family

04
Oct
2026

Living by faith, like those who came before us

Focusing our desires on a better homeland

by David Sellnow

Recently, I was asked to speak at the annual commemorative service for a church cemetery. The church, dating back to the 1880s, remains as a historic building, next to the cemetery. The congregation and a neighboring congregation merged their ministries in the 1940s.

I’ll share here a version of the message from that day.

Scripture readings:  


There is a provision in Minnesota state law that says: “When a person dies … [and] it is determined that the person did not leave sufficient means to defray the necessary expenses of a funeral and final disposition, nor any spouse of sufficient ability to procure the burial, the county board shall pay for cremation of the person’s remains” (Minnesota Statute  261.035).

In my current employment, with a county human services agency, one of my responsibilities is helping people with those sorts of requests. Sometimes, a father or brother has been estranged from their children and family for years. But at the time of their death, it falls to family to deal with final arrangements. Sometimes, a mother or grandmother has been in nursing home care and has depleted all her own resources and has been on public assistance. She’d not set up any pre-paid burial plans. When her time comes and she passes, the county needs to assist. There have been cases where a neighbor or friend was the only close contact for a person at the time of their death. There have been times when the medical examiner’s office reached out to county workers because there were no family members coming to claim the body of the deceased.

As a society, we pay respects to all who have died in our communities. We show our respect to life itself by the way we treat people in the time of death.

As people of faith, in the church, we have even more reason to show respect to those who have died, knowing that “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord” (Revelation 14:13). We have the utmost regard for our forebears who have walked in faith before us and have gone on to be with the Lord. We are deeply grateful for the faith of our fathers and mothers, our grandfathers and grandmothers, who passed down to us the hope of life that maintains us in Christ—in this world and the next. We remember the faithful lives of those who came before us, and we carry on their tradition of faith still today.

Our earliest ancestors in faith prioritized having a place to bury their dead in respect and remembrance. We are heirs of the faith held by Abraham and Sarah. Trusting in the promises of the LORD God, they had relocated across the Middle East to the region of Canaan. They lived as nomads on the land. They had flocks and herds and traded with the local peoples. Throughout their lives, though, they never really owned any piece of the land as their own property. When Sarah died, nothing was more important to Abraham at that point than securing a plot of ground to be used as a family burial site. He spoke with the Hittite people, among whom he was living, asking to buy the cave of Machpelah and the field surrounding it. Ephron, the owner, offered to give the field and cave to Abraham, whom the Hittites regarded highly as a guest in their territory. Abraham insisted on paying in silver the full price the property was worth (cf. Genesis 23). It was important to him for that place to be seen as entirely their own—their family’s resting place. And so it was. Sarah was buried there. When he died, Abraham also was buried in that cave. His son and daughter-in-law, Isaac and Rebecca, were buried there also. Their son, the patriarch Jacob (also known as Israel), was buried there along with his wife Leah. (Cf. Genesis 49:31, 50:13.) [Jacob’s wife Rachel, who had died during childbirth (the birth of her second son, Benjamin), was buried near where they were traveling when that had happened, between Bethel and Bethlehem.] (Cf. Genesis 35:16-20.)

We have inherited the faith of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their families. We may own homes and land on this earth, but our deepest deepest hopes are not rooted in anything of this earth. Like our predecessors in faith, we look forward “to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (Hebrews 11:10). Like the ancient patriarchs, our own parents and grandparents and great grandparents who now rest in the ground of this earth died in faith without having received the fulfillment of God’s eternal promises. “But from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth.” They weren’t thinking just of a homeland on this earth. They desired “a better homeland …a heavenly one” (Hebrews 11:13,16).

We have that same desire ourselves. Our faith home is a heavenly home. Our deepest hopes are not of the stuff of this earth. We know that the things of this earth are not permanent—even the churches we establish and build. We’d like to think they will stand the test of time, but things change. A church building that was a treasure in its time now stands as a memory of what it once was. The faith history of a congregation may go through many ups and downs, mergers and changes over the years—but the faith remains the same. We walk in that same faith still.

Across the country, changes keep occurring for churches. One mainline denomination, for example, has 2400 fewer active congregations today than were active 26 years ago. A survey of three dozen Protestant church groups, done every five years, showed that in 2019 there were 1500 more churches that closed than new churches that were started. In 2024, there were 200 more closures than new openings.

Yet the promises of God, on which we base our faith, have not diminished, and our hope is not diminished. We endure in hope as did our ancestors in the faith, even when it appears to us that things are shrinking and our future is uncertain.  In the years when the northern kingdom of Israel fell to the Assyrian Empire and the southern kingdom of Judah was threatened by those same powerful forces, Isaiah spoke words of reassurance to God’s people. The LORD held out hope for them. Even through times of exile and uncertainty, he would bear and carry and save them, even to their old age (Isaiah 46:4).

We stand today upon the shoulders of the people of God  who came before us, and experience the path of faith in ways similar to their path. The temple that the people of Israel built in Jerusalem did not last forever. It was destroyed, rebuilt, and destroyed again. Today, there is nothing left of that temple but a wall or remembrance and prayer. Many of the churches built across the centuries since then, in places around the world, did not endure. The landscapes of our lives on this earth change—where we live, how we live, where we worship. But we are reminded by our Savior, Jesus—the anchor of our hope—that our faith and worship ultimately are not about where we are or in what building we gather. As Jesus said, it is not about whether we worship in some particular place, at some specific location or temple or building. “True worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth,” Jesus said, for “God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:23,24).

We will continue to believe and pray, to serve one another and our neighbors, to worship in spirit and truth. This is the heritage of faith and hope and love that our forefathers and foremothers in the faith have given us. This is the gospel, the mercy, the truth that we will talk about with our children and grandchildren in our homes and away from home, when we lie down and when we get up (cf. Deuteronomy 6:7), and whenever we share time together in whatever churches and gathering places we find as homes for faith today. 

 

Posted by David Sellnow, 0 comments
10
May
2026

Mother’s Day thoughts

I had the opportunity this morning to lead a children’s devotion at church, and will share it with you here.

The faith of our parents

Do you know the story of our first parents, back in the Garden of Eden? It was the most beautiful place, and everything was wonderful. But then everything changed, and things weren’t wonderful anymore. They weren’t in the Garden of Eden anymore. Life was going to be fragile and often difficult. Having children and getting through life in this world would come with pain and sweat and all kinds of challenges. And they’d face death someday too. 

But even though they knew all that, do you know what they did? The man gave his wife the name Eve. That name means “life”—because, as the man said, “She would become the mother of all the living” (Genesis 3:20). The man we call Adam. That was a word in Hebrew that means man. He was the first man. Eve was the first mother. They are our first parents.

It took a lot of faith for Adam and Eve to believe that they would keep living and that bringing children into the world would be a blessing.  They believed something God would later say to his people: “Surely I know the plans I have for you—plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope” (Jeremiah 29:11). Adam and Eve trusted that God was still with them and would watch over them. They believed God’s promise that a child one day would be born that would be their Savior, someone to rescue them from their troubles in this world. They held onto hope and clung to God’s promise with faith. 

What you see here is a picture of my parents, from when they got married. My parents had five kids—I was the middle one. It took a lot of faith for them to raise a family and get through all the bumps and bruises and bigger difficulties that we all went through. The same is true for your mom and dad. Faith is what keeps them going—trusting God to keep them and you safe, and to get you through life when things don’t seem safe.

Of all the influences on you in this world, do you know has the most influence on your faith—on your spiritual life and beliefs? Surveys consistently show that it’s your mother.*  That’s something to give your mom a hug for today on Mother’s Day. It takes great faith to be a mother, bringing up children. And along with your moms, your dads are guiding and shaping your faith day by day too. More than what you read in books or see on TV, more than your friends, more than teachers at school or other people you know—more than pastors, even—it is your parents who shape your faith. They share God’s love with you and help you to trust in the promises of God. 

This is something God told us to do in our families—telling parents that they are to take the words and promises he has given and impress them on their children. God wants us to talk about his truths when we sit at home, when we go for walks together, when we go to bed at night and when we get up in the morning (Deuteronomy 6:6-8). So, keep doing what you’re doing at home in your families, talking about God’s promises and growing in faith. 

God bless you and your mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers on this Mother’s Day and every day.

For additional thoughts on this topic, see this previous post: https://theelectricgospel.com/eves-faith-and-ours/

* S. Joseph Kidder and Natalie M. Darisme, Who Has the Most Influence on Your Spirituality? Andrews University Faculty Publications 2024

Posted by David Sellnow
04
Jan
2026

What’s in a name?

The Holy Name of Jesus, and Thoughts for the New Year

by David Sellnow

“What’s in a name?” That was a question Shakespeare famously asked. It’s a question I’d like us to consider today. 

I remember a particular name from years ago, when I was a ministry intern at a large city church. A young mother asked us for baptism for her baby. I can’t recall her last name anymore, but I’ll always remember her son’s first name and middle names. The boy was to be called 

Derambo Jabarray Earl. I asked her about the name, and she showed me a sheet of paper on which she’d written multiple variations stemming from the name Rambo—which came from a Sylvester Stallone movie they liked. They’d settled on Derambo, liking how that sounded. Jabarray was chosen as a middle name, because it sounded good with Derambo. And they added the father’s name, Earl, to make the child’s name complete. Derambo Jabarray Earl. I quite like that name!

In our culture, often we choose names we like the sound of or names that have some sentimental or family attachment for us. In biblical times, names were given with a meaning, sometimes reflecting circumstances about their birth. When Rebekah had twin sons, the first to come out was ruddy and had lots of hair, so she named him “hairy” (Esau, in their Semitic language). The second boy came out holding onto the firstborn’s heel, so she named him Jacob (meaning heel-grabber). Later in life, he was given a new name, Israel, which means “wrestles with God.” After insisting God give him a blessing, Jacob was told, “Your name shall be Israel, for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.” 

Sometimes names expressed hopes or aspirations for the child. Jacob’s grandfather had been named Abram when he was born—an Akkadian-Babylonian name (from the region where the family was living), meaning “beloved father.”  Maybe Abram was called “father” from birth because he was the oldest child, with the hope that he would carry on the family line. That name later seemed a cruel joke when Abram and his wife Sarai remained childless into their old age. But the LORD made a promise that came with a new name, telling Abram he would be a father. Indeed, “I will make you the father of a multitude of nations,” God said. He would be Abraham—”exalted father,” the patriarch of Jewish and Arab peoples and father in faith to all who trust in the Messiah descended from Abraham.*

When that Messiah—the promised one—came, what would his name be? Isaiah had prophesied a child to come who would be “Immanuel”—God with us. Jeremiah had prophesied he would be called “The LORD our righteousness.”. When Mary was found miraculously to be with child, an angel told her betrothed, Joseph, what the child’s personal name should be. And so, eight days after the child was born and it was time for his naming ceremony, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel. In English we say Jesus, from the Greek and Latin forms of the name. In Aramaic (the language spoken by the Jews in Jesus’ time), they would have said “Yeshúa”—a shortening of the Hebrew name Yehoshúa (or “Joshua,” as we would say it.) It means, “The LORD saves”—exactly what God was doing for us through the incarnation of Christ in our world.

We’ve come to know Jesus by many names that describe who he is and what he has done for us. The title “Christ” or “Messiah” designates him as the Anointed One—set apart to be our priest, our prophet, our king. He is also called “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” He is the Light of the World; following him we do not walk in darkness. He is the Bread of Life; whoever comes to him will never be hungry.

Do you notice something in Jesus’ name and the descriptions that are spoken of him? We are included in the meaning of his names. Jesus means “the Lord saves”—he saves us. Immanuel—God is with us. He is the Bread of Life for us, to feed our spirits; the Light of the World for us, to light our way. The name of Jesus—the identity of our God—is placed upon us and identifies who we are. Think of what we do each time we gather, sending you out into the world with the blessing of God’s name placed upon you. Just as God told his people long ago, he enfolds you in his name, saying:

The LORD bless you and keep you;
 the LORD make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
 the LORD lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace. 

That is how God puts his name on us as his people and promises he will bless us.

In Jesus’ time and Jewish culture, it was customary to give a baby boy his name on the day of his circumcision, which was a religious rite with sacramental significance. In Christian history, baptism has that same kind of sacramental meaning. In early eras of the church, when adult converts came to believe in Jesus, often they were given a new name, their baptismal name, at that time. And children, given their names at the time of their birth, have their names sanctified and included in God’s family in their baptism. Scripture promises us that God sent his Son, Jesus, in order to redeem us and make us his own. We are adopted as God’s children. As his children, we also are his heirs. Through Christ, we have all spiritual blessings and an eternal inheritance.

Whether our names are Jim or Judy or Casey or Quinn, every child of God from the creation of the world to the very last day has their names written in the Book of Life belonging to Jesus Christ. We are new people with Jesus’ name attached to our names, new creations in Christ. 

Your name is part of your identity, who you are. Your personality, your thoughts, your passions, the things that are important to you—those are all part of your identity too. Your faith shapes your identity in significant ways. You are a person of God in Christ. Your plans, your priorities, your purpose will move in directions that God’s Spirit moves you. We may not always know where exactly life is taking us, but we have God’s words directing our way, asking us to acknowledge him in what we do. God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, and he helps us in our weaknesses. We may not even know how to pray as we ought, but Christ’s Spirit intercedes and helps us in ways words cannot express. 

The beginning of a new year often is a time we think of reasserting our identities, establishing new goals and purposes for ourselves. We make New Year’s resolutions to make new persons of ourselves—to quit a bad habit or start a good habit, to eat healthier, to be more physically active, to manage our time better or manage our finances better, etc. Of course, quite often we fail. Recent research has shown that just 9% of Americans actually keep their resolutions throughout the year. 

Probably we miss living up to our resolutions because we try to make the changes on our own, by ourselves, of our own willpower. And we’re not very forgiving with ourselves. If we resolve to cut down on sweets, and by January 18th we just can’t resist that Sunday morning donut, then we say, “Forget it!” and stop working at the resolution anymore. We give up on ourselves.

What if we saw any good, new intentions we set for ourselves not so much as New Year’s resolutions but as spiritual goals? What if we saw them as prayers, as hopes connected to our identity in Christ? We may not be very forgiving or patient with ourselves, but our gracious God is endlessly forgiving and patient with us. Long ago, when the LORD was giving his law—his word and commandments—to the people of Israel, in doing so he proclaimed his name to Moses. He declared himself as “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.” That is the name, the identity, the truth of the Lord God whom we know and trust. As people claimed by him and baptized into his name, we also can be full of patience and generosity to ourselves and to others. Our lives are enriched with all sorts of meaning and value as lives of faith in Jesus’ name.

We don’t have to wonder about our worth or question our lives’ purpose. Wherever we are, whatever we’re doing, whoever we’re with, we are God’s children. We bear his name and carry his name with us in our world. New Year’s resolutions often are like trying to assert a new name, a new you, a new way of being. If we stop and think, though, we already have that newness as persons, because we have been baptized into the name of Jesus, our Savior. We are his. We are loved. We can do all things through Christ, who strengthens us. So, in the new year, in Jesus’ name, let us resolve as Scripture urges us—that whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, excellent and worthy of praise, we think about those things and rejoice in the Lord always. And each day, each week, each month, if we have times when we slip up and fail or make mistakes, we know that we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One, who is the atoning sacrifice for our sins and for the sins of the whole world.

Blessings to you in Jesus’ name, as people wrapped up in all the strength and hopes that his name brings. We all share a family name together as Christians, so we will encourage one another and build each other up as God’s people, considering how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. May your new year be filled with grace and goodness, knowing that Christ’s Spirit goes with you each step of your way. The LORD will put his name on you, and he will bless you. 

Main scriptures for the Feast of the Name of Jesus: Numbers 6: 22-27, Galatians 4: 4-7, Luke 2:15-21

Additional Bible verses mentioned in this devotion (in order as the references occur): 

Genesis 32:8, Genesis 17:5, Isaiah 7:14, Jeremiah 23:6, John 1:2, John 8:12, John 6:35, Ephesians 1:3-6, Revelation 12:8, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Isaiah 30:21, Proverbs 3:6, Romans 8:26, Exodus 34:6, Philippians 4:1,8,13,  1 John 2:1,2,  1 Thessalonians 5:11, Hebrews 10:24

*For research on Abraham’s name, see this article: What Does the Name ‘Abraham’ Really Mean? | ArmstrongInstitute.org 

Posted by David Sellnow
11
May
2025

Mother’s Day / Good Shepherd Sunday

A parent who does not forget us; a shepherd who walks beside us always

Thoughts on Mother’s Day / Good Shepherd Sunday


Mother’s day is not a joyful holiday for everyone. For some it is uneasy, or complicated, or painful. Some have had difficult relationships with their mothers—or mothers with their children. Some have lost their mothers or have lost a child. Some have wanted to become mothers and have been unable to do so. Some have never known their mothers and have been raised in foster care or group homes. Even for those in traditional family structures, mothering isn’t easy.  

Writing on Medium, Lauren H. Sweeney says, “Mother’s Day is hard for me because I am a mother and I have a mother. And we’re both inadequate. It wasn’t supposed to be this way, it wasn’t the plan. I was going to be everything she wasn’t. … The thing that makes mothering so hard (and consequently, a day about celebrating mothering so hard) is knowing that I don’t do it right, just as I wasn’t done right by. I mean, my mother tried. And I try.”  But life is hard and things don’t go painlessly.

Scripture says (Isaiah 49:15): “Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb?” In the next breath, that same scripture acknowledges that human parents may forget and neglect their children. I work in a human services agency, where child protection services and child support enforcement are ongoing concerns. We celebrate Mother’s Day for all the good that comes from mothers. We celebrate Father’s Day for all the good that comes from fathers. Yet we also acknowledge that there are no perfect parents in this world, nor any perfect children, and family life is frequently problematic.

Our heavenly Father assures us that even though earthly parents may fail to be mindful of their children, he will not forget us.“See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands,” he says (Isaiah 49:15-16). We wonder about that, though. We often cry out to God, “The Lord has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me” (Isaiah 49:14). We seek God, we thirst for him, wanting to know he is with us. We are like souls in a dry and weary land where there is no water (cf. Psalm 63:1). We feel like a man named Job felt long ago when his life fell apart. Whether we look ahead or behind or to the right or the left, we cannot perceive God’s presence. It seems God is hiding or has abandoned us (cf. Job 23:8-9).

Often, our problem with sensing God’s presence in our lives is we expect to find him only in obvious blessings, in pleasant and happy times, when we see signs of success. More often, God’s most noticeable presence with us is during times of strain and hurt and hardship. The LORD promises us, “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” (Isaiah 43:2). God does not promise that floods and fires and turmoil will not come our way. Rather, when the troubles of the world plague us, that is when we draw closest to him. 

Today is not only Mother’s Day. It is also Good Shepherd Sunday—a day to be reminded of how God cares for us and carries us. As the shepherd psalm (Psalm 23) assures us, even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we need no fear evil because the LORD is with us and comforts us (Psalm 23:4). In a sermon this weekend, a pastor echoed that word to congregation members, saying. “Our Shepherd walks with us and has always walked with us. No place is foreign to Jesus. All things are present to him, because he has defeated death.” Christ was and is and will be with us always—through life’s every trial, through death, and into eternity.

We will walk through troubles in this life. That doesn’t mean that God our Father has forsaken us. Rather, in times of trouble especially the Lord’s word rings true, telling us,  “As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted” (Isaiah 66:13). We are assured that the Lord keeps track of all our sorrows, as if collecting all our tears in a bottle. He has recorded each one in his book (Psalm 56:1). We can take comfort in times of suffering, “knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Romans 5:3-5). 

It is best not to get too absorbed in our own pain and problems, but to connect with our fellow human beings in faith and hope. In a deeply personal book about the struggles of his own soul, Henri Nouwen wrote: “You will deceive yourself into believing that if the people, circumstances, and events [of your life] had been different, your pain would not exist. This might be partly true, but the deeper truth is that the situation which brought about your pain was simply the form in which you came in touch with the human condition of suffering. … Real healing comes from realizing that your own particular pain is a share in humanity’s pain. … Every time you can shift your attention away from the external situation that caused your pain and focus on the pain of humanity in which you participate, your suffering becomes easier to bear. It becomes a ‘light burden’ and an ‘easy yolk’ (Matthew 11:30). Once you discover that you are called to live in solidarity with the hungry, the homeless, the prisoners, the refugees, the sick, and the dying, your very personal pain begins to be converted into the pain [shared with all human beings], and you find new strength to live in it. Herein lies the hope of all Christians” (The Inner Voice of Love, 1996 – p. 103-104).

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  • For whatever reason God chose to make humans as we are—limited and suffering and subject to sorrow and death—God had the honesty and the courage to take his own medicine. Whatever game he is playing with his creation, he has kept his own rules and played fair. He can exact nothing from humanity that he has not exacted from himself. He has himself gone through the whole of human experience, from the trivial irritations of family life and the cramping restrictions of hard work and lack of money to the worst horrors of pain and humiliation, defeat, despair, and death. He was born in poverty and died in disgrace and thought it well worthwhile. 

-Novelist and Christian writer Dorothy Sayers

The Greatest Drama Ever Staged & The Triumph of Easter (1938)

Scripture quotations, except where otherwise indicated, are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Posted by David Sellnow
13
May
2024

Eve’s faith and ours

Faith made Eve a mother  … and faith carries each of us through our life in this world

The man named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all living. … The Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken.  He drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a sword flaming and turning to guard the way to the tree of life.
Now the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have produced a man with the help of the Lord” (Genesis 3:20, 23; 4:1).

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You can’t help but know that Mother’s Day has arrived.  We’ve been bombarded with TV commercials, print ads in newspapers, flyers in our mailboxes, emails and texts and phone alerts – all wanting to make sure we buy plenty of stuff for our moms. For this edition of The Electric Gospel, I’d like to offer something different from the commercial and sentimental emphases of Mother’s Day. Let’s consider some spiritual thoughts about the first mother, our first mother, Eve. She and Adam provide a lesson for all of us, for it is by faith in God’s promises that they were and we are able to carry on in this world.

When the first man and woman were created, they were made in the image of God, perfect and holy like their creator. Life was flawless for them in the Garden of Eden, the wonderful paradise God made as their home. It was a place where they were to live in love and friendship toward God and toward one another.

But you know the story well – and you’ve felt the impact of what happened. The perfect life of the perfect couple in the perfect garden was spoiled. Eve took the first bite of forbidden fruit. Adam followed suit. They consciously disregarded a way they were to honor God. When they broke away from God in that way, everything became broken. Satan’s temptation had suggested they would be like divine beings, able to distinguish good from evil (Genesis 3:5). That was a devilish half-truth. Adam and Eve did come to know things in a way they hadn’t known before, but not really in the way that God knows good and evil. God knows evil as the opposite of his character, “for God cannot be tempted by evil” (James 1:13).  God knows good as what he is, fully and absolutely. As the Word attests, “The Lord is upright … there is no unrighteousness in him” (Psalm 92:15). Adam and Eve had come to know things from an opposite perspective. They knew good as what they used to have, as perfection they had lost. They knew evil as a force that now inhabited them, as something they were fatally attracted to.  This was the great tragedy of humanity’s fall into sin.

After Adam and Eve’s sin, God confronted them in the Garden. There would be consequences to what they had done. 

To Adam, God said, “Now by the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken” (Genesis 3:19).  The Garden of Eden would be closed to them.  Life would change. There would be sweat and work and weeds and toil.  

To Eve, God said, “I will greatly increase your pangs in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children” (Genesis 3:16). So now, to “be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:28), as God had instructed them, would be no easy task.  Bringing children into the world would be difficult from start to finish. Sin had changed things.   

But even with those announcements of pain and difficulty in life, what Adam and Eve were hearing from God was good news. They had disobeyed God. They had defied God. They knew God’s warning – “The day you eat [from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil], you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:17). Quite likely, Adam and Eve had expected to die immediately, on that very day, because of what they had done. They hid from God, afraid (Genesis 3:8). But God didn’t put them to death on the spot. He was letting them know life would be full of sorrow and hurt – but that meant they still would be alive, they still had a future. 

And God made the point even more clear. He turned to the serpent, through whom Adam and Eve had been tempted. God said to him: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel” (Genesis 3:15). In those words Adam and Eve heard a promise of wonderful, renewed hope. A child born of woman would undo the damage that sin and the devil had done. God spoke of the woman’s offspring, so Eve and Adam knew that the future and God’s promise depended on her having offspring.

It was just then that the man (whom we know as “Adam”) gave his wife a name, Eve, which means life. “Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all living” (Genesis 3:20 NIV). They were not dead but alive. They would have life, and their children would have life. There was hope for the whole human race. They did not give up in despair. They held onto hope and clung to God’s promise with faith. 

It was right after all that, right after being sent away from the Garden of Eden, that Adam and Eve began to have children. When they had their first child, they confessed their faith in what God had promised.  “With the Lord’s help I have had a baby boy,” Eve said (Genesis 4:1 NIrV).  In translating Eve’s words, it’s possible she was even thinking that this child, her first child, might already be the one that God meant in his promise – the one who would crush the serpent’s head and reverse the damage of sin. That wasn’t the case – the Promised One, Jesus Christ, wouldn’t arrive in the human story for several thousand years. But the hope and faith of Adam and Eve remained the same. God had given them promises on which to stake their faith. They grabbed onto those promises. Adam and Eve went forward to bring children into the world as an act of faith.

In my ministry days as a pastor in Texas, I met with young couples as they were planning for their weddings. In premarital counseling, I would ask couples about their plans as far as family, having children. I wanted to emphasize a reliance on God and being open to whatever blessings or challenges God might have in store. One young couple, when asked their plans regarding children, said, “Oh, we’re not planning to have children. We can’t imagine bringing children into this world. There’s just so much strife and pain – the crime and war and terrorism. And there’s already overpopulation. It just doesn’t seem right to subject children to a world full of as much trouble as this world.”

We spent some time talking that day. I talked with them about Adam and Eve. If there were ever a married couple on this planet who could say, “It doesn’t seem right bringing children into a world like this,” that would have been something fair for Adam and Eve to say. They had gone from absolute perfection in the Garden of Eden to a life of many pains. They knew that they and all their children would have to deal with sin and suffering and face death – all things they hadn’t known before.  It would have made perfect sense for Adam and Eve to say, “No. No way, no how are we going to have children. We will die for our sin, but we don’t need to subject any children to the same fate.” Yet that’s not at all what they said. They heard God’s mercy. They heard his words of promise. They went forward in hope, had children in hope, trusting God to give them life and redemption, to heal them from their sin.

And so it is with us today, not only for mothers but for every person of faith. Faith makes us ready to do whatever life asks of us. Faith in the promises of God, in the forgiveness of God, in the ultimate goodness of our God – that is what carries each of us through our life in this world. Consider the fact that Mother’s Day is not an easy day for many people. Many who have wanted to have children face the agony of infertility, or of a miscarriage, or the loss of a child. Families and individuals experience all sorts of strains and struggles in this world. As Christians, we live our lives as an act of faith, putting our trust in God to stay with us when times are dark and difficult. 

Faith made Eve a mother. Faith in Jesus gives us the strength to raise our children, to be families, to live our lives. God bless you on Mother’s Day and every day, in Jesus, born of Mary, descendant of Eve. In him we have life and hope forever. 


Scripture quotations, except where otherwise indicated, are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Posted by David Sellnow
17
Sep
2023

Learning how to forgive

Readings for 16th Sunday after Pentecost, Sep. 17, 2023


Learning how to forgive  — forgive freely, but not cheaply

by David Sellnow


We have a hard time with forgiveness. Maybe you have been on the receiving end of a grudge. You wronged someone. It was years ago, and they haven’t spoken to you since. Or maybe you’ve been the one holding a grudge. You’ve turned away from someone, ignored them, ghosted them, because they betrayed or disappointed you in some way. Or perhaps you haven’t gone that far. You’ve had your differences with a family member or friend or neighbor, and you’ve put up with them. You looked the other way; you said, “It’s OK.” Meanwhile, though, you kept a mental record of each and every infraction—what they did and when they did it. Whatever the issue or the behavior, you find yourself thinking: “How many times do I need to forgive? It’s been seven times already. Is seven enough?” Remember, though, Jesus’ response to that question: “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times” (Matthew 18:22). Jesus does not want us putting limits and restrictions on how much we’re willing to forgive. Our God certainly has not set restrictions on his own capacity to forgive us.

Jesus illustrated the too-frequent difference between God forgiving us and us forgiving others with his parable of the unmerciful servant (Matthew 18:23-35). The servant had been forgiven by the king of a debt of 10,000 talents, an unpayable debt that was simply wiped off his record. That same servant turned around and pursued legal action against a fellow servant who owed him 100 denarii. In the Roman empire, a denarius was a coin used to pay a daily wage. A talent was a unit of weight for gold or silver, about 75 pounds.  To add up to one talent of value, you’d need 6,000 denarii. So a debt of 10,000 talents would be 60,000,000 denarii. After having a debt of 60,000,000 denarii expunged by the king’s grace, the man harshly refused to show any leniency with a peer who owed him 100 denarii. How often are we like that? We forget how merciful God has been in his dealings with us, and we show little or no mercy in our dealings with others.

Sometimes too, we withhold forgiveness because we have invented our own infractions and cut people off for arbitrary reasons. We are like the early church folks who were judging each other for which days they observed as holy days or what foods they did or didn’t allow themselves to eat. Christ’s apostle needed to remind them: “Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgment on those who eat; for God has welcomed them. Who are you to pass judgment on servants of another?” (Romans 14:2-4).

We get carried away in self-asserted certainties and punish people for going against our expectations—which may be far from God’s own commands. Some real-life examples:

  • A father hasn’t spoken to his adult son for decades, because the son joined a church of a different denomination. Is that man so sure God is present only in his own type of congregation and in no other places?
  • A friend has not forgiven a friend for accepting a position and moving to another part of the country. Resentment set in about being “abandoned”—as If the Lord God had issued commands that the friend should have remained forever in one place on this earth.
  • A student severed a friendship from a classmate who stopped letting them copy homework assignments, blaming the classmate when they failed the assignments. 

Sometimes we are the ones sinning, holding grudges, creating or maintaining divisions. Yet we blame it on the other persons rather than admitting our own insincerities and inconsistencies.

I once attended a church elders meeting, where one elder came to the meeting concerned about all of the “deadwood” in the congregation (members who had not been to worship for a while). He had a proposal. He had prepared samples of a series of letters to send to people. The first letter would warn them about the dangers of not attending church. If they didn’t respond or return to worship within six weeks, the church would send the second letter, with stronger warnings. Then, if they didn’t respond or return to church within another six weeks, the church would send the third letter, informing the recipients that they would be excommunicated. All of this was planned without making any sort of personal outreach effort to those members: no phone call, no personal visit. Just a series of three form letters, then their names would be removed from the church roster. Thankfully, the other elders on the board spoke up before the pastor even had to say anything. This was not a gospel-oriented idea. This was not how they were going to do ministry. Still, the fact that the idea was raised says something about the way we sometimes feel—ready to write people off, be done with them, rather than continuing to extend forgiveness.

I wonder how such a series of letters would have affected a church member I met in a different congregation. When I came to the congregation as the new pastor, I made an effort to visit each member’s home. There were, of course, plenty of members who had not been active in church for some time. One woman had been absent for years after having been very active previously. When I asked what had caused her to pull away, she described how it had happened after she and her husband had lost a child. The experience strained their marriage. She and her husband eventually divorced. Immediately after the child’s untimely death, church members showed her much caring and concern. But as time went on, she grew tired of facing people in the congregation, who always greeted her with such a sad look, always so worried about her. It was almost pushing her to continue to dwell in the grief and loss and pain. She just couldn’t handle that anymore, so she stopped coming. She’d visited some other churches along the way, but had not felt at home yet anywhere else. It was good that I went to visit her, and it was time that she was ready to return and become part of that church family again. 

We don’t always know what is going on in someone else’s mind or heart. We should not rush to judgment about their seeming lack of expression of faith, or sins or troubles they seem to keep stumbling into. Far better that we be patient with them, with everyone—as we would want people to be patient with us—when struggling through something damaging or difficult.

Think of the Lord and his dealings with Israel. The Lord did not support their patterns of wandering and straying from his side. Yet at the same time, he was always in a posture of forgiveness, ready to embrace his people when they returned to him. Think of the picture Jesus gave us of the father of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32). The father kept  waiting for his son to come to his senses, to want to be home. He was watching and hoping every day for that change of heart. That is the stance of our God. He is not glad that we are doing wrong or living in senseless ways. He is always ready to grant us a place at his table and a celebration when we are back in his home and his family.  As one of our most treasured psalms says of the LORD’s way of forgiveness:  “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always accuse …. He does not deal with us according to our sins …. As a father has compassion for his children, so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him” (Psalm 103:8-13).

We pray that our ability to forgive will grow more and more like the compassionate heart of the LORD our God.

Having said that, let’s remember something else about the Lord’s way of forgiveness. Giving the gospel to someone who keeps wallowing in their own mud, refusing to repent, is like tossing pearls before swine (Matthew 7:6). While our usual failing is that we are too slow to forgive, there are also times when Christian people can be too quick to forgive. Excusing those who aren’t aren’t really ready for forgiveness can be harmful. We are seeking real restoration in our relationships, not simply sweeping hurts and abuses under the rug. 

Let me offer an example, from a social worker in a domestic violence shelter. This was in the Bible belt; the majority of women who sought shelter there from brutal abuse were deeply religious persons. Most of the staff were not church people, though, and they were frustrated by a pattern they were seeing. The religious women believed they had to forgive immediately. The minute their man would say, ‘I’m sorry,’ they’d go back to him. The shelter would see them again within days or weeks, beaten up worse than the last time. According to Domestic Shelters.org, most women return to an abusive relationship six or more times, for various reasons, repeatedly subjecting themselves to the violence. At this Bible belt shelter, the averages were driven even higher by the religious conviction, “‘I must forgive,” pulling women back to their partners prematurely. In her work at the shelter, the Christian social worker of my acquaintance was asked to offer her perspective and counsel these women. She began pointing the women to the meaning of the word “repentance,” which indicates a change of heart and mind. It is a transformation, a turnaround, moving in new directions. As John the Baptist emphasized, those who repent will “bear fruit worthy of repentance” (Matthew 3:8).  The women also needed to be reminded of how Joseph dealt with his brothers. Joseph’s brothers had sold him to slave traders when he was a teenager (cf. Genesis 37).  By God’s providence over many years, Joseph went from being a slave in Egypt to becoming a government official, second only to the pharaoh himself. Then, when a famine hit, Egypt was the only place with storehouses of food. Joseph was in charge of the food program. When Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt to buy food (and didn’t recognize Joseph), he put them through quite an ordeal to test them. He wanted to verify that they were different than they had been. He didn’t rush to reunite with them. He made sure they were repentant first. So, when he did reveal his identity to his long-lost brothers and welcomed them with open arms, the reunion was real. He had the whole family come down to live in Egypt, including his aged father. Then, when father Jacob died, the brothers became worried that Joseph’s kindness to them would stop, that he had only been showing them mercy because of their father’s presence. But Joseph again reassured them and spoke kindly to them. Joseph modeled his forgiveness after the forgiveness of God himself. (Cf. Genesis 50:15-21.) God had brought about good for Joseph, and Joseph was glad his relationship with his brothers had been healed. 

When it comes to forgiveness, much of the time we are too slow to forgive, too arbitrary, too stingy. We are too easily like the unmerciful servant Jesus described, wanting to take people by the throat and demand, “Pay me what you owe me!” (cf. Matthew 18:38).  Other times we are too quick to forgive, too enabling, too carelessly handing out pardons while the crimes are still being committed.  Our Lord, Jesus, has instructed us to “be as wary as serpents, and as innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16 NASB). Learning how to forgive is an uphill journey for us. But with the Spirit’s wisdom guiding us on, we can learn how to forgive so that relationships are fully healed, families and friends genuinely reunited. 

May God give us the wisdom to be careful when unrepented sin must be confronted with strength, and also the grace to give wholehearted forgiveness to fellow sinners in need of mercy.  May we show mercy to our fellow servants of God, our King, in the same way that God, our King, has shown mercy to us (cf. Matthew 18:33). 


Scripture quotations, except where otherwise indicated, are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Posted by David Sellnow
16
Jan
2023

Eager to connect others to Jesus

We point others to Jesus, sharing what we have seen in him

[For the second Sunday after Epiphany]

Bible reference to read:  John 1:35-46

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In the book, No Wonder They Call Him the Savior (1986), Max Lucado told of a teenage girl who ran away from home to the big city. (See “Runaway Daughter” for the  full story.) Her mother put pictures of herself throughout the city, with this note on the back of each photo: “Whatever you have done, whatever you have become, it doesn’t matter. Please come home.”  

Sometimes it’s the simple messages, spoken with love, that mean the most. The same can be said about our outreach to others in Christ. Church researcher Win Arn and his organization surveyed more than 10,000 people, asking how they came to faith in Christ and membership in their churches. They found that:

  • 3 to 5 percent reported that they simply walked in and stayed. 
  • 3 to 4 percent listed a church program as what drew them to church. 
  • The pastor accounted for 4 to 6 percent.
  • Special needs were listed by 2 to 4 percent.
  • Visitation by church representatives accounted for 1 to 2 percent of church members.
  • Sunday school brought in 3 to 6 percent.

That leaves about 75 to 85 percent of lay people in churches that weren’t drawn by one of those things.  How did they become part of the church?  They say friends or relatives are the ones who connected them to Christ and church (Christianity Today).

That says something to each of us. It’s not the person with the theology degree. It’s not the person with years of training who has the best chance of reaching those you care about. It’s you, each of you. We are eager to connect others to Jesus, knowing that relationships built on Jesus are relationships that always endure, that never end. We point others to Jesus and his love. We share with them what we have seen and experienced in Jesus.

We see this process in action in the heralding work of John the Baptist and the calling of Jesus’ first disciples. John the Baptist, preparing the way for Jesus, pointed people to him and said: “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” John used a simple description that meant much to the people of his time. In the religious context of Israel, a lamb was an animal for sacrifice. It was a payment for sin that God had said he would accept. Lambs brought to the temple for sacrifice were regular reminders of the hope the people had, awaiting the Anointed One they were expecting God to send. The Messiah would be the ultimate sacrifice, the one to stand in the place for all people. His life and his sacrificial death would atone once, for all. When John called Jesus “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), the meaning was clear to all who heard him. Jesus is the one designated by God the Father as “the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2).  Jesus is our substitute. Jesus is the sacrifice. Jesus is our Savior.

If we are to communicate the message of Jesus to others, this is something for us to keep in mind. Our message need not be a deep doctrinal treatise full of points and subpoints, with footnotes and a bibliography of all our research. The central gospel message is very simple:  Whoever you are, whatever you have done or whatever you’ve become, it doesn’t matter. Jesus gave himself in love for you. He loves you now, still, and always. So please come home to him.  That simple message, spoken in love, is powerful. Each of you can give that message to those you love and those in your circle of acquaintance. You can point to Jesus just as well as any prophet or preacher could do.

What was the reaction when John the Baptist pointed to Jesus? We’re told what at least two men did. Two disciples (Andrew and John, son of Zebedee) heard John say this about Jesus, “and they followed Jesus” (John 1:37).  Notice that John the Baptist was glad to see those who had learned from him go to follow Jesus. He wasn’t trying to gain a following for himself. Those of us who know Jesus aren’t focused on how many people we can get to follow us into our own particular churches or ministries. We simply want to connect others to the joy and truth we have found in Jesus. We want others to follow Jesus too, wherever he might lead.

Image attribution: TheHymnSociety.org

Andrew right away “found his brother Simon and said to him, ‘We have found the Messiah’” (John 1:41). Jesus gave Simon a new name, “Cephas” (in Aramaic), or Peter (in Greek) which means “rock.” Jesus was going to be the rock of stability and hope for Simon Peter as well as for Andrew and for all whom Jesus would call. When you come to know the solid ground of faith that is found in Jesus, you want everyone else to know the same. Being brought to Jesus means to be drawn up “out of the miry bog,” the sinking sand of all the false hopes in this world, and have our feet set upon a rock, making our steps secure (Psalm 40:2). Andrew was urgent about sharing that with his brother.

The same urgency to lead others to Jesus was felt by Philip, the next apostle that Jesus called. When Jesus found Philip and said, “Follow me,” right away Philip found his friend Nathanael and told him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote. … Come and see” (John 1:44-46).

All of these individuals were disciples Jesus was going to train to be apostles. They would be leaders of the church that Jesus was establishing. But do you notice? They did not wait to complete their years of seminary training with Jesus before they started sharing the good news about him. Sharing the joy and salvation of Jesus is not something you have to wait until you’re an “experienced” Christian or a trained church worker before you can do. Any of us can be active in sharing Christ’s joy daily with others. 

I once was part of a congregation that wanted to do outreach to their community, so they formed an evangelism committee. The committee’s first decision was that they needed to train for the task. It was a noble thought, but the committee kept training and training and training, in a room by themselves at the church, for month after month. They never felt like they knew enough, never felt confident enough to go talk about the faith with others. So while they had gathered with the intention of being an outreach committee, they never actually got out the door. They kept convincing themselves they weren’t ready yet.

We do better if we think of the familiar song, “This Little Light of Mine” as a picture of our witness for Christ. If you are holding the light of the gospel in your hands, like holding a candle, when does that candle start giving off light?  As soon as it is lit. A candle that has been burning a long time does not necessarily burn brighter than one that has just begun to burn. You can be shining your light all around your neighborhood right now, day by day.  Sure, you can also keep training (as Jesus’ first disciples did) to gain greater understanding of the truths revealed in Jesus. But you need not wait to be a witness until you have some sort of degree or certificate in theology. You know what Jesus has meant to you. You can share that news and point others to him, as Andrew did with Peter, as Philip did with Nathanael. Each of them shined their light right away, and lit up another flame.

What Andrew and Philip did was nothing extraordinary. They simply shared what they had experienced in Jesus with a family member, with a friend. What we do for our friends and family and neighbors need not be anything more extraordinary than that. Share with them. Invite them. Simply introduce them to Jesus and what he has meant in your life. Like Andrew, like Philip, we have found the Christ, the Savior. He has made us his disciples, his followers, his friends—a relationship that will last forever. May God’s Spirit be with you and me as we share with others the good news we have found in Jesus. As the apostle John (one of those early disciples of Jesus) later said, we tell others “what we have seen and heard so that [they] also may have fellowship with us … [and] with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ …  so that our joy may be complete” (1 John 1:3,4).  

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Scripture quotations, except where otherwise indicated, are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Posted by David Sellnow
28
Aug
2022

Humility = Service (part 1)

Thinking of others, not just of ourselves

  • The thoughts for this post and another that will follow next week stem from readings for Pentecost 12, August 28, 2022:  Proverbs 25:6-7, Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16, and Luke 14:1, 7-14.

If you are familiar with the TV show, The Price is Right, you know the call to bidder’s row: “Come on down! You’re the next contestant on The Price is Right!”  What would you think if someone barged down the aisle, uninvited, and insisted, “No, I am the next contestant; I should have been the first contestant; I should always be first in line”?

A more everyday example: I was driving recently on a section of city freeway that was under construction. For several miles, the right lane was marked “exit only” for each upcoming exit, causing congestion in the remaining lanes. In spite of that warning, in between each ramp, some drivers would speed down the right lane, then cut back into traffic at the last minute, not exiting.

That sort of behavior gets us mad. But let’s be honest. Isn’t such behavior something we all exhibit quite often? Are we always considerate, patient, humble, kind, looking out for others’ well-being?  Or do we do our own end-arounds, trying to bypass others, putting ourselves ahead even if it means leaving others behind?

Too often, a lack of humility shows up in our hearts and lives. Let me describe some scenarios.  You’ll recognize what I describe–but don’t be too quick to point a finger at some neighbor or relative or coworker. Think first of ways that these descriptions also might apply to things you feel or say or do.

  • There’s a group of people at a meeting. Everyone’s input is important, because everyone is affected by the decisions made. But Mya Myview thinks her viewpoint is the most important. Everyone else must eventually agree with her, or she’s not happy. She speaks up first. She speaks up loudest. She interrupts and contradicts others when they offer their thoughts. When the decision doesn’t go her way, she storms out of the room. Mya much needs a healthy dose of humility.
  • Bob Bossy isn’t the boss, but he acts like he is. At work, he hovers over his colleagues and tells them how they should do their jobs. At home, on any project he works on with his wife, he’s going to control the planning and the process. He’ll tell her exactly what to do and how to do it–although most of the time she has as much know-how as he does, sometimes more. But he has to feel like he’s in charge. Bob can’t be humble; he’s too busy being bossy.
  • Sophie Selfie knows, she just knows, she’s the most talented person on the planet. At her high school, she expects to have a solo at every choir concert. She assumes she should get the lead role in the school play. She posts videos of herself online all the time, showing off her singing, her theatrics, her tips for hair and makeup and wardrobe that are all just perfect. She’s offended and angry that her number of followers on social media isn’t growing as fast as she deserves.  Sophie Selfie thinks humility is for lesser people than herself.
  • Roger Rightly is certain he is right with God, certain his religious studies have made him an expert on all that is true. He’s certain that others must practice religion just as he does if they want to have God’s blessing. He writes letters to the editor of the local newspaper, condemning the immorality of those who don’t live up to his standards. If someone that he deems unworthy visits his church—maybe with clothing or piercings or jewelry he thinks inappropriate, or not matching his mindset as to what families should look like or how gender norms should be—Roger makes sure they feel uncomfortable and unwelcome. His mission is to make the world line up with the lines he has drawn around religion and belief and behavior. Roger Rightly lacks mercy and doesn’t understand humility.

Likely you could share other examples–about people you’ve known …. or confessions from your own life. Humility is not natural to our spirits. One way sin has affected all our spirits is how self-absorbed and self-indulgent and self-promoting we all can be. We think highly of ourselves. We look down on others. We prioritize our own desires. We neglect others’ needs, sometimes even trample on others.

Thank God we have a Savior who didn’t think of his own place in the universe first, but put us ahead of himself.  “Christ Jesus … though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross. Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name” (Philippians 2:5-9).  It is because Christ was willing to humble himself on our behalf that we have life, we have hope, we have salvation. And Christ calls us to follow him on the path of humility. Christian faith asks of us: “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:3-4).

God’s proverb says: “Do not put yourself forward … or stand in the place of the great; for it is better to be told, ‘Come up here’ than to be put lower in the presence of a noble” (Proverbs 25:6-7).  Rather than pushing and promoting ourselves, we do well to serve others diligently and humbly. When we do, then we may be called upon to take up roles of leadership or positions of responsibility. As Jesus emphasized, “All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” (Luke 14:11).  The leaders Christ seeks have hearts like servants. “The greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like one who serves” (Luke 22:26, cf. also Matthew 23:1-12).

When we practice humility, we engage in service to others. Rather than thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought, we “think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned” (Romans 12:3).  We recognize that within the body of Christ, each of us has individual gifts and abilities (cf. Romans 12:4-8).  As “good stewards of the manifold grace of God,” we will “serve one another with whatever gift each of [us] has received” (1 Peter 4:10).

Humility means not pushing others around, but lending a helping hand. Humility means not insisting on my way, but listening to the thoughts and concerns of others. Humility means no inflated views of how good or right I think I am compared to others, but recognizing that only by the grace of God I am who I am (cf. Ephesians 2:8-9, 1 Corinthians 15:10).  When we have that perspective, we will go forward in a path of service to others, knowing that we are what God “has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life” (Ephesians 2:10).

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To be continued …

Next time:  Acknowledging our ability to be of service to others

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Posted by David Sellnow
15
Aug
2022

Timelessness

“With the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day.” (2 Peter 3:8)

Life has been hectic for me lately. For more than two months, I haven’t paused long enough to post thoughts to this blog. Perhaps no one noticed, because whoever might be reading this might have been busy too!

Today’s task for me was to catch up on some spring cleaning. (Yes, I know, it’s late summer.)  I came across some thoughts I once wrote on the subject of this life’s time pressures. Rereading those thoughts did me some good. If you’ve been feeling time-pressured, maybe these thoughts will be good for you too.

Back when my kids were young, I recall a night we thought we had just enough time to gather the family for a quick meal. One child was finishing sports practice; another was on the way to a game; a third needed to be at play rehearsal; the youngest would tag along in one direction or another. We had a 45-minute window when all of us could be together for supper. But the pickup window at the burger joint was slow. Instead of sitting down at the table, we had to grab and run, in separate cars, gulping our food on the way here and there.

As I drove my daughter to her rehearsal, a song came on the radio–a song about heaven. It was a country song … and not a particularly good one. It made me think, though: How wonderful heaven will be! No chasing, no racing, no pressures, no deadlines. Instead, endless peace. We will rest from our labors (Revelation 14:13) with no more recurring cycle of day and night (Revelation 21:23). Time as we know it will cease, and “we will be with the Lord forever” (1 Thessalonians 4:17). Eternity with God will be so tranquil that the floor of heaven is described as being “something like a sea of glass, like crystal” (Revelation 4:6).

Sometimes people picture the peacefulness of heaven as though it will be dull or tedious. Cartoons lampoon harp players sitting on clouds, looking as if they have nothing else to do. Don’t think of heavenly rest that way. We will be active. We will be lively. We will be engaged in constant service in God’s presence (Revelation 7:15). We will be singing the praises of Christ for his salvation (Revelation 5:12). We will see God’s face and will reign with him (Revelation 22:4). Life will be calm, but it won’t be tedious.

What we will be missing from heaven–(and we won’t miss such things!)–are the problems and pitfalls associated with our current time-bound existence. Temporal life has become defined by mortality and decay, by conflicts and complications. Sin has made our world that way (cf. Romans 8:19-23). Everlasting life will have none of the things that cut short our time here. “With the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day” (2 Peter 3:8). Yet there will be no feelings of boredom, nor any sense of time dragging. Never will we experience the anguish of an awful episode that seems like it will never end. “Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more” (Revelation 21:4). That old order of things will have passed away.

At the moment, in the here and now, I’m a month behind in sending a birthday card to one of my siblings. I’m scrambling to keep up with tasks at work, logging overtime hours because our agency is experiencing staff shortages (as are many human services agencies these days). In the non-momentary infinity of the hereafter, we’ll all have ample hours always. (What are hours there?)  We’ll have limitless capacity to associate with one another in the heavenly family and uninterrupted opportunity to be with our Father. I’m glad for all the activities of my family and associates on this earth, glad we find time to enjoy many good things in our world. Yet I long for the timelessness of heaven and the even stronger bond of faith and hope and love that will exist for us with one another there.

David Sellnow

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Scripture quotations, except where otherwise indicated, are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

A version of this devotional writing was published in Forward in Christ (January 2005).

Posted by David Sellnow
08
Jun
2021

Treasured companions

The blessing of animals

Rabbits have taken up residence in our gardens. I don’t mind. Yes, they eat the tender tops off some of the plants … but we protect the ones we want to protect, and we can share the others. On occasions, deer have treated themselves to hostas and lilies in our yard, and that’s okay too. Visits from wildlife are joyful intrusions into our residential space. Well … not all wildlife. Even Saint Francis of Assisi (1181-1226), famous for his warm regard for all creatures, regarded mice and vermin as “agents of the devil.”[1]   I tend to agree on that point.

There are lots of tales told about Saint Francis, everything from preaching sermons to flocks of birds to calming and taming a ravenous wolf. Those stories have the ring of legend to them, fabrications to further Francis’ fame. What appears to be genuinely historical, though, is that Francis had a strong affinity with nature and animals, that seeing animals suffer upset him deeply, and that “the beauty in nature and the animal world should lead to worship and praise of God” (Samuel Gregg, Acton Institute blog, October 4, 2019).

The animals that are closest to us–as pets in our homes–especially give us reasons to thank God for their companionship. We rightly treat them “just as if they were members of the household” – so said even someone as stalwart as the moral philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804).[2]

We lost a precious animal friend in our household recently. His personality was always that of a puppy, even when he was past ten years old. But then he fell ill, and it hurt to see him hurt. When all the efforts at veterinary intervention failed to remedy his ills, it hurt even more (for him and for us). We sorely miss him. We are reminded of how blessed we were to have him as a part of our family. I’m sure others of you feel the same way about your beloved pets.

Animals may not be spiritual beings in the same way we are, but as Saint Francis observed, they are “manifestations of an unforced, innate spiritual presence.”[3] God shows us aspects of his own character in the world and the creatures he made for us. We appreciate and praise the Lord for all the gifts given to us in the animal kingdom and the natural world.

Bible thoughts to consider:[4]

  • Praise the Lord! … Praise him, all his host! … Praise the Lord from the earth! … Mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars! Wild animals and all cattle, creeping things and flying birds! … Praise the Lord!  – Psalm 148: 1,2,7,10,14
  • I am God, your God. … Every wild animal of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the air, and all that moves in the field is mine.  – Psalm 50:7,10,11
  • O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. …  These all look to you to give them their food in due season; when you give to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.  When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.  – Psalm 104:24,27-29
  • Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds.  Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your judgments are like the great deep; you save humans and animals alike, O Lord. How precious is your steadfast love, O God!  – Psalm 36:5-7
  • Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. – Matthew 10:29-30

[1] Augustine Thompson, from Francis of Assisi: A New Biography (2012), quoted in Crisis Magazine, June 4, 2015.

[2] Immanuel Kant, quoted in “Hume and Kant and our Obligation to Non-human Animals,” by Christine Korsgaard,  Australian Broadcasting Corporation, November 27, 2018.

 [3] John L. Murphy, writing on Blogtrotter, August 12, 2013.

[4] Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Posted by David Sellnow