Perspective

Occasionally I pass on a message from another Christian.

This one is from our sister-in-Christ, Helle K.

A man whose family was German aristocracy prior to World War Two owned a number of large industries and estates. When asked how many German people were true Nazis, the answer he gave can guide our attitude toward fanaticism.

"Very few people were true Nazis" he said, "but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come. My family lost everything. I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories."

We are told again and again by "experts" and "talking heads" that Islam is the religion of peace, and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace. Although this unqualified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant. It is meaningless fluff, meant to make us feel “better”, and meant to somehow diminish the specter of fanatics rampaging across the Globe in the name of Islam.

The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history. It is the fanatics who march. It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars worldwide. It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave. It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder, or honor kill. It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque. It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims and homosexuals.

The hard quantifiable fact is that the "peaceful majority" the "silent majority" is cowed and extraneous. Communist Russia comprised Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 20 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant. China's huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering 70 million people. The average Japanese individual prior to World War II was not a warmongering sadist; tet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an orgy of killing that included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians; most killed by sword, shovel and bayonet. And, who can forget Rwanda, which collapsed into butchery. Could it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were "peace loving"?

History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt, yet for all our powers of reason we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points: Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence. Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don't speak up, because like my friend from Germany, they will awake one day and find that the fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun. Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs, Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late. As for us who watch it all unfold; we must pay attention to the only group that counts; the fanatics who threaten our way of life. Lastly, at the risk of offending, anyone who doubts that the issue is serious can contribute to the passiveness that allows the problems to expand.

Better Tools

Study to shew thyself approved unto God,
a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth. II Timothy 2:15

My Grandmother often reminded me and my cousins that “A good workman never blames his tools”. This saying was used to stop complaints and encourage us to be more diligent. After all, if your work is not your best, you should not blame your tools or materials. It took me a long time to see the hidden assumptions and flaws in this statement.

A good workman becomes a good workman by practice and by training. He first learns from someone with more experience, then he perfects his craft by practice. A good workman doesn’t hurry to finish because the quality will suffer. A good workman knows what is the best tool and the best material for the job. A good workman cares for his tools. He keeps them in good condition and protects them from damage. Finally, as the good workman gains skill, he acquires new tools, higher quality tools, and learns to use them skillfully.

So a good workman doesn’t blame his tools. And not just because he works diligently, but because he has the best tools, and he keeps his skill with constant practice. God wants us to be workman also, but our tool is His Word. His instruction to us is to learn it, to gain skill in using it, and to care for our knowledge. As good workmen, we must perfect our practice of the Word by making it a part of our daily lives. As we achieve a level of knowledge or skill, we should aspire to learn more, and become more skillful in a new area of the Word. And God in His part will reveal more of the word and provide us with higher quality tools to accomplish His will.

Take out the Trash

So don't worry about tomorrow,
for tomorrow will bring its own worries.
Today's trouble is enough for today. Matthew 6:34

Every afternoon, when I’m done at work, I finish my last task and put it away, rinse out my coffee cup and turn off the computer. And I also clean up my office. I put every pen, ruler, elastic, paper clip and memo pad in the drawer. Every book goes back on the shelf, every file in the cabinet. I throw away / put away every letter, note, bent staple and scrap of paper. I pick up the airplane that didn’t make the wastebasket. The chairs go back into place and the keyboard and mouse placed straight. Before I turn out the light, I take tomorrow’s work and put it in the middle of the clean desk, with the most important items on top.

Our spiritual lives should follow this model. We should deal with the tasks and problems of the day with all our effort and with an ear to God’s leading. But when the day is over; when the task is complete; when the trial is at an end; and we have done all we know how to do, put away those tasks and trials. Put the problem on the shelf. Discard the unfruitful effort. Save the tasks brought to completion, but close the door on them. Finally, clear away the trash and prepare for the next day, the next trial.

And then rest in the presence of God, knowing that you have done your best to follow His guidance. When tomorrow comes, turn your attention to the next task or trial without the debris of yesterday. You will see what is important in your life because the weeds have been pulled out. Prepare your heart and mind with the peace of God to be victorious throughout tomorrow.

…let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely,
and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.
Hebrews 12:1-2

Guardian Angels

But angels are only servants.
They are spirits sent from God to care for those who will
receive salvation. Hebrews 1:14

Guardian angels. Yes, really, they do exist, although not called by that name. Angels are spirits, created by God, usually functioning as messengers. Angels have appeared to Abraham, Hagar, Jacob, Elijah, Mary and many others. This first chapter in the Book of Hebrews contrasts Jesus with the angels. God calls Jesus His son, but He calls upon the angels to worship His son. Angels are “messengers swift as the wind, and servants made of flaming fire”, but God “has anointed you [Jesus], pouring out the oil of joy on you more than on anyone else”. Jesus sits in honor at the right hand of God, but the angels are “spirits sent from God to care for those who will receive salvation”.

Was there a time in your life that you were without God? A time before you knew the Word of Salvation? Then you had an angel (at least one) to care for you until the time that you believed. You needed that care, because you did not yet believe. You could not yet rely on God, because you did not know Him. So God sent an angel to look after you until your day of Salvation.

I know that the power of God covered me before I became a Christian. I remember many times I came close to death, but was prevented from that one last misstep, and remained unharmed. Once I almost stepped out in front of a speeding car. I heard no noise, felt no wind or had any indication that a vehicle was approaching. One step more step would have taken me in front of the car, but I stopped without knowing why. The car sped past me, close enough to touch. Many other times I have been preserved, kept safe from drowning, falling through ice, off horses, slippery rocks, dark alleys.

God preserves His people. Unfortunately, we often work against God instead of with Him. We do foolish things, fill our lives with fear and unbelief, rely on our own strength. If we work against God, he will not override our free will. If we refuse the protection of God, He will allow the consequences of our actions. Those strong arms of God are always ready to hold us up, but we must make the choice to lean on them.

New Growth

The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree:
he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Psalm 92:12

Every spring, the trees of the forest reawaken, and growth begins again. The sap flows to bring nourishment, the leaves unfold to the sun, and then the branches grow longer. The longer branches provide more places for new leaves, more nourishment for the whole tree. New growth is obvious on evergreen trees. The new needles are a lighter green, the bark a lighter brown.

New growth is essential to the tree. If it does not grow, it dies. A tree grows better and faster if the conditions are right. Give the tree plenty of sun and water, good soil, and room to spread branches, and the tree will grow quickly. The new light green growth adds inches each spring to the tree. But the young tree that lives in the shade of older trees, and competes with them for a limited amount of sun and water, grows slowly. The new green growth is still there, but is much smaller. Sometimes young trees die, crowded out of the things they need to grow.

We have choices in how we grow. We can water our lives with the living water of the presence of God. We can choose to plant our spiritual roots deeply in the Word. We can turn our faces towards God’s light. Or we can choose to ignore the spiritual nourishment Gods provides us. We can live in darkness and in cold. Do you see new growth in your life? Are you reaching further each day? Do you grow closer to God and warm yourself in His presence? Your growth is determined by your choices.

As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word,
that ye may grow thereby. I Peter 2:2

Sunsets

Sunsets – no two alike. Some are have deep red clouds, some silver. Some are quiet and misty; others streak across the sky in bands of color. The clouds might be large white and grey puffs, or they might be flat horizontal stripes. One evening the sun hides behind the clouds, the next it hangs glowing orange above the horizon.

Stand on the same hill and you’ll never see the same sunset. And sunsets change as you watch, so rapidly there’s no time to paint them or even run for a camera.

Think of all the sunsets seen from every hill, every ocean, every housetop; all different, changing, never duplicating. How beautiful is this one aspect of God’s creation. How much more glorious and dynamic must the Creator be! He must have infinite facets, endless capabilities. Only a small part of the power and variety of God is apparent to us. But we look forward to the moment when we shall see as God now sees us, when we will know as God knows us.

For now we see through a glass, darkly;
but then face to face: now I know in part;
but then shall I know even as also I am known. I Cor. 13:12