eternity

East-West Separation

October 2, 2017 by Beryl Smith Leave a Comment

“The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide: neither will He keep His anger forever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him For He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust.” (Psalm 103:8-14)

If you take a few moments to Google the idea of the universe expanding, this is what you will find:

The American astronomer Edwin Hubble made the observations in 1925 and was the first to prove that the universe is expanding. He proved that there is a direct relationship between the speeds of distant galaxies and their distances from Earth. This is now known as Hubble’s Law.

The galaxies outside of our own are moving away from us, and the ones that are farthest away are moving the fastest. This means that no matter what galaxy you happen to be in, all the other galaxies are moving away from you. However, the galaxies are not moving through space, they are moving in space, because space is also moving. In other words, the universe has no center; everything is moving away from everything else.

There is no separation in a person’s life like the separation from the companionship of a loved one. Different causes produce the anguish from such a separation: military service, emotional estrangement, divorce, incarceration, and death. These and others can cause a sadness and almost unbearable, crushing depression.

If we were only animals, separation would most likely not produce severe sadness. Some animal species are deeply affected by separation. The study of the African Elephant, as an example, indicates that the memories of these huge beasts are deeply affected by the death of one of their herd. But we are quite different from any of the animals God created.

We humans were created for a unique fellowship and communion with our Creator. The fact of sin—disobedience to God’s law by our first parents, produced a progeny of lawbreakers who through history have illustrated alienation from God. We have been alienated from that common-union for which we were created—the union of God’s Spirit in our spirit. That’s what originally made Eden perfect.

It is the Christian religion that teaches reconciliation of man with his Creator by means of a mediator. The Scripture says,

“God wills that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth; for there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time” (I Timothy 2:4-5).

You know, I think that David the King knew this long before Edwin Hubble made his discovery. After his sins of adultery and murder, the Psalmist was granted to learn the spiritual principle that God’s forgiveness of our sins is easily depicted as being removed from us by His grace further and further from those acts whereby we sinned against God and our fellow friends. The records of our sins and failures might be kept in the memory of friends—especially those against whom we sinned heniously. They may be kept in the records held by civil authorities. With todays computer technology they can pull up every speeding ticket, every act of tax evasion, and display it right in front of us or others. Look how the investigating agencies are digging into the political machinations of our political parties. Emails….telephone conversations, you name it. You are on record.

But that’s not so with your moral transgressions against the God of the Universe, if you have repented and asked forgiveness from Him. Look what King David says:

The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.
The Lord does not always scold us; He doesn’t keep His anger forever.
He doesn’t always deal with us in accordance with our sins.
He doesn’t always give us the penalty we really deserve.
If we truly fear Him and repent of our sins He will show us mercy.
God treats us like a loving human father would treat us.
God knows everything about us—He knows every secret we keep.
God knows every weakness, every character flaw, and every evil motive.
And in spite of all that we have done to deserve His displeasure…
God is willing to forgive us and separate our sins from us “As far as the east is from the west.”

Think of it! Meditate on the fact. If the universe as we know it is expanding, then the distance between our past sins and failures are drifting further and further away from us. We may be tempted to hold onto our past failures; but God has removed and is continually removing our confessed and forsaken sins away from us. He does this in order that we might serve Him every day with a clear conscience and a desire to allow Him in His power and grace to live through us toward others for His glory and the benefit they might receive by our positive witness to His grace in forgiveness. Now that is the mercy of God! Learn it. Grasp it. Cling to it, and rejoice that you are His forgiven child.

Listening To Jesus

September 26, 2017 by Beryl Smith Leave a Comment

“If anyone hears My sayings, and does not keep them, I do not judge him;
for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. He who rejects
Me, and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke
is what will judge him at the last day.” (John 12:47-48)

“God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions
and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He
appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.” (Hebrews 1: 1-2)

Have you ever imagined what it would have been like to be sitting on the hillside where Jesus was teaching His “Sermon on the Mount?” Or what would it have been like to be the third person walking with Jesus on the road to Emmaus, hearing Him explain His mission to this world after He rose from the dead? I have. There is no greater source of information relating to Jesus Christ than the very words of Jesus Himself. If you want to know what Christianity is, go to it’s source: Jesus Christ, as recorded in the pages of Scripture.

As I look back over my life, I wish I could have known my mother’s father. Grandpa Clemens Thomas Diete was a graduate of both Berlin and Hanover Universities in Germany. He was a veterinarian surgeon, world traveler and, having joined Teddy Roosevelt’s “Rough Riders,” was a veteran of the Spanish-American War. He immigrated to America some time in the 1890s. Although he died two years before I was born, somehow I was bequeathed his medical bag and journal. It’s written in German. I don’t read German. And I never heard my grandfather speak. I hold his journal in my hands; but I cannot understand it.

The writer of the book of Hebrews tells us that God spoke to man in times past through His selected prophets; but in the Gospel age in which we live, God has spoken to us through His Son, Jesus Christ. But how am I to hear Him? Is His voice still audible? Can I count on Him to speak comfort, wisdom, guidance, and encouragement to me today? In over sixty-five years of following the Savior, I have found the answer to those questions a positive “Yes.” All I have to do was read with my eyes and hear with my spirit.

In their little volume “Jesus Said,” Ron Philpchalk and Phil Wiebe said, “No other individual has so affected the course of history. Yet He wrote no books, cut no records, produced no videos or music. The closest tangible link we have with Him is a few hundred words recounted by His close companions.”[1] Just what did Jesus say to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John that I can still hear and see with very own eyes? How does Jesus speak to me?

First of all we need to feast our eyes on every word He uttered recorded in sacred Scripture. It’s right there, if we would just take the time to read it. In His high priestly prayer, recorded in John chapter 17, Jesus prayed to the Father saying,

“I manifested Thy name to the men whom Thou gavest Me out of the world; Thine they were, and Thou gavest them to Me, and they have kept Thy Word. Now they have come to know that everything Thou hast given Me is from Thee; for the words which Thou gavest Me I have given to them.
(John 17: 6-8a)

Jesus said all that He needed to say. We have everything we need from His very voice to guide us in this world. The big question is, are we listening to Him?

Secondly, to go beyond the words of Jesus is simply to listen to Him speak through His apostles. Again, Jesus prayed to His Father,

“As Thou didst send Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world….I do not ask in behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word.”(John 17:18,20)

Jesus continued to speak through His apostles. And His words flow right off the pages of Scripture, right there in front of us. If we neglect to read and study the Epistles, we do so at our own peril. Such riches await our looking, our listening, our devoted study.

Perhaps the greatest tragedy in the Church of Jesus Christ today is the apathy of professed believers who have never shared the words of Jesus with another individual. The vast majority of professing followers of Christ have never developed an effective witness for Jesus. Rather than courageously witnessing for Him, they would rather hide their witness, except when they gather with other believers. Alas, the world sleeps in the darkness, while the church sleeps in the light.

My mother had always wondered whether her father, a Roman Catholic, had ever come to personal faith in Jesus Christ. When I was home from college one summer, staying with my parents, my mother gave me permission to search through my grandfather’s large, leather travel trunk. It had carried his personal things to China, the Philippines, and other foreign places. In it I found an amazing piece of paper, a Gospel tract, printed by the Gospel Track Society in Oakland, California. It bore a clear message of salvation and provided a line at the end for someone to sign their name signifying that they has accepted Christ as their Savior. On that line, in a familiar hand, was the name Thomas Clemens Diete.

Today people are searching for truth in many places: nature, science, psychology, world religions, focus groups and personal gurus. My life is being continually transformed as I listen to Jesus as He speaks through His recorded words. How I wish others could come to know Him. I think the time could never be more opportune to know what He said and to share it with people who are in darkness and need His life giving words.

To Ponder:

1. Do you know what Jesus said?

2. Do you perceive the value of the words of Jesus and His apostles?

3. Do you have a desire to know and follow His precepts?

4. Are you teaching your children what Jesus said?

5. Are you desirous of sharing Jesus’ words with others?

To Pray:

Lord, speak to me, that I may speak
in living echoes of Thy tone;
as Thou hast sought, so let me seek
thy erring children lost and lone
O teach me, Lord, that I may teach
the precious things Thou dost impart;
and wing my words, that they may reach
the hidden depths of many a heart.
O fill me with Thy fullness, Lord,
until my very heart o’er-flow
in kindling thought and glowing word,
Thy love to tell, Thy praise to show.
O use me, Lord, use even me,
just as Thou wilt, and when, and where;
until Thy blessed face I see,
Thy rest, Thy joy, Thy glory share.[2]

[1] Philipchalk & Wiebe, Jesus Said (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1995), preface.

[2] “Lord Speak to Me,” by Frances R. Havergal

Separation for a Purpose

November 8, 2014 by Beryl Smith Leave a Comment

“But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by His grace to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood.”

(Galatians 1:15-16 – NASB)

We get so busy we often fail to look back. We are such forward-looking people nowadays. Our culture breeds it in us. In olden days, before our time, a horse was a horse. Oh, the saddle or the carriage might have been improved; but the horse was still a horse. Today, next year’s auto models are in the showrooms before Halloween rolls around. But I think, like the Apostle Paul, we need to take time to look back.

When were we converted? What were the circumstances? Were we in high school, in college, or were we much younger? When did we fall in love and get married? Who or what were the purposes leading us in decisions we made. Did we seek and sense God’s leading, or has our life mirrored, like James declared, “just a vapor, that appears for a little while and then vanishes away?”

The Apostle, as he looked back, had the answer to life’s essence. He saw God’s purpose and stated clearly to the Galatian Christians: “God separated me from my mother’s womb and called me by His grace to reveal His Son in me.” He knew God’s purpose for his existence and he lived it out, until he was beheaded by the Romans. He had a total grasp upon the timing of his conversion and calling. He never strayed from it. Neither should we.

I think we would do well to ask ourselves, “Has anyone ever seen Jesus Christ revealed in my life?” Isn’t that what Jesus meant when He said to his disciples, “And you also shall bear witness…As my father has sent me, even so, send I you?” (John 15:27; 20:21.) It’s evident He still calls individuals for this purpose. And many, convinced of His call, faithfully witness to those who are spiritually dead, lost, and already condemned because of their unbelief.

Another, perhaps deeper question should haunt us. Have we ever desired and asked the Father and the Holy Spirit to display Jesus Christ through our mortal being to others? As we look back, to whom has Christ been revealed, as we’ve lived our lives at school, the family, the neighborhood, at work? Can anyone say one day, “Yes, it was you who showed me Jesus. I saw Him in you!”

What an awesome responsibility! What a life thrilling experience to have someone who can look back and say, “I saw Jesus in you!” Now, that deeply convicts and challenges me. If you ask God to use you as a witness for Christ, be ready to live Him before them, answer their questions, bear their burdens, and love them with the love that the Father gave you in Christ before you were ever conceived. I challenge you to think about that for a while.

And I challenge you because I know that each blood-bought saint of God may be asked this question: “I called you and sent you. What did you do?”

“Two little lines I heard one day,
Traveling along life’s busy way;
Bringing conviction to my heart,
And from my mind would not depart;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, yes only one,
Soon will its fleeting hours be done;
Then, in ‘that day’ my Lord to meet,
And stand before His Judgment seat;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, the still small voice,
Gently pleads for a better choice
Bidding me selfish aims to leave,
And to God’s holy will to cleave;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, a few brief years,
Each with its burdens, hopes, and fears;
Each with its days I must fulfill,
Living for self or in His will;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.”
C. T. Studd

Nightmare at Newtown

January 1, 2013 by Beryl Smith Leave a Comment

“The wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God. For the needy shall not always be forgotten: the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever. Arise, O Lord; let not man prevail: let the heathen be judged in Thy sight. Put them in fear, O Lord: that the nations may know themselves to be but men.” (Psalm 9:17-20)

Those are harsh words. We live in harsh times. With all of our affluence and entertainment, our rush to meet the coming Christmas Holiday, tragedy strikes and we are again shocked at the inhumanity of man. On December 14, 2012 the nation was stricken with grief at the horrible murder of 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

Bret Baier of Fox News said, “We can’t make sense of this…it doesn’t seem real.” In an interview with former Mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani declared, “There’s no simple solution…it’s an incomprehensible act.” The news media crews were “hungry for the details of the slayings,” according to one individual. Broadcasters were eager to grasp an explanation of what had happened. They stumbled to produce an understanding of why it happened.

In simple words Daniel Malloy, the Governor of Connecticut said, “Evil visited this community today.” In spite of many celebrating the birth of Christ, the Prince of Peace, our attention was turned again to evil and the sin of blatant, indescribable murder.

To find some semblance of an answer I think we need to ask some very pointed answers.

Who are we as a nation? Our founding fathers were believers in God. Fifty-three of the fifty-six signers of the Declaration of Independence were professing Christians. Today many of our political leaders are atheists, agnostics, and humanistic elitists who band together to push God out of our public places and the conscience of Americans. We tout multiculturalism, preaching tolerance for the beliefs of pagans who flood our shores, bringing their value systems and belief in gods who do not exist. As a nation, we have forgotten God and the Bible that He gave us to provide the building blocks of a government established on His providence.
What was Adam Lanza’s worldview? What were his personal beliefs? The national abandonment of our Judeo/Christian heritage and supplanting it with a philosophy of secular humanism has spawned a generation of individuals who have swallowed the lie of evolution that says we are simply an advanced primate and it’s up to ourselves to set our own values and concepts of truth.
What was Lanza’s home life like? A broken home..a missing father..and a culture that ridicules the concept of the Biblical family and glamorizes an immoral lifestyle. Another young life struggling for some form of identity without a father’s influence and a culture saying, “Do it your own way…the hell with tradition!”
What was the mental and emotional health of this troubled young man? Who were his heroes? What did he read? With whom was he associating and texting? Did he prescribe to the Goth subculture – to gothic rock, deathrock, post-punk, and darkwave? Did he struggle with concepts of eternity and loneliness? Had he “lost his connection” with the real world? Was he a “gamer,” spending hours immersing himself in the myriads of horror, war, and violent video games? When a nation kicks the Bible and it’s moral code – the Ten Commandments – out of its classrooms, what else will a troubled youth look to?

To attribute this tragedy to evil is to attribute this murderer’s act to his rebellion against the Law of God. His evil acts were sin, which is condemned by God’s Law. What transpired was an expression of the depravity of man. The taking of innocent life is the most heinous of all crimes of violence. Secular humanism, the foundational philosophy of American education, will continue to produce individuals who have no real grasp on reality. They will be guilty sinners in a culture that has turned its back on God.

The future of this nation rests in the hands of God. Without a return to the Christian Religion, this country has no hope of escaping the ravages of evil men. Without men with conviction to speak like this, we have no hope of survival as a civilized people:

“It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ! For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.” (Patrick Henry)

I urge you to pray for a revival of the true Christian Religion in the hearts and minds of ministers who appear too weak and insipid to proclaim the whole counsel of the Word of God. And I would encourage you to consistently pray for your Christian friends who struggle to rear their children in the “discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).

Too Much at Home Here on Earth

October 7, 2012 by Beryl Smith Leave a Comment

“All these died in faith…having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.” (Hebrews 11:13)

Life is strangely and wonderfully filled with ambiguities and mysteries. It’s always wonderful to come home, especially after an absence of several days. I love the adventure of unknown places in the world. I discovered that spending two winters two hundred and fifty miles above the Arctic Circle at Prudhoe Bay.

Yet, coming home holds some feelings of not really being where I want to be. Maybe it’s the wanderlust in me. I love driving in the countryside; and almost being three-quarter of a century old, the woods, lakes, streams and meadows seem lovelier than ever before. I get to feeling that I’m going to miss all this beauty when I go toes up and they plant me in the family plot.

But that gets me thinking of life after my demise – that is when my biological clock has ticked its last beat. Reminds of some wise words I read long ago…

“The world is too much with us; late and soon,

Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;

Little we see in Nature that is ours;

We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!”

I’m sure Wordsworth saw much more in nature than most of us. I hear his words in my memory…

“I wandered lonely as a cloud

that floats on high o’er vales and hills,

when all at once I saw a crowd,

a host, of golden daffodils;

beside the lake, beneath the trees,

fluttering and dancing in the breeze.”

Ah, the beauty of life all around us! But then I wonder, did Wordsworth see beyond this life? Did he gaze with the eyes of his spirit and wonder what the Celestial City might be like?

“And the city had no need of the sun or the moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. And the nations shall walk by its light, and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory into it. And in the daytime (for there shall be no night there) its gates shall never be closed; and they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it; and nothing unclean and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it; but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life” (Revelation 21:23-27).

As a professing Christian, I’m convicted of being too much with the world. I’m shamed by my spiritual shallowness. Jesus said,

“If he world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:18-19).

It’s truly a shame that we can’t be different enough to be hated by the world. I have friends and work associates who really don’t like me. I don’t always laugh at their jokes. They seem to try to get a reaction out of me by their coarseness. But they don’t hate me. I try to be a nice guy. It makes me wonder if I can say, like Paul,

“I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God” (Romans 8:18-19).

The creation groans to be relieved from the curse. And God’s people groan in spirit, longing also to be delivered from being “strangers and exiles on the earth.” Yes,

“we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:23).

Oh, to look beyond the glories of this present world to the ultimate glories that await those who walk in the footsteps of the Savior! Oh, to be able to confidently say with Paul,

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).

God give us such a vision!