 A. W. Tozer wrote, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” If you grew up in a Christian household there’s a good chance you had a picture of Jesus hanging up somewhere. I bet you didn’t even have to see the whole picture above to know exactly what painting it is. We know intellectually that Jesus probably didn’t look like the guy who is portrayed on these paintings, but the image is seared into us nevertheless. So much so, we only need a glimpse and our brains fill in the gaps. Filling in gaps can be a dangerous thing. Is the Jesus we worship an image of our own creation or the Jesus of the Bible?
Hebrews 13:8 says “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Sometimes we treat the Bible like a faith fortune cookie. We have our favorite verses that we love to quote, and maybe we don’t care too much about the context. The Bible says it, I believe it, and that’s that. But as someone once said, “a text without a context is a pretext.” We must be careful to handle God’s Word with care otherwise it can turn into our word with a Biblical veneer. Hebrews was written to Jewish believers that were facing persecution because of their faith in Jesus. Some of them were being tempted to mix adherence to the Mosaic Law, like making sacrifices in the temple, with faith in Jesus. But the writer of Hebrews says that Jesus made a perfect sacrifice once and for all and sat down at the right hand of God (10:11-14). His sacrifice is not like the sacrifices that were made before His. His was the perfect, once for all sacrifice. It’s not Jesus’ sacrifice plus temple sacrifices. It’s not Jesus plus anything else; No, it’s faith in Jesus and His finished work on the cross alone. Back to Hebrews 13. Verse 9 says, “Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them.” Strange and diverse teachings are nothing new. They were prevalent in the world of the early believers and it’s clear they are prevalent today. Who is the Jesus we serve? He is the One who once and for all offered a sacrifice for sins. It is accepted by faith alone. Beware of adding anything to the Gospel. Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings. We can’t add anything to the equation of our salvation. It’s all or nothing. Rest in Him.
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 Viktor Frankl, the famed Austrian psychiatrist and Nazi concentration camp survivor, in his book, “Man’s Search for Meaning,” writes, “One should not search for an abstract meaning of life. Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life to carry out a concrete assignment which demands fulfillment.”
In the Apostle Paul’s final letter to Timothy he writes, “I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well. For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Tim. 1:5-7). We love to quote that last bit, but sometimes I wonder if we pass over Lois and Eunice too much? We love the power of Paul. We love his words. He is one of the great heroes of our faith. And rightly so. But we ought not forget about Lois and Eunice. God works through generations. In our day and age of quick dopamine hits from funny Instagram or TikTok videos and our admiration of the good looking, well-spoken, men and women we look up to, it can be easy to forget about the importance of the day to day faithfulness that no one sees, and perhaps maybe won’t ever even know about. But oh, what a difference it makes. I think a lot of people in ministry, whether they admit it or not, like to think of themselves as if they were a modern day Paul or some other hero of the faith. But maybe God has called you to be a Lois or a Eunice. Don’t miss the quiet mission in pursuit of being or doing something you’re not called to be or do. Perhaps God has called you to sow seeds in the lives of people that will not be seen until future generations. Are you willing to sow in a field where someone else will reap the harvest? Where would Timothy have been without Lois and Eunice? Who's your Lois? Who's your Eunice? Who's your Timothy? Thank God for Lois and Eunice. I imagine we will meet many a Lois and Eunice in heaven who sowed seeds of faithfulness, the fruit of which, they couldn’t even imagine. God bless the praying grandmothers and the faithful mothers.  I was driving my family down the road the other day in our family SUV that is less than a year old. I really like this vehicle. We were driving down to Waco to celebrate my uncle’s 80th birthday. I count it a blessing to have so many aunts, uncles and cousins who are serving the Lord and have done so for many years. Anyway, on the road to this epic celebration, the windshield of my ‘newish’ vehicle was assaulted by rock debris from a big truck in front of me. The first ding wasn’t too bad, but as I drove up in anger to pass him, I was dinged with a bigger star. Let’s just say I didn’t handle the situation great. I’m just glad no one was watching me. Well, actually, my wife, my daughter, my mom, and well, God was watching me. It wasn’t my finest hour.
It’s interesting how the smallest things can reveal the true state of our hearts. I was talking to a friend last night at an event about how sanctifying children can be in one’s life. When things are going smoothly we can think we have a wonderful disposition and are filled with all the fruit of the Spirit and even a refreshing smoothie on the side. It often doesn’t take much to awaken ourselves from the imaginary fiction we have created in our own minds about how good we are. I love what C.S. Lewis writes about the interruptions of life. We think our big dreams and great plans are life, but the truth is, real life is the 'day-to-day.' Real life is how we treat our family and our friends, maybe, cringe, even our enemies. Cracked windshields aren’t interruptions. They are real life. May Christ continue to make us more like Him. “The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one's 'own' or one's 'real' life. The truth is of course that what one calls interruptions are precisely one's real life - the life God is sending one day by day; what one calls one's real life is a phantom of one's imagination.” (C.S. Lewis)  Have you ever been disillusioned? Have you ever thought things were one way only to discover things were something else altogether? It seems like a lot of people are “deconstructing” their faith these days. Many are drifting from orthodox Christianity to a more “liberal” Christianity, if you can call it that. Others are leaving the church altogether. Why is this happening? I don’t pretend to know all the reasons why. To be sure, many of these folks fall into the “they went out from us, but they were not really of us” (1 John 2:19) category. Others, presuming to know the will and ways of God accuse Jesus as Martha did, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 11:21). It’s not that Martha didn’t believe God. Quite the contrary, her lamenting at the death of her brother proved she had a deep belief that Jesus was able to keep such a thing from happening. Her accusation betrays her false expectations. Do you have false expectations of Jesus? Are you disappointed because you thought things were supposed to go a certain way and they didn’t? Others have heard this teacher or that one say, “the Bible says,” only to discover later that the Bible didn’t actually say what that famous teacher said it did. Or maybe it did “say” that, but it didn’t “mean” what they said it meant.
I must confess, I have been somewhat weary as of late. Weary of all the voices out there supposedly speaking for God. Sometimes people think they are mad at God when really they are just mad when they find out that the god of their own creation doesn’t exist. Unmet expectations are dangerous. They’re dangerous in any relationship. People will fail you. Programs will fail you. But God and His word will never fail you. It has been rightly said that a “Scripture out of context is a pretext.” James 3:1 says, “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.” That’s sobering isn’t it? Perhaps we should be more careful in the way we wield the sword of the Spirit. It is the Word of God that stands forever, not some popular teacher’s interpretation. Be careful who you listen to. Be careful of your expectations. Don’t be mad at God for something He never said.  Life and ministry are filled with tension aren’t they? Somedays I feel very spiritual, like I could move a mountain with my prayers. Other days, my mind races at 1,000 miles per minute trying to think of strategies to raise money, help our missionaries, and do what God has called me to do. Maybe Abraham felt a certain tension when God promised him a son and he tried to make something happen on his own. Maybe the Apostle Paul, no slouch in the faith department, felt the tension too when he made tents. Paul, one of the greatest theological intellects to ever walk the planet, worked with his hands. We serve a Creator who can walk on the water and cause others to do so, yet for most of His earthly ministry he sailed to and fro on a boat.
I remember when my dad was sick with dementia for ten years, we earnestly prayed and believed God for his healing, but we still needed a caregiver to stop by sometimes and help him get out of bed. How do we walk by faith and not by sight? Jesus told us not to worry about tomorrow. I mean, the lilies don’t worry, why should I? And yet, I’m not a plant, so I must confess, I do worry from time to time. It’s easy to be philosophically or theologically correct, but daily life is where the rubber meets the road. As many others have said, it is our actions that reveal what we really believe. It’s easy to have faith for someone else, but in the back of our minds, we wonder if God really sees us the way we’re so confident He sees someone else. There are no easy answers. My guess is that this struggle is partially what life is all about. The great men and women of old struggled with this tension, why would I expect things to be any different for you or me? 2023 is almost over. 2024 is almost here. I have hopes and dreams. I have struggles and tensions. But most of all, I have faith in the One who knows my weakness, yet will cause all things to be alright in the end. “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:26-28)  I have a confession to make. I can be very critical and judgmental sometimes. I try to convince myself that it’s wisdom or discernment or something like that, but it’s really just good ole’ fashioned judgment.
I saw a former teacher of mine post this on social media: Evangelist D.L. Moody was once criticized by a pastor who didn’t approve of his soul-winning “methods.” Mr. Moody asked the pastor, “What method do you use to bring others to Christ?” The man replied proudly, “I haven’t any at all,” to which Moody responded, “I like mine better.” The Great Commission passage is familiar to all of us: “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” That’s convicting isn’t it? Are we actually making disciples? Or, like the critic of D.L. Moody, are we content to speculate and pontificate about this method or that, all the while living a life that looks nothing like the model we so love to argue is of course, “the RIGHT way to do things.” Let’s strive to be able to say as Paul did in 1 Corinthians 11:1, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” Blessings, Chad Bozarth  Angela and I recently had the pleasure of attending a stage production based on C.S. Lewis’ classic, “The Screwtape Letters.” If you ever have the opportunity to see this play I would highly recommend it. This work, first published in the early 1940s, is still so relevant and fresh; the issues it seeks to expose are timeless. It frankly could have been written yesterday. The story is conveyed through a series of letters written by a demon named, “Screwtape,” to his nephew “Wormwood,” who is assigned to tempt a new Christian. The world of Screwtape that Lewis creates is inverted; evil is good and good is evil. “The Enemy,” for Screwtape and his pupil, is God. In these series of letters we see a fictional glimpse into the mind of our enemy and how he seeks to tempt people away from Christ.
We are reminded in 1 Peter 5:8 to, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” We are living in dark times, we need to be keenly aware of the schemes of the enemy. But we also have every reason to hope for we serve a God Who has already won the victory. Screwtape writes to his nephew: The long, dull, monotonous years of middle-aged prosperity or middle-aged adversity are excellent campaigning weather. You see, it is so hard for these creatures to persevere. The routine of adversity, the gradual decay of youthful loves and youthful hopes, the quiet despair (hardly felt as pain) of ever overcoming the chronic temptations with which we have again and again defeated them, the drabness which we create in their lives, and the inarticulate resentment with which we teach them to respond to it— all this provides admirable opportunities of wearing out a soul by attrition. If, on the other hand, the middle years prove prosperous, our position is even stronger. Prosperity knits a man to the World. He feels that he is “finding his place in it,” while really it is finding its place in him. His increasing reputation, his widening circle of acquaintances, his sense of importance, the growing pressure of absorbing and agreeable work, build up in him a sense of being really at home on Earth, which is just what we want. Don’t be lulled to sleep by the wiles of the enemy. Trust in the Lord. Be encouraged today. -Chad  In the fall, I have the privilege of, once again, teaching a missions class in the 3rd Year Program at Christ for the Nations. I love teaching this class filled with so many students from all over the world. I’ve been reading their required book for the class. It’s a wonderful little book by David Shibley called Great for God: Missionaries Who Changed the World. The book highlights great missionaries of the past like Hudson Taylor, William Carey, Amy Carmichael, and others. What strikes me most when I read the stories of these great men and women of faith is not their great victories, of which they all have many, but their many trials, tribulations, and discouragements. These people were “sold out for Jesus” and yet suffered personal tragedy after personal tragedy. Just take the example of William Carey. Shibley writes, “Through the years, Carey would face many personal and family hardships. One of his greatest trials occurred in 1812 when his priceless manuscripts were destroyed in a fire. A massive dictionary of several languages, two grammar books, and whole versions of the Bible went up in smoke.” Or take the example of Hudson Taylor, great missionary to China. Shibley writes, “Tragedies multiplied for the Taylors. A young son died. The family went through the pain of the surviving children’s departure for England and school. Another baby was born but lived less than two weeks. A few days after his death, Maria [Taylor’s wife] died at the age of 33.” I can hear the preacher giving the altar call now, “Come to Jesus…a life of tragedy and sacrifice awaits you.”
I was reading 2 Timothy this morning. Paul concludes his letter to Timothy by, among other things, informing him that “[he] left Trophimus, who was ill, at Miletus (2 Tim. 4:20).” What? How can this be? Why didn’t Paul just lay hands on Trophimus and command him to be healed? I don’t know, and the older I get, the more comfortable I am saying, “I don’t know.” Now, don’t get me wrong. I believe Jesus is the Healer. I believe Jesus is the Provider. I believe He is good, gracious, giving, and all the rest. But bad things do happen to good people. We don’t know why. But be encouraged. We serve a God who knows the end from the beginning. He is working all things together for good (Rom. 8:28). To quote David Shibley again, “You were born on purpose. You were born again on purpose. You were born at this time on purpose.” God has called us to greatness. We walk by faith and not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7). Whatever you may be going through today, good or bad, know that you are in the company of great men and women of faith. May the peace of the Lord be with you. -Chad In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson declares, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” Yes, I know Thomas Jefferson wasn’t a Christian, he had his own highly edited version of the Bible. The point is, that even an unbeliever such as he can recognize that there is a fundamental longing in man for freedom and liberty. This freedom and liberty was lost in the Garden when our ancestors sinned and rebelled against God.
T. Desmond Alexander, in his book, From Eden to the New Jerusalem writes, “While the opening chapters of Genesis allude briefly to God’s blueprint for the earth, his plans are almost immediately overturned – for Adam and Eve betray their Creator and give their allegiance to his enemy. Expelled from God’s presence, they forfeit their unique status as viceroys of the divine king…Against this tragic background, the rest of thebiblical meta story describes how God acts to reclaim the earth, and especially its people, from Satan’s control.” The story of Scripture is the Story of the Creator entering His creation to restore what was lost by our rebellion. This is what we long for, the restoration of our free and innocent state. And this restoration of freedom can only be found, not through governments of men, Declarations of Independence, or anything else other than a relationship with the King. "And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved —and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 2:1-7) Happy Independence Day! And may God bless America from sea to shining sea! -Chad |
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