What Ruins Our Fellowship with God?

When we become Christian, we enter into relationship with God. We also enter into fellowship with God. And the extent to which we enjoy our relationship with God is determined by our fellowship with Him.

There were times, while I was growing up, that I didn’t enjoy my relationship with my dad. It became quite painful because something had happened to our fellowship. And in the Bible we read of the Prodigal Son who was in the far country. He was still his father’s son, yet he was starving to death. The father was a wealthy man, but the son was unable to receive the blessings of the relationship. Why? Because something had happened to their fellowship.

If we are not enjoying the relationship that we have with God, perhaps it is because something is wrong with our fellowship with Him. How do we maintain our fellowship with God?

A Consciousness of Sin

Sin is the only thing that can violate our fellowship with God. We need to examine our lives in the light of God’s Word. I have found from studying not only Scripture but also the history of God’s revival movements that when God begins to do a new work, He begins by making us painfully aware of our sin.

Our prayer should be, “Lord God, make me sensitive to the things in my life that are contrary to Your will.” The most helpless condition that we can get into is when we say we have no need to draw close to God. In the dark you can’t see the dirt on your hand, but the closer you draw your hand into the light, the more obvious the dirt is. If we say that nothing in our lives needs to be adjusted, it’s a sure sign that we’re walking in darkness.

A Confession of Sin

Confession means “to say again.” It isn’t necessarily begging God to forgive you, but agreeing with God about sin and saying the same thing about sin that He says about it.

Once a woman said to me, “Oh, I wouldn’t call what I do ‘gossip’. I just have a talkative nature.” I replied that God will forgive gossiping if we admit it’s a sin, but God won’t forgive a “talkative nature.”

A woman with a severe moral problem had been seeing a psychiatrist about it. When she came to see me, I asked her what the psychiatrist had been telling her. She answered, “He said that it’s really just a personality trait − I ought not to be bothered about it.” I told her that nowhere in the Bible does it say that God forgives a “personality trait.” But He does forgive adultery if we admit it’s a sin.

Until we are willing to say the same thing about sin that God says about it, we will have no deliverance.

A Cleansing from Sin

Sometimes we want God to forgive us because we don’t want to be punished and we don’t want to turn off the tap of His blessings − but we aren’t interested in being cleansed. Why? Because we like the sin.

But I don’t believe that God forgives without cleansing. Are you willing for God not only to forgive you of that sin but also to cleanse you, to take the sin from you, and to remove the stain? It’s not enough just to say, “Lord, I’m sorry, I want You to forgive me.” You must allow Him to take the sin away, to cleanse you: “He that forsaketh his sin shall have mercy.”

Continual, Complete and Confident

Confession is to be continual. If, at the moment we become aware that we have sinned, we confess-we agree with Him-there is immediate forgiveness. God restores the fellowship.

Confession also is to be complete. The Bible says, “If we confess our sins” – did you notice that “sins” is plural? We need to be specific, confessing our sins one by one.

And confession is to be confident. Some Christians are unable to forgive themselves of forgiven sin. Counselors report that a major problem with their patients is guilt. We go to God and confess a sin, and then we still carry it around.

I counseled a couple with marital problems, and the wife said, “Every day for the past year I have asked God to forgive me.” What she was saying was that God had not forgiven her, and so God was a liar. But the Bible says that if we confess, He will forgive. This woman was not offering a confident confession.

The Holy Spirit of God will not convict us of sins that He already has forgiven . The devil goes to our past and dredges up sins and hassles us with them, and he says to us, “Remember what you did? You can’t pray.” But if we have confessed those sins, God has forgiven them; those sins have been washed away.
The confidence in our confession comes from two places: the authority of Scripture, and the advocacy of the Savior.

The authority of Scripture. The Bible says, “If we confess our sins, he …will forgive.”3 In Psalm 103 we read that “as far as the east is from the west,”5 that’s how far God has separated our sins from us. East and west never meet. Under the authority of Scripture we know that when our sins go under Christ’s blood, we’ll never meet them again in this life or at the Judgment.

The Advocacy of the Savior. The Apostle John wrote that Jesus Christ is a good lawyer.6 He is in good standing with the court: He is called “Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.”7 And He already has paid for my crime. What an unusual lawyer this is! He doesn’t plead innocence for us. He doesn’t plead justifiable circumstances for us. He pleads His blood. He says to God, “Father, look at the nail prints in My hands and feet. I don’t plead their innocence-I plead My blood. I’ve already paid for every sin on the list.”

And the verdict? “There is now no condemnation.”8 How can we be certain? We have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous. And the presence of this Person and the power of His propitiation ensures our forgiveness: “The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.”9

1 Luke 15:11-16.
2 Cf. Proverbs 28:13.
3 1 John 1:9, NIV.
4 1 John 1:9
5 Psalm 103:12, NIV.
6 1 John 2:1-2.
7 1 John 2:1, NIV.
8 Romans 8:1, NIV.
9 Cf. 1 John 1:7. Bible verses marked NIV are taken by permission from The Holy bible, New International Version, copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society, Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Darkness Visible

Christmas, 1972, I gave my wife a gold watch. On the back was inscribed:

To Kaye, with love
1972
“A Very Good Year”

I didn’t know it was the last good year we would have for quite a while.

Early in 1973 our 15 year-old son, Ronnie Jr., seemed suddenly, as it appeared to us then, to change personalities, as though he had become a different person. His school work began to suffer; he became moody, one day feeling on the top of the world, the next, angry, withdrawn, irritable, hostile – the next day loathing himself for having acted so badly.

We had no idea what had been happening, what was happening, to our son. At first, we assumed it was a spiritual problem – or just normal teen-age rebellion.

For the next three years, in spite of our prayers and best efforts, the situation worsened.

After a suicide attempt, we admitted him to the psychiatric ward of a hospital for two weeks of tests. He was diagnosed with manic depression, a mood disorder caused by a chemical imbalance in the blood, which recurrently plunged him into deep depression. His illness was bipolar, which meant he alternated between elation and despair.

The doctor put him on a new miracle drug, Lithium, plus Stelazine and Elavil. He improved immediately. One of my most vivid and happiest memories was when Ronnie found out that it wasn’t his fault, that there was an illness making him act that way.

Encouraged by knowing what was wrong and that medicine and treatment were available, Kaye and I prayed with greater confidence. We had no doubt God would deliver our son; we had a number of promises we believed God had given us. I knew that one day Ronnie would enter the ministry (He had made that commitment when he was 13) and live a fruitful life serving God. Our nightmare was over. That was August 1975. Three months later, on Thanksgiving Day, he took his life.  And most of mine.

Everyone said we handled his death admirably, an inspiring example of faith. Surrounded by family and friends, tasting the sufficiency of God’s grace and overwhelmed by peace that passes understanding, we made it through those horrible days.

Being newcomers to tragedy, we assumed the worst was behind us. The most terrible thing that can happen to parents had happened, and we had survived.

This was in 1975 – before (to my knowledge) the deluge of how-to-books, Christian counselors and family seminars. In Christian circles, at least in mine, no one talked about suicide, depression and the grieving process. No one told us that regardless of how well we were handling things now, we had been traumatized by an unfathomable tragedy. There was no one to guide us through the grief process. If there had been, perhaps we could have escaped the things that followed. But I thought I was dealing with spiritual issues only.

The Dark Abyss

Early in 1976 a sense of foreboding and malaise began to settle on me. A quiet desperation took hold of my mind. As the reality of Ronnie’s death (no, not just death – suicide sank in, I decided I had outlived my happy days. The best was past. Regardless of how good things might be in the future, they could never be as good as they were in the past. I had unknowingly entered the abyss of depression.

You have to understand that to a Christian, especially a preacher, brought up in the ultra-conservative Bible-belt Christianity of the South, depression was something you didn’t have. And psychiatrists and psychologists were doctors you didn’t go to. There was no such thing as a “Christian” psychologist (still isn’t, according to some).

Meanwhile, the depression dug in. I began to withdraw more and more, neglecting family and ministry obligations. It is an anguish to know that for those years (from 1976 to 1986), when my children were growing up, I was not there for them.

I was not there, period. I had relocated, living in my own benighted world, coming out only to preach, which became increasingly difficult to do. Panic and anxiety became frequent occurrences, times when I would seethe with rage – not an angry rage, but a revved-up sensation that I could feel in my teeth and gums and finger tips. I often found myself standing in the middle of a room, paralyzed, staring at nothing. In the middle of sermons my mind would momentarily go blank. Preaching became a painful experience.

The knowledge that genetics often play a part in manic depression cause me to wonder if I was to blame for Ronnie’s illness and death and if I would come to the same end, and end, I admit, that became increasingly appealing. Oblivion seemed the only escape from the pain.

What do you do with such an unspiritual affliction? Deny it? I tried that. Defy it? I tried that. I tried everything – prayer, praise, rebuking the devil, pleading the blood, binding Satan – I would have worn garlic around my neck if I had thought it would do any good.

Darkness Visible

But it was only when my desperation for help overcame my fear of stigma, that in 1986, with the strong encouragement of my wife, I walked into a room that had Doctor of Psychiatry painted on the door. As I opened the door, I thought about the old line, “Anyone who goes to a psychiatrist is crazy.”

About three years ago I was weed-eating my Dad’s lawn and reflecting back on the past few years of my ministry. It occurred to me that one word had come to characterize it of late. It was not my word, but the word of those who listened to me preach: encouragement.

I didn’t set out to become a preacher of encouragement. It just sort of happened. But the remarkable thought I had while I chewed up my dad’s weeds, was that all those sermons that were encouraging people, were prepared and preached during the darkest days of my life. Go figure.

Whatever You Ask in My Name

Right then I tore off a ticket and gave it to that boy — in Steve‘s name. He really had no right to a ticket, but because my son had asked me to do it, I did

If I arrived home some evening, walked into the living room, turned on the light switch and nothing happened, I would know immediately that there was something wrong with my part of making the electricity work. Either I haven’t paid the bill, or there’s a burned out circuit or a burned out bulb. But it would be ridiculous for me to say that electricity was a failure. I don’t pass judgment on electricity simply on the basis of my personal experience.

In contrast, it is interesting to see the assumptions of a great many Christians today who, when the experience of their daily lives and ministries doesn’t correspond to what the Bible promises, will say, “Well, Jesus must not have meant what He said” or “We are just not to expect God to work today as He worked then.” However, I do not get that idea from the Bible.

If our experience is not corresponding to what the Bible says, then there is something wrong, not with the Bible, but with our experience. So when I come to a promise in the Word of God that is not being fulfilled in my life, I begin to ask the Lord, “How can this become real to me?”

Some time ago I had to come face to face with one of the most fantastic promises that Jesus Christ ever made. It is found in the Gospel of John, chapter 14, verse 12:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father.”

First of all, just to think that in the life of each Christian, from the youngest to the oldest, is the potential of equaling the works of Jesus — that in itself is enough to put you on shouting grounds. But then Jesus said: “And greater works than these shall he do…” And so there is also the potential in the life of each Christian to exceed the works of Jesus. Why? Because He was going to leave the earth, no longer to be bound by time and space, and would then return in the person of the Holy Spirit to live within them.

There have been people who thought that Jesus’ promise meant that we would build greater organizations than He did. After all, Jesus started out with 12 men and ended up with 11. His little team was not much to boast about, so men look around at their gigantic organizations and wealthy denominations and say, “We’ve exceeded the works of Jesus.” That is not what Jesus meant.

Other people have said that Jesus was saying our influence would be greater than
His. And it’s true that the church today has a great deal more influence than the New
Testament church had. But though the early church didn’t have enough influence to keep
Peter out of jail, they had enough power to pray him out — and they did it! We have a
great deal of power. I don’t believe Jesus was talking about influence.

So what was He referring to when He said that we would exceed His works? I believe that the answer is found in the verse which directly follows that promise, John 14:13: “And whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” The two verses are connected by the word “and,” which tells me that Jesus meant for them to be related. The phrase “whatever you ask in My name”
causes me to be convinced that Jesus intended the greater works to be done in answer to believing prayer. Prayer is the key to miracles.

John 15:16 reinforces my conviction: “You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He may give to you.”

Prayerful
God has chosen us for two reasons: that we would bear fruit and that whatever we would ask in His name, it would be done. Being fruitful means that we must be prayerful. And so, the way that we are to equal and excel the works of Jesus is through a life of believing prayer that results in fruitfulness.

This principle is illustrated so profoundly by what happened on the day of Pentecost after the resurrection when, in one fell swoop, the disciples both equaled and exceeded the works of Jesus. They had been praying for 10 days. Then Peter stood up, preached and 3,000 people became Christians.

But the one thing that we are not doing in the Christian ministry today is praying. We concoct our little recipes of programs, then add a dash of prayer for favor. There are some important points that most of us have not yet learned: Prayer is not preparation for work: prayer is work. Prayer is not substitution for work; it is work.

I want to share with you four things about this matter of prayer that I believe are crucial to our understanding of how Jesus wants us to pray.

First, remember that in John 14:13 Jesus says, “And whatever you ask… “Often we wonder, “What can I pray for? How much can I pray for?” But when Jesus encourages us to pray, He always uses limitless language — “whatever you ask.” Some of us pray as though God had just declared bankruptcy, but I believe that He is honored and glorified when we ask for bigger things of Him.

Several years ago, when our church started a round-the-clock intercessory prayer ministry, I made a decision that no matter how big a request seemed to be, we would put it on the list and pray for it. The very first request had to do with a little boy who had drunk a bottle of cleaning fluid. The doctor had told the parents that if the boy lived, which he probably would not, he would be blind. The parents called and said, “Pray for complete healing.”

When I heard this, I thought, “Lord, I wish we could just start out with something easy. Those people are going to pray and that boy’s going to die, and then they’re going to be discouraged.” Can you imagine that? And I had just been preaching a series on the power of prayer. But we put the request on the list. Twenty-four hours later, the parents called and said that the child was completely healed. The doctor had called it a miracle, and God taught me a lesson.

In His Name
Second, Jesus emphasized “Whatever you ask in My name… “For many years I did not understand what that phrase meant. I knew it was very important because Jesus continually reminds us to ask in His name. I also knew that it was not just a simple formula tacked on to the end of a prayer. So I began to ask the Lord to show me what it meant to pray in the name of Jesus.

Several years ago we took our three children to a county fair with my brother and his family. Pretty soon we realized that what the kids were most interested in was the rides, so I bought a roll of dime tickets. I would stand at the entrance of every ride and as the kids would come by, I would give a ticket to each one. We were standing at the entrance to the tilt-a-whirl, and I had given out about four tickets, when right behind my son, Steve, came a boy I had never seen before, holding out his hand for a ticket! I wasn’t about to give him one of those tickets.

Then Steve turned around and said, “Dad, he’s my friend. I told him you’d give him a ticket.” Right then I tore off a ticket and gave it to that boy — in Steve’s name. He really had no right to the ticket, but because my son had asked me to do it, I did.

That day I began to learn that I can go to my heavenly Father and ask for the desires of my heart in the name of Jesus. And because of what Jesus is and what He did at Calvary, God answers. God never hears me because of what I have done or because of what I am; it’s always because of Jesus. And the Father will move heaven and earth in order to honor the name of His Son.

There are days when I’m not holy or faithful, but Jesus always is. So I come to the Father in His name, not my own name, and claim from the Father all that Jesus made possible through His death on Calvary.

Third, Jesus says, “And whatever you ask in My name, that will I do… “Notice that He didn’t say, “I will help you do it.” He said, “I will do it.”

When a person does not believe that God can and will do what He says, he limits God to his own ability and thinks he must help God out. You know, the world is not interested in hearing about what you’ve done for God the world wants to know what God has done for you.

Finally, Jesus says that He will answer “that the Father may be glorified in the Son. “That must be the motive of our praying. For example, God is not really concerned that I have 100 new people in my next service unless He can get glory through it — unless it is obvious that He did the work. When we pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, and God works, there’s no doubt about who has done it. You just can’t fake an answer to prayer.

About five years ago our church decided to have a pancake sale to raise money for our youth choir to take a $4,000 tour. But on that Saturday when I drove up to the church and saw it covered with signs and looking like a carnival, I knew we had made a terrible mistake. People were cooking and eating pancakes because they wanted to “help God out.” We raised $2,000 that day.

Believe God
The following Wednesday night I told my congregation that as long as I was pastor, we would never again have a sale to raise money. The Lord has promised to meet our needs. Then I said, “We are going to believe God for the other $2,000.”

That afternoon, I felt led by the Spirit of God to pray specifically that one person would be willing to donate the money. I got up off my knees wondering who it was going to be. At six o’clock I walked into the house and the telephone rang. On the other end of the line was a young girl who had been married about three months. She and her husband were just barely getting by. She told me that an insurance company had given her $3,000 after she had been in an auto wreck, that she still had $2,000 of that in savings and felt led of God to give that to the youth tour. Then she said that her husband felt the same way.

In my wildest imagination, I would never have thought that that young couple would give us the money. But God will always take the route that brings Him greater glory.

We raised $2,000 by pancakes, and $2,000 by prayer. After we sold pancakes I thanked everybody who had had a part in that and then I worried that I might have forgotten somebody. When we raised $2,000 by prayer, we just thanked the Lord and He got all the glory. Prayer works…when the motive of praying is that the Father be glorified in the Son.

In summary, if your life and ministry can be explained in human terms, then something is lacking. You need to come to the place where the only way to explain it is God.

The Toughest Lesson

I lost a friend recently.

Not to death. Not by choice. I lost my friend because of moral failure. Like myself, he is an evangelist and we have preached together in church conferences for years.  Together we have wept, laughed, prayed, and shared good times and bad.

When a mutual friend told me what happened, I refused to believe him. It was impossible—not just the adultery, but adultery with the daughter of one of his closest friends. The daughter that his friend had asked him to counsel while she was going through a divorce. This adultery had been on going for over a year.

He seemed repentant and begged forgiveness. We even spoke of restoration. I naturally assumed he would cancel his preaching engagements and voluntarily place himself under an accountability group for at least two years.

He agreed. Later I learned he had not canceled his meetings. As a matter of fact we were scheduled to share the platform for a conference in Colorado .

When I learned of his plans to preach at that conference, I explained to him and the conference leaders that I would not participate under the circumstances.  That is when I lost my friend.

Did I do the right thing?  I think I did.  Was I unreasonable?  I don’t think so.  You see, my friend had become the issue; the scandal attached to his name and ministry had suddenly become the focal point, not Christ. Before people could make a decision about Christ, they had to make a decision about the preacher. And when the preacher, rather than Christ, becomes the issue, the preacher must step aside.

Sexual sin

This is one of the awful consequences of moral failure—a shadow is cast upon the reputation of Christ and His message.

One of the hard facts we must face in the moral failure of a minister is that even after a period of probation under an accountability group, even after repentance and restoration, the reputation of the minister is still sullied. God forgives and forgets, but the world does not. In Robert Graves’ classic, Claudius the Great, the Roman Emperor says that a reputation is like an earthenware plate: “The plate is cracked: the reputation is damaged by a criminal sentence. The plate is then mended with rivets and becomes ‘as good as new’; the reputation is mended by an official pardon. A mended plate, or a mended reputation, is better than a cracked plate, or a damaged reputation. But a plate that has never been cracked and a reputation that has never been damaged are better still.”

The fallout attached to moral failure reaches beyond a man’s ministry – it brings devastation to the home and the family. A bank clerk, an insurance salesman, a doctor, a lawyer – adultery does not cost them their job (unless it’s with the boss’s wife). They don’t lose their income, their benefits, their pension, their standing in the community.  A minister however, loses all off the above.

I’m thinking of another minister friend, whose affair with his secretary nearly cost him everything. He was forced to resign. At 50 years old, he has not been able to find another ministerial position. He and his wife lost their medical benefits and future participation in the retirement plan.

His entire family life had been in the church. His wife had to resign her position of ministry in the church. Their circle of friends was church members and most of those relationships were severed. Whereas the children of a doctor might never know of their father’s infidelity, my friend’s children knew—as did all their friends. The humiliation to his wife and children was almost unbearable.

His marriage survived we’re still friends.  But every time I see him I am reminded of the high price paid for his folly.

Of course, I would never do anything like that. That’s what I always say when I hear of the moral failure of another minister. Quickly as I say that, I remember Paul’s warning to the Corinthians: “Let him who thinks he stands take heed least he fall.” I Corinthians 10:12 NAS I recall that while Peter boasted that he would never deny or leave his Lord, he did exactly that!

Another casualty in the moral war said, “You know which is the worst day of the week for me is?” As a preacher whose ministry had been destroyed by an adulterous affair, there was a deep sadness in his eyes and his voice was flat, dead.

“Sunday,” he said. “Every Sunday I am reminded I cannot do the one thing I was born to do – preach.”

These men have joined an ever increasing congregation of failed ministers, men who no longer can do the very thing they were born to do. For everyone we hear about there’s another hundred that we don’t hear about.

Preventive measures

Frankly, it’s frightening. Any man who thinks he is beyond moral failure is a fool. Even Paul admitted the fragility of the ministry when he said, “But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: least that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”— (Corinthians 9:27) Literally, he said, “I beat my body and make it my slave.” In other words, preventing moral failure isn’t easy. It requires violent vigilance. Let me suggest some preventive measures.

Admit you are in danger

There is no place of absolute security. Remember Demas? You would think that being a co-worker of the great Apostle Paul, that laboring hand- in-hand with greatest of Christian hearts would provide ample security from worldliness. While at the same time he was laboring with Paul, Demas was loving this present world (II Timothy 4:10 ). It is to the elders of the church that Peter is writing when lie warns his readers of the roaring lion who is seeking to devour them. I Peter 5

Be willing to admit your vulnerability.  Unfortunately, the ministerial role often places men in situations where they are sexually vulnerable, especially when counseling women. This calls for a big dose of self-awareness.

In a word, RUN FOR YOUR LIFE! “Flee,” was Paul’s counsel to Timothy. You are not strong enough to subdue this temptation. Run from it mentally, or physically, flee the source of temptation.

Beware of self-deception. Realize ‘you are not an exception. It can happen to you. If it does, you will suffer for it. So will your family, and your friends, and your Lord.

Anticipate pressure

One minister said that when he checked into a hotel he knew that in all likelihood there would be a little black box on the TV set that made pornographic movies available. So when he checked in, he had them turn off the box so he couldn’t use it. For this man, leaving the black box on would have been making provision for the flesh.

Develop avoidance strategies

You are in a war. You need to have a battle plan. It is too late to plan a strategy once the enemy has assaulted you.

Never counsel a woman without your wife or secretary present. I know one pastor who insists that every staff member have a large window in his office door.

Stay away from pornography. Never ride alone in a car with woman. When I check into a hotel one of the first things I do is place a pictures of my wife on the dresser. We talk on the phone every night while I’m on the road.

Love your wife

In talking with ministers a large number of them claim that their greatest help in overcoming sexual temptation is a strong marriage, specifically, a good sexual relationship with his wife. I’ve talked with some fallen ministers who blamed their failure on their wives lack of sexual interest.

Take every thought captive

Paul’s speaks of “taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” (II Corinthians 10:5 NAS) To the Philippians he wrote: “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things.” (Philippians 4:8 NAS)

Be accountable. Develop and accountability relationship with another minister, or a layman in your church. Since others experience the same pressures and temptations, they can offer encouragement and support. Being vulnerable and transparent is the key to success here.

Enlist this accountability group as prayer warriors. When I see the President on TV, I am always impressed with the number of Secret Service agents surrounding him. As was so vividly demonstrated in the 1981 assassination attempt on President Reagan, it is the job of the secret Service Agents to protect the life of their President, even if it means throwing themselves in the path of a bullet. That’s what spiritual leaders need. A Secret Service of intercessors -spiritual bodyguards- who will protect them with the shield of prayer.

A final word

“What do you want written on your tombstone?” Just like that. Out of the blue, I asked my wife, suspiciously, “Why do you want to know?”

“Oh, preachers are always quoting Spurgeon’s epitaph or Moody’s—I just wondered what you wanted on your tombstone.”

Truthfully, I have never thought about it. ‘‘I’ll think about it,’’ I said.

I did think about it. I came up with one. It’s not original but I can’t think of a better one. Actually, it ought to be the epitaph of each servant of Christ: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” (II Timothy 4:7) More than just a tombstone, those words should be a touchstone to help prevent us from moral failure. My epitaph? How about,” I Finished My Course – and I Did it Under par.”

Braving the Rain

I want to thank all of you who BRAVED THE RAIN last Sunday morning to attend church. Such sacrifice and suffering humbled me. I can imagine how it must be to awaken to the petrifying noise of rain. Dedication hangs in the balance. The silky voice of the Tempter whispers in your ear: “Don’t be foolish! Why risk your life?”

Suddenly, your shoulders snap to attention, the jaw sets in determination. “Get thee behind me, Satan!” you shout, “and hang the crease in my pants.” Then, counting not your life dear unto yourself and side-stepping treacherous mud holes, you splash through the deluge to your waiting car.

Demonstrating raw courage, you navigate your four-wheeled ark over three blocks of slippery streets, while the rain slams against your windshield like silver bullets. Surely, this deserves a place among those other heroic exploits of the faithful: “they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tortured, THEY BRAVED THE RAIN.”

Reaching the church, you once again take your life into your hands and with nerves of steel, plunge from the drenched car and over soppy sidewalks to the dry haven of the classroom.

As I stand at my window watching this spectacle, my heart swells. I hear distant applause strange applause–wings clapping?

I can hardly preach. I feel I must write a new edition of Fox’s Book of Christian Martyrs. How the world must have gasped in unbelief and admiration as they saw you BRAVE THE RAIN.

If that’s not in the book of Acts, it ought to be.