist who could become invisible at will?

A particular annoyance of visibility is that it shows our changes. Aging, for instance. Oh, sorry, I could have skipped that one. I recently received a photo of our 9-year-old granddaughter with a cast on her arm. If we were invisible, people couldn’t see our temporary or permanent weaknesses. They also couldn’t see our defenses or our weapons or even our location. The invisible person would always have some advantages over the visible person.

So while we recognize a desire to escape the limits of visibility ourselves, we want the Almighty, The Eternal One, who is in all and sustains all, to limit Himself by showing Himself to us! If He is in all and through all, making even our atoms work moment by moment, He cannot be visible to our finite eyes. If He is big enough to create the entire universe as the “work of His fingers,” he cannot be visible to us. We do need to see Him to note His changes, as He does not change. People who look for a visible god are wishing for a tiny god, one made in our image.

Once upon a time, the time being within a few years of 1 A.D., God did limit Himself and become visible as the Son, "the image of the invisible God." (Col. 1:15) And what happened? People said He couldn't be God. Since He was limited to a visible being, they were able to kill Him.

When you are helping a person who struggles with believing in a God who can't be seen or touched, remind that person that He wouldn't be the God of the univese if He were so limited! HIs invisibility is part of His God-ness! "To the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen" (I Timothy 1:17) 

--Lynda Shenefield

A Richer Life

 

The first time I heard the name Lillias Trotter was in a message that Dr. Euler preached one Sunday morning years ago, and I remember the fascination I felt learning about a missionary whom I hadnot heard of before. Lillias was born into a wealthy family in 1850s London. As part of the upper class, she rubbed shoulders with authors and artists of the day; writer Anthony Trollope was her next-door neighbor at one point, whose guests included Robert Browning and Mark Twain.

 Lillias had a gift for art, and the famous art teacher and critic John Ruskin admired her work, befriended her, and became her mentor. Lillias saw beauty all around her in nature and had a great talent for capturing the beauty in her drawings and watercolors. In one of her visits to Ruskin’s home, he told her that if she devoted herself to art, she could become the most well-known artist of the day whose works would become immortal.

 Fame lay before her along with the ability to pursue her passion and joy in this extraordinary gift she had.Yet Lillias also had great faith in God and devoted much of her time to serving others, especially at Welbeck Street Institute, a hostel for young women who worked in London. There she taught Bible classes, helped meet the women’s needs, and assisted as secretary in the administration of running this

home that later became part of the YWCA. She was passionate about the Lord and her walk with Him, often attending conferences with the aim of growing in her faith. What she learned she would then pass on to others. She once wrote, “A flower that stops short of its flowering misses its purpose. We were created for more than our own spiritual development; reproduction, not mere development, is the goal of matured being – reproduction in the lives of others.”

 So now, at age 26, Lillias had a choice to make: devote herself fully to art as Ruskin was encouraging her to do or let art just become a hobby on the side so that she could more fully devote herself to service. The choice weighed on her; she prayed much over it, seeking what the Lord would have her to do. And she came to a conclusion that would direct the rest of her life. She would not devoteher time to perfecting her art; instead, she would devote her time to serving, possibly knowing that the circles in which she would serve might cost her social standing as well as the opportunity for marriage.

 In her book Parables of the Cross, she would one day write the following: “Have we learned the buttercup’s lesson yet? Are our hands off the very blossom of our life? Are all things – even the treasuresthat [God] has sanctified – held loosely, ready to be parted with, without a struggle, when He asks for them?” Lillias also declared that, “It is loss to keep when God says ‘give’.” And, having made her choice, she felt “the liberty of those who have nothing to lose because they have nothing to keep.” Lillias eventually moved to the Muslim country of Algiers, where she served forty years, sharing Christ with the people there.

 So, how does this strike me, living over 150 years after this sister in Christ? As I read her biography, I am challenged by a life that truly understood what it means to seek first God’s kingdom. I am so prone to getting caught up in the trivial day-to-day! I am prone to lose sight of what really matters. I am prone to finding excuses to satisfy my desires, to take the comfortable route rather than the path that must die to self. I struggle with the day-to-day choices: getting up in the morning early enough to spend time with the Lord, not getting caught up in the petty arguments of the day, choosing to reach out to others or show hospitality when I’d rather sit on my couch and read a book. What would it look like to truly understand, as we heard this morning in the message at church, that “to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21), not “to live is to enjoy myself and be comfortable”? How would we live differently if we really believed that our calling is to be “a living sacrifice” (Romans 12:2)? I believe Lillias Trotter understood these things; my prayer is that I, and you, would as well.

 “Look at the expression of abandonment about this wildrose calyx as time goes on, and it begins to grow towards the end for which is has had to count all things but loss: the look of dumb emptiness has gone – it has flung back joyously now, for simultaneous with the new dying a richer life has begun to work at its heart.” (Lillias Trotter, Parables of the Cross)

 -- Amy O’Rear

 (All quotes and information about Lillias Trotter is taken from the biography A Passion for the Impossible by Miriam Huffman Rockness.)

 

FEAR NOT!

 

         “What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee.”  Psalm 56:3

 

         A few days ago I sat in my basement, a storm raging outside, lightning and thunder and a

tornado watch.  I was in the basement with snacks and water and books and blankets. I was

there because a couple of my children had said, “Go to the basement, Mom,” and a couple of

neighbors had said, “Are you in your basement?”  I would have preferred to be in my warm,

cozy bed.

         I wasn’t afraid.  Perhaps I should have been.  It was a fierce storm.  Even the tall trees

behind my house were dipping low.  It had been almost a year since tornadoes whirled through,

damaging my daughter’s house, my friend’s house, demolishing my church.  So maybe I should

have been afraid.  I am not generally a fearful person, but there are times I am afraid.  We are

creatures of fear, aren’t we?  I wasn’t afraid of the storm, but I am sometimes afraid of the

future, afraid of being alone and ill, afraid of losing family and friends, afraid of the ravages of

age, afraid of losing my independence.  Yes, sometimes I am afraid.

         Have you ever thought of how many people in Scripture were told not to be afraid just in

the story of Jesus?  First, the angel told Mary not to be afraid when she saw the angel and

heard the announcement that she was to bear the Messiah.  I suspect as any good Jewish girl,

she had wondered what it would be like to be the mother of the Messiah.  She would find it

would change her life, pierce her own soul according to Simeon, but the angel said, “Don’t be

afraid.”

         The shepherds were out with their flocks, minding their own business, maybe even

wishing they were in their own cozy beds, when they saw the angel and heard the messagethat the Messiah had been born. The first thing the angel said was “Don’t be afraid.”  They

heard this amazing angel, then they saw a choir of angels.  A little bit out of their norm? A

reason to fear?

         As the disciples followed Jesus, there were a lot of occasions when they could have been

afraid.  After the amazing miracle where Jesus fed 5,000 men, plus the women and children,

Jesus withdrew to the mountain by Himself.The disciples went down to the Sea of Galilee,

planning to cross to Capernaum.  The waves became boisterous and they were afraid. 

Suddenly they saw Jesus walking on the sea toward them. This time Jesus said, “It is I.  Don’t

be afraid.” Then He calmed the sea.

         The night Jesus was betrayed, He was teaching the disciples one last lesson.  He said,

“Fear not.  I’m going to prepare a place for you and I will come again.  I will give you a

Comforter to teach you.  I will give you peace.  Don’t be afraid!”  Then Jesus went out to be

betrayed and the next day, crucified.  But He told them not to be afraid.

         Perhaps the most important time we hear the words “Fear not” was at the empty tomb. According to Matthew, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary had come to see the tomb. 

Suddenly there was a great earthquake, an earthquake so great and the angel so amazing,

that the guards shook with fear and fell down as dead men.  But the angel knew why the

women had come.  He said to the women, “Fear not.  He is not here.  He is risen.” The best

thing about that “Fear not” was what followed.  “He is not here.  He is risen as He said.” 

I have fears.  I suspect you have your own set of fears.  But we don’t have to fear.  Our

Savior is alive.  

HE IS RISEN!

                                                                                    ~~Faith Himes Lamb