A merry heart

A merry heart does good like a medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones. Prov. 17:22

Years ago, we used to sing this verse as a worship chorus in church.  In those days I did not have a merry heart.  I harbored a negative, broken spirit, so singing this chorus did nothing more than accentuate my dried bones. Life was tough and I did not have the strength to rise above my daily toil and cultivate a merry heart. 

A funny movie or song sometimes brought relief, but the relief lasted as long as the movie or song.  Laughter, in these circumstances, acted as a bandage over a wound that for a short time covered the pain.

What this proverb is getting at is that a heart filled with the intent to love and serve God heals. It is the medicine that binds our broken spirits and gives our mortal bodies health.

We can choose to acknowledge God as our Father who loves us supremely and does only what is best for us, or we can envision Him as a hard task master who wants to keep all the good stuff from us.  One attitude makes it easier to have a merry heart, the other makes us miserable.

A friend of mine told me a story of her grandmother who lived with a drunken, philandering husband.  This woman used to tell her daughters, “You have to make your own happiness.”

She had the strength to look past her husband’s wrongdoing and see the little happinesses God had for her each day.  What a lady!   

It is true that laughter can make us feel better for a time, but it is an inner joy, a merry heart, that heals for a lifetime. 

No better than the devils

I need to lose 15 pounds.  What’s the quickest, easiest, most noncommittal way to get the job done? A fat burning pill? A mysterious drink made from a recently discovered recipe found in an ancient Sanskrit manuscript? I’ll try it.  Eat less and move more for the rest of my life?  ...I think I will try the mysterious drink first.

Commercialism depends on our desire to have something good without having to work for it.  Whether it’s losing weight, becoming Atlas, or making a fast buck there are plenty of products on the market to “help” us achieve our desires.

How about our salvation? I grew up in a church community that taught that I was saved by grace alone, and not by works incase any man should boast in himself.  That was interpreted to mean works were not to be associated with salvation.  That combination was an abomination.

Over the decades I have seen this interpretation morph into something that has totally eliminated works from the picture and replaced it with feelings, and loyalty to whatever doctrines fit our personal beliefs.

Is it true that works are not needed to be saved?  Many would answer yes and point to the thief on the cross as an example of faith alone.  But if you look closely at the conversation between him, the other criminal, and Jesus, you see the man did many works from his enlightenment to his death hours later. The story goes like this:

And one of those robbers who were hanged, blasphemed Jesus, saying: If thou be Christ, save yourself and us. But the other answering, rebuked him, saying: Neither do you fear God, seeing you are condemned under the same condemnation?

And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done no evil. And he said to Jesus: Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Luke 23: 30-42

This thief worked in ways we seldom do today.  He sharply criticized the other man for attacking Jesus.  He put the man in his place by reminding him of his sin and his just punishment.  He stood up for Jesus declaring that Jesus was falsely condemned. He publicly acknowledged Him as Lord and Savior, and he asked Jesus to save him and permit him to be with him in the next life. 

Now there is a lot of work being done in a short time.  His work was essential to his salvation. If he had not worked, he would not have been saved.

Regarding the marriage of works and faith, James said in his epistle:

But some man will say: Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me your faith without works; and I will show you, by works, my faith. You believe that there is one God. You do well: the devils also believe and tremble. But don’t you know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

It’s a hard fact, but if we do nothing with our faith, we have none and we are no better than the devils.

Yesterday we were in church in South Dakota where my husband's children live.  The congregation is large and consists of many young families with many young children.  It was so beautiful to be surrounded with the sounds of babies and toddlers cooing and talking to themselves during the service.  This "surround sound" made me feel like I was in a field of buzzing honey bees!  

I wrote this column many years ago and is one of few that stand out in my memory, because the story had such a profound effect on me. 

Bless the children

Psalm 127: 3-5

“Behold, children are a gift of the Lord; the fruit of the womb is a reward.  Like arrows in the hand of a warrior; so are the children of one’s youth.  How blessed is the man whose quiver if full of them; they shall not be ashamed, when they speak with their enemies in the gate.”

We don’t generally hear of children as being a blessing these days, especially in the public sector.  We hear that they are expensive to raise, they are an inconvenience, they complicate our lives, etc.  Once the safest place for a baby to be is now be the most dangerous. Men and women along with their legislators decide if a child should have the right to exist in the womb, or if she should be treated as a tumor to be extracted by her parent.

For me this ongoing debate is surreal, especially after recently coming home from a funeral of a little boy who died in a tragic accident.  One minute he was happily playing in the yard, the next minute he was gone.  He left behind a large family whose parents have opened their hearts by adopting other people’s children.  He left behind seven siblings, some who don’t yet understand what happened.

He left behind a bright future, but he went to a brighter today.  He is home with Jesus and he is doing just fine.

Hours before he died, he was tinkering with his CD player. When his dad asked him what he was up to, he replied, “Nothing,” and he walked out of the room.  The following day when friends and family were together at the home of this boy, that CD player, which had been left in the living room the day before, automatically turned on and a song started playing.  The words that were sung were about a family grieving the loss of a loved one and how that loved one was home in heaven and how someday they would all see each other again.  “It isn’t good bye, it’s see you later,” the words of the song said.

Even though he was so young, God used this young man to be an arrow.  He was shot from eternity to the now to comfort his parents and family.  His life and his memory will speak to his enemies in the gate.

We all need to take a good look at those arrows God has given us.  Though at times they can be a trial to us, they give us the opportunity to grow in patience and wisdom.  We need to treat them like the gifts that they are.  We need to guide and nurture them.  We need to teach them well.

We must also remember that even though God has given them to us, they have been given to us, “for a time”, and they are His for eternity. 

I believe Lord, help my unbelief 

The father of a possessed boy had enough faith to bring his son to Jesus for deliverance, but admittedly lacked the faith to see it done. In my opinion, his reply to Jesus’ “if you believe” invitation was honest and productive.  “If I have faith, anything is possible?  Yes I have faith and no I don’t, so please help me too.”

Jesus must have liked the answer for the man’s son was soon well.  A crowd of people witnessed the miracle. They also saw countless other miracles done publicly during his ministry.

So why would people, after seeing the most amazing evidence that Jesus was who he said he was, turn on him in the end?  To answer that question for myself, I look in the mirror and see a person who also demonstrates such unbelief and waivering from time to time.

One day I experience astounding evidence that God is near and He is in control and I believe.  Another day, I see no evidence and I waiver.  On those days, I read my journals to refresh my memory of what He has done previously.  It helps. A lot. 

These entries remind me that He is always ahead of the game and always goes before me marking the path for me to follow.  They remind me that even though I let worry creep into my heart, He does not stop guiding and protecting. His love is not conditional.

But humans, especially crowds of humans, can be fickle. Our love and devotion too often need “baby keys rattled in front of our faces” as an evangelist once said. When God is doing what we want, we are singing Hosannah in the highest, and when He isn’t we are cursing Him.

In his epistle, James said the tongue is an untamed thing.  It is one of the smallest members of our body, but the most powerful.  It is like a rudder on a ship, steering it wherever it will. Whatever the tongue says, often the head and heart follow suit. 

When I doubt and waiver, the last thing I need to do is verbalize it.  My tongue will only make things worse, and if it is left unchecked I would eventually turn on my Lord as well. Instead, I follow the example set by the father of the possessed boy and honestly say,  

“Yes Lord I believe, but please help my unbelief.”

Be keen

We recently attended the funeral of a friend and during the ceremony, many of her favorite gospel songs were sung. When the hymn, How Great Thou Art was sung, I knew deep in my soul that soon our own little church choir would be singing that song.  I knew that when we did, it would be my friend’s way of saying “hello” to me.

Two days later, our choir director had chosen How Great Thou Art as our closing hymn.  

My grandmother passed away many years ago. For a couple of weeks after her funeral, there were times when something would happen during the day that would bare her “finger prints”.  It seemed as though she was telling me she loved me.

Last week I shared with a friend whose brother had recently died that we need to be aware of what goes on around us after a loved one leaves us.  We need to be keen about every little thing.  She agreed and testified that she too had recently received a little “hello” from her brother.

Scripture tells us we have a great cloud of witnesses around us and I believe these witnesses include our redeemed loved ones.  I believe they are alive and well and far more alert to what is going on than we who live under the weight of worry, cares, and life in general. 

Scripture also tells us in 1 Corinthians that we do not see clearly in this life, that we only see in a mirror dimly, but later in our new life we will see face to face.  Now we know only in part, but later we will know fully just as we also have been fully known. 

While we live, let us lay the groundwork that will help lead us to a happy eternity where we can be included in the great cloud of witnesses and see face to face our God who is the God of the living.

Post Script:  I do believe these thing which I write, but there is always a little part in me that says, “Ya, whatever.”  After I had written the above paragraphs, I put it aside to reread later. Then I opened my facebook page and the first thing that I saw was a photograph of my husband’s favorite sister.  She was smiling her mischievous smile as if to say, “I love you and tell Earl I love him so much. And tell him to look at his facebook page!”  She passed away a year and a half ago. Love you too, Dolly!