Soul to soul - Sunday Leftovers

This past Sunday's sermon was chiefly focused on the sixteenth verse of Romans eight which, in the New Living Translation, reads, "For His Holy Spirit speaks to us deep in our hearts and tells us that we are God's children."

Some translations of the Bible render that verse, "God's Spirit bears witness with our spirit..." Personally, I like the NLT's rendering the best, "His Holy Spirit speaks deep in our hearts..." From either, though, the point is clear - God longs to communicate with us, and does so at a deep level alternately referred to as our spirit or the depth of our heart.

In connection with this, I strongly believe that humans possess a sixth sense beyond the five physical senses, and with this additional sense we are able to communicate with God. The Bible refers to it as faith - a deep conviction or confidence that something is so. I also believe that the part of us that Paul called "spirit" or "deep in our heart" is the seat of that sense.

One other thing that I believe in regard to this subject is that God communicates with each of us in ways specific to our personality or nature. While we all share the common need and desire to intimately connect with God, the ways we make that connection are as varied as we. Thankfully, God loves us enough to learn a whole lot of love-languages.

The book of Acts is a compelling book which makes the above point abundantly clear. It records in vivid detail the first three decades of the Christian church's life. In it there are multiple accounts of the Spirit of God engaging individuals and/or multitudes. While some commonalities are discernible, the clearer point is the amazing differences in the many stories. Again and again, God profoundly connected with His early followers. Again and again, He did so in distinct ways; ways that no doubt were His gracious accommodation to the distinctiveness of those He was connecting with.

My encouragement this past Sunday was for all of us to ask God to sensitize us in regards to His ''voice'' and to help us be more aware and in touch with that place called "deep in our heart." My encouragement today is don't stress about this; instead, relax, pray the prayer sincerely and then leave the welcome mat out and your heart's front door unlocked. As Frederick Buechner said, "If you pray for anything other than God, you may or may not get it, but if you pray for God, you will always receive what you pray for."

Stan

Saving Your Soul - Left-Overs

What would it profit a person to gain the whole world and in the process lose their own soul?  And if they did lose it, when they finally came to the end of their life and realized they had, what, of all that they had accumulated, would they give to buy back their soul. 

These were the sort of questions we asked ourselves Sunday and they reflect the kind of thinking that many people do as they approach the end of their lives.  Obviously, we would be better served to think about these matters before then, yet the fact remains that these concerns are unavoidably heightened as our mortality becomes clearer. 

The late author and humorist, Erma Bombeck, who passed away in 1996 at the age of 69, did a very eloquent job of making that point with an article she wrote on the heels of being diagnosed with a terminal illness.  Here is the article entitled "If I Had My Life To Live Over Again."

"If I had my life to live over, 

• I would have talked less and listened more. 
  
• I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained and the sofa faded. 
  
• I would have eaten the popcorn in the 'good' living room and worried much less about the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace.
• I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth.
• I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.
• I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage.
• I would have sat on the lawn with my children and not worried about grass stains.
• I would have cried and laughed less while watching television - and more while watching life.
• I would have shared more of the responsibility carried by my husband.
• I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren't there for the day.
• I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn't show soil or was guaranteed to last a lifetime.
• Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I'd have cherished every moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.
• When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, "Later. Now go get washed up for dinner."
• There would have been more "I love you's"... More "I'm sorrys" ...
• But mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute... look at it and really see it ... live it...and never give it back."

I am sure that all of us one day will share Erma's sentiments to some degree.  With the exception of Jesus, the truth is, every person will face some measure of regret or second-guessing concerning their time spent on earth.  It is in no way my intention to encourage inordinate or paralyzing regret.  As a matter of fact I spend a good amount of time encouraging people to be merciful to themselves, to move forward past mistakes and not live constantly looking in the rearview mirror.

The fact remains, though, that we all could probably do better given a second-run at life.  Wouldn't it be nice if we had one life to learn with and then a whole other life to live with what we've learned.  While we don't have that luxury, we do have the ability to correct, to grow, and to take advantage of second chances.  As Christians we have the example of Jesus, the guidance of God's Spirit, the community of believers, etc. to help us maintain a healthy perspective; to help us save our souls. 

I pray this week that you are, as Christ said in last week's scripture text, ''seeing things from God's perspective'' as well as taking care of your soul - your true life.

Peace,
Stan 

Saving your Soul - Introduction

In the summer months preceding Jesus' Spring crucifixion, Christ was bringing to a close His Galilean ministry of some two years.  As His time there in the north country of Palestine was coming to an end, the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke all tell us that Jesus began openly teaching that he would soon be rejected by the elders and killed.  Mark's eighth chapter, verses 31 - 38 (our text this Sunday), tells us that Jesus first made this grave prophecy in Capernaum, the small coastal fishing village which had served as His Galilean command-post.

 

Mark further records that as soon as Jesus had shared this disturbing piece of insider information, one of His inner circle, Simon Peter, was so bothered that he ''took Jesus aside and rebuked Him'' for saying such things.  Christ's response to Peter was quite strong, ''Get behind Me Satan!'' He said, ''For you are looking at things from man's perspective, not God's.'' 

 

While Peter was undoubtedly having to recover from Christ's rebuttal, Mark says Jesus gathered His disciples around Him and continued His teaching, making some profound statements and asking some important questions.  This Sunday morning we will delve into these statements and questions: 1) ''Whoever desires to be my disciple, let them deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me.''  2) ''Whoever tries to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for My sake will save it.''  3) ''What would it profit someone if they gained the whole world and lost their soul?''  And finally, 4) ''What would a person give in exchange for their soul?''

 

Sunday we will flesh out these poignant statements and questions of Jesus in a message I'm calling, ''Saving Your Soul.''   We will further ask questions like: What is a soul?  What does it mean to lose your soul?  What does it mean to sell your soul?  And, what does it mean to save your soul?  No doubt, these are important matters for us to spend concentrated time considering.

 

Looking forward to being together Sunday,

Stan