Jesus Had A Living Will

And the LORD said to Aaron, You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the people of Israel. -- Numbers 18:20

This has always been the hardest thing for me.  I am fine with mysticism until breakfast.  Work has to be done.  People have to be fed.  I'll do my praying before I go to bed.  Living "by faith" can look a lot like laziness, indolence, and indifference.  I believe that I have to be responsible, sensible and practical.  I love the word "canny".  I'm going to write up my obituary one of these days, and I'm going to put that in it:  he was a canny old hillbilly.  In fact, that may be my entire obituary right there. 

Most of us, when we get on in years, start thinking about the kind of inheritance we will leave to our children and grandchildren.  I am sorry that my generation has done such a lousy job preserving the culture and liberty that we enjoyed growing up.  There is not much I can do for the nation as a whole, but I will try to pass on the values and the traditions that marked the America I remember.   

Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that a people yet to be created may praise the LORD (Psalms 102:18).  I want the grandkids to know that our hope and strength is in Christ alone and not in material possessions or government programs, that safety and security and prosperity are never to be bought at the price of liberty, and that, nevertheless, we can live free anywhere under any conditions if we choose to abide in Him.  

I will try to build an inheritance of something other than a few notes drawn on the Federal Reserve.  I hope to leave behind some things of genuine material value,  like a place out of the wind and rain, space to raise a cow or two, some fruit trees and vines, dirt that will grow corn and beans and potatoes, maybe a little silver and gold, and .22 ammunition.  Books.  Lots of knives. 

I have no way of knowing, though, what tomorrow will bring.  I may lose every tangible possession that I have.  The one thing that I can't lose is the Truth.  Far more important than passing on houses or lands, gold or guns to the generations to come is passing on our "portion" in the Lord.  What is our hearts is what we need to make sure is given to those who will follow us, and the best way to do that is to invest it now in those that are around us.  The more of Christ we give away, the more we have to give and the more there will be for those "yet to be created". 

I cannot change my pragmatic nature, but I can take time each day to turn away from the demands of my physical existence, to look to the Lord, and to acknowledge Him as the One to whom I belong and as the Pearl of Great Price -- my only true possession.  All other things will slip from my grasp, will elude me in the end, as sand, as dust, as the wind that blows where it will.  Treasure in heaven is eternal and sure.

Angels and Heirs

See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. -- Matthew 18:10

Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation? -- Hebrews 1:14

On OC last Friday, I expressed some reservations about guardian angels.  My issue is not with regard to the existence of angels for which there is more than sufficient Scriptural evidence.  I am less uneasy talking about angels than I would be talking to an angel.  It seems to me that getting too involved in the business of angels might be somewhat like the attitude Gildor the Elf had of wizards:  Do not meddle in the affairs of Wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger. 

We are also warned:  Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind (Colossians 2:18).  This is probably the source of most of my reluctance to attempt to communicate with or call upon angelic beings.  Then, too, one must beware of the potential for deception by the agents of the enemy:  And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14).  Yet, this is also a strong argument for seeking angelic assistance.  In yesterday’s post, I talked about two kinds of wisdom, worldly as opposed to spiritual. 

People may be led astray by the practicality and functionality of earthly wisdom.  We may also be deceived by “insights” with come from demonic sources.  One may be -- in as sense -- inspired by bad angels just as by good.  Since Christians are indwelt by the Holy Spirit Himself, we might conclude that only those outside of the Body of Christ would be susceptible to demonic enthusiasms.  I think that is generally the case, though a Christian who is lax and lukewarm might be more vulnerable to such an attack and more likely to accept demonic insights as genuine.  We are aware, also, that simply recognizing something agrees with Scripture is hardly proof that it is not a satanic suggestion – see the temptation of Christ.  Give the Devil his due.  He knows the Bible. 

And, speaking of Christ’s trial in the desert, we are reminded that after Jesus had faced the Tempter, angels came to minister to Him (Matthew 4:11).  The same thing occurred in Gethsemane (Luke 22:43).  Jesus could have called upon angelic help to escape from those sent to arrest Him:  Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? (Matthew 26:53).  He refused to do so because it was necessary that “the Scriptures be fulfilled” (v. 54).

Being no expert in this area, I can only follow along with what the Bible says and with the advice of wiser and more sanctified heads than my own.  Angels will strengthen us when our strength and ability to resist is weakened.  When physical trials overwhelm us, we may call upon their aid in extremity.  When we are confused by the attacks of the enemy, we may call upon angels to defend us and speak truth to us. 

A very practical application might be if we find ourselves involved in conflict, our own anger and defensiveness tends to blind us to reason and spiral us deeper into hurt and anger.  I have no doubt that demons can feed off pain and rage.  We can ask that our angel or angels step in to fend off the enemy and help us get back in control.  Too, if we see someone else in a similar situation, we can ask that angels be allowed to defend them against demonic instigations.      

Angels are our fellow servants.  The fallen ones, like fallen men, seek their own glory and exaltation.  The holy and good angels live only to serve God, to glorify, honor, worship, and exalt Him.  They do not desire our worship, but they will joyously come alongside in our hour of need because we have been adopted as heirs of salvation.

Not What I Had in Mind

Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them.  Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you.  Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. – Joshua 1:6-7

I could use this same title for every post.  As I often say, I am a much nicer person on the internet than I am in real life.

Faith, hope, love – I was thinking about that, rather bitterly, last night as I was filled with anger and frustration.  My first waking thought was one of hopelessness.  Then I decided to get up and have a cup of coffee and see if I couldn’t make it until sundown.  There is no way I can get everything done today that needed to be done yesterday.  I’m like the guy in “Sixteen Tons” – “another day older and deeper in debt”, except mine is “further behind”.  I don’t think I have accomplished anything tangible in the last year.  In other words, the call to “good success” is not really ringing true this morning.

I do not like to fail.  I do not like to be exposed as anything less than perfect – or at least competent and strong.  I am not inclined to yield the field.  I suppose there is such a thing as a tactical retreat.  It could be, I suppose, that the courage I need is not the courage to press on, but the fortitude to admit my vulnerability, the strength to acknowledge that my strength and ability have limits. 

The meek, Jesus said, shall inherit the earth, but flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom.  We are heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ Jesus (Joshua), heirs not of a bit of soil but of the spiritual reality of which Canaan speaks.  This inheritance is sealed and guaranteed by the presence of the Holy Spirit.  Those who followed Joshua typified the death of self by crossing the Jordan River at flood stage.  The Lord held up the waters of Jordan, as He had done on the Red Sea, so that the people crossed, in effect, under the water.  

Every day – especially lately, it seems that the world is poking and prodding me, wounding my pride and then pouring salt in the wounds.  Overmatched, hounded, hurting and hopeless, I fight on – not out of courage but out of fear.  It seems as if I have been here before, and maybe I have.  Israel passed through the Red Sea to find the Law before passing through Jordan to find grace. 

I hope no one else is as hard-headed as I am, as arrogant and defiant, yet cowardly when it comes to living a surrendered life.  It comes down, perhaps, to an idea that if God gives it, it is His; if I earned it, created it, built it, it is mine.  There’s nothing wrong with owning something in the material world – so long as we recall that even our natural strength and ability is from our Father and that even what we can hold in our hands, we hold only as stewards for Him.  

 But on the other side of Jordan – that place we are promised, that Life that is waiting for us to step into, there is no room at all for my inflated estimation of myself.  Pride has to die right here, and if I try to hang on to even a shred of it, it will pull me down to hell.  Under water.  I have to go under, but I can’t stay.  I can let my old nature pull me to the bottom, but it has to stay there, and I (not I but Christ) have to rise.  I can’t hold my breath much longer. 

Rocky Top

LORD, You are my portion and my cup of blessing; You hold my future. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance. – Psalm 16:5,6

On the television show Bonanza, the Cartwrights often traveled to California from their home in Nevada, but their trips were almost always to San Francisco. I do not remember the episode or the context, but Hoss once traveled down to southern California. He remarked on the barrenness of it, and someone asked if he had ever seen California. He replied that he had been to California many times, but he doubted that anyone would ever want to live in such an ugly place as Los Angeles. I remember the first time I left the Spring green hills of the Ozarks driving to LA. My thoughts were much like those Hoss expressed. Yet some people love the high desert or the coasts, the plains or the mountains, or even the cold, frozen north lands. I have heard people call swamp land in central Wisconsin “God’s Country”. I have heard others say the same thing about desolate plains around Midland and Odessa, Texas or places along the Gulf Coast where the mosquitoes could be mistaken for buzzards if they flew a little higher. I think they’re all crazy. Everybody knows God lives just a little northeast of Cedar Gap, Missouri. Even the devil keeps a weekend place over the border in Arkansas.

When it comes to landscapes and vistas, “home” makes up for a lot of deficiencies. In that sense, we can all understand the psalmist when he says, “I have a beautiful inheritance.”

In other realms, we may not be so inclined to think well of the heritage bequeathed to us. Many of us look back on regrettable scenes that closed doors or burned bridges. We may have reason to wish that we could live some pivotal moment again, making a different decision in a second pass. Our boundary lines may seem a little restrictive, and the ground we are left to till may seem rocky and hard.

Still, we are here. Here. And the opportunity to experience joy and peace is ours at this moment precisely because the lines are drawn as they are.

If I have regrets, sitting where I am today, they are not for me, but for the trouble and pain I may have caused someone else. Every hurt and failure that I suffered I now see as a stone of remembrance, a landmark establishing the lines of my inheritance, bringing me to this place which the Lord has given me. There are others, no doubt, with more spacious abodes where the soil is deeper and richer and better watered. Still, I have my little place with its small, but inexhaustible spring of living water, and it will produce all that I need, in abundance.