Gladness Past, Gladness Present, Gladness Future--Eternal Gladness!

"You have put gladness in my heart, more than when their grain and new wine abound."  (Psalm 4:7)

An old high school football teammate brought by a highlight film of our state and national championship team of 1958.  That was a half century ago!  At the end, they took film of us individually.  I was 15 once.  Now, well, it's only on film.  There's an old ballad called, "Early Autumn."  It was early autumn, 1958, when the dreams of a young boy came true.  But that "early autumn" was so very long ago.

Some people think that I get an idea, then right a devotional about it.  I don't have to do that.  My daily reading is full of life-experience-Kingdom illustrations.  Today is the first of the month; hence, our text-- "You have put gladness in my heart...."  That glorious season 50 years ago was filled with great accomplishments, great victories, "gladness in my heart."  But I can tell you honestly, very honestly this morning, that the "gladness in my heart," the gladness of the Faithful and True Jesus, has, never has, and never will have an equal.  Even back then, amidst all the happiness and glory, I knew.  I knew it was fleeting.  It's something like the old Roman adage, "All glory is fleeting."

You probably have great memories.  But you know as well as I that if your greatest memories, are in the past, it is a very bad state, filled with depression, regret, even despair.  Don't let that happen.  I have run into football "has-beens," people who constantly live in past glory days.  That is a very sad place to be.  The greatest "gladness in...heart" for all of humanity is the gladness which Jesus Christ is.  It is in the eternal-now gladness.  The Message paraphrase says, "I have God's more-than-enough, More joy in one ordinary day than"___________
I'm telling you that you can just fill in the blank with anything this world has to offer.  It brought back great memories to see those plays, breaking tackles, scoring touchdowns, being a part of a national championship team.  You can believe this or not, but
          "I've thrown it all away
          That I might gain a life in you
          I've found, all else is lost compared
          To the joys of knowing you
          Your beauty and Your majesty
          Are far beyond compare.
          Take the world but give me Jesus
          You're the treasure in this life
          Take the world but give me Jesus is my cry."

Father, in Jesus' Name, I sing this song to You.  Amen.
         


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Define Your Theme and Stick to It

"You crazy Galatians!  Did someone put a hex on you?  Have you taken leave of your senses?  Something crazy has happened, for it's obvious that you no longer have the crucified Jesus in clear focus in your lives.  His sacrifice on the cross was certainly set before you clearly enough." (Galatians 3:1-- The Message)

I used to play in a jazz band, and must confess I still like jazz.  I know Christians are not supposed to, but, well, there it is.  I like what they call "cool" jazz, a jazz which takes a theme of a song and does not stray too far from it, not the screaming, saxophone-and-trumpet-all-over-the-place stuff.

This is what has happened to the modern church.  It was handed a great theme, "the crucified Jesus in clear focus," then took off with something which Timothy, Bernard of Clairvaux, Hus, and Wesley would not recognize.  Gutter jazz, my maternal grandfather used to call it.  Gutter "church" is what I call it, a "church" which "someone put a hex on." 

Earlier this morning I saw a commercial for Bibles which said, "Check out our Bible selection for men, women, teens, kids, students and couples."  This is what the modern church is attempting----- a Bible for everyone, a church for everyone.  The Holy Spirit is still asking the same question of the modern Church as He did the Galatians in 3:2ff, "Let me put this question to you:  How did your new life begin?  Was it by working your heads off to please God?  Or was it by responding to God's Message to you?  Are you going to continue this craziness?"  Paul was speaking about the Galatians' reliance on law for their salvation.  Today, perhaps, it is gimmickry, making the Gospel "relevant," whatever that means.  Don't succumb to the attempts to improve on The Theme.  Stay to it.  "Play" it for the whole world to see/hear.  "This Christian life is a great mystery, far exceeding our understanding, but some things are clear enough:
     He appeared in a human body,
          was proved right by the invisible Spirit,
               was seen by angels.
     He was proclaimed among all kinds of peoples,
          believed in all over the world,
               taken up into heavenly glory." (1 Timothy 3--The Message)

Father, in Jesus' Name, thank You for "so great a salvation."  Never let me try to "improve" on it.  Amen.




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The Doctrine of Imputation (Or) Oh No, Not That!

"And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness."

(Romans 4:22--KJV)

 

Doctrine became a bad word to modern "super charismatics."  But what replaced it?!?  Regardless, the doctrine of Imputation was one of the great Church revisions of the Reformation.  It teaches us that you are not righteous because your parents had you baptized as an infant.  It teaches that only when we surrender our lives to Jesus Christ does His Righteousness become our Righteousness.

 

The KJV is the only translation which uses the term, "imputed."  Modern translators apparently thought the term was outdated, but it is used quite frequently today in business.  The encyclopedia says, "dividend imputation is a corporate tax system in which some or all of the tax paid by a company may be attributed (or 'imputed') to the shareholders by way of a tax credit to reduce the income tax payable on a distribution.  It reduces or eliminates the tax disadvantages of operating a business in a company."  The term is also used in statistics.  "Imputation is the substitution of some value for a missing data point or a missing component of a data point."

   

The Doctrine of Imputation teaches that Jesus imputes His Righteousness to me.  Maybe twenty-first century technology can teach us something modern religionists won't--- Jesus substitutes my valueless righteousness for His Valuable Righteousness, the "missing component" in my life.  He "eliminates the disadvantage of operating" a life without Him. 

 

Father, in Jesus' Name, I thank You that You are no longer the "missing component" in my life.  You eliminated the "disadvantage."  Amen.

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How Small The Blue and White Marble

"Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.  One generation shall praise Your works to another, and shall declare Your mighty acts."  (Psalm 145:3, 4)

To praise His greatness, His unsearchableness, His works, His "mighty acts" to others--------------- no greater desire, no greater ambition, no greater prayer.

My desktop photo is "Earth Rise," a photo taken of the Earth by one of the Apollo astronauts above the moon surface. It is the first thing I see when I log on in the morning, a blue and white marble, suspended in the darkness of space, in the endless universe.  In my life time man has been able, for the first time in human history, to see himself from a "heavenly" perspective.  How small we are.  How small our blue and white spaceship, circling a star called our sun.  I have read that "orbited by its companion, the Moon, the Earth travels at more than 65,000 mph," that "the earth moves round the sun in an oval track, that has an average radius of 93,000,000 miles...."  This journey takes one year.  I look at this and say with David, "What is man----------?"

And just as "unsearchable" is His "mighty acts" of our salvation and redemption.   Jesus found me as a hopeless, lost, Hell-bound sinner.  He took me to His Cross, spilled His Blood, died, was buried, rose from the grave, and took His Precious Blood, along with me, bathed, cleansed, purged, and washed in His Blood right into the Holiest of All in the Heavenly Tabernacle, "which the Lord pitched, and not man," right to the Mercy Seat------------------ How small the blue and white marble.

Father, in Jesus' Name, Earth, the Universe, The Cross, saving me----how "unsearchable...Your mighty acts."  Amen.   
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"Things Too Difficult For Me" (Quote From the Giant Slayer)

"O LORD, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty; nor do I involve myself in great matters, or in things too difficult for me." (Psalm 131:1)

Out text is a problem for some.  We have a saying in America, "He got in over his head."  Now I know that in the last 40+ years there has been a movement in the Church which tells everybody that our text is "Old Testament," and they can now do everything and anything.  "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me," and "nothing shall
be impossible for you."  These "God-Breathed" Words are often used to justify the "I-can-do-anything" gospel," the gospel of the proud, the "eyes haughty," the "great matters" people, and those who are into "things too difficult for me," translated, "I really don't need anyone else," or, "I'm my own church."

Paul said to the Corinthian Church, "But we will not boast beyond our measure, but within the measure of the sphere which God apportioned to us as a measure, to reach even as far as you."  Paul knew his "sphere and limitation."  I have run into more "burn out" cases, more backslidings, more "falls" because of a failure to heed the warning of the Beloved Apostle and David, the Giant Slayer.  There is indeed the impossible conquering power in Jesus Christ.  But there is no impossible conquering power to the person who is outside "the measure of the sphere which God apportioned to us...."  So, keep a humble heart, eyes "fixed on Jesus," and let the "great matters" and the "too difficult" for the proud.   

"God, I'm not trying to rule the roost, I don't want to be king of the mountain.  I haven't meddled where I have no business or fantasized grandiose plans." (The Message)---   And may it ever be so!-- In Jesus' Name, Amen.


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