Thought of the Week

Eat or Die

Posted on by Shannon

In our cold winter months, we often think nothing is alive outside. While many animals hibernate until spring, tree squirrels are amazingly active all year. They’re interesting little animals that can entertain us by their acrobatics in the trees and along fences.

My research revealed that our black variety in Barrie are actually Eastern Grey Squirrels. Rather than dig a burrow in the ground and hibernate for the winter, they build tree nests, called dreys, and use that as a home base. They roam our neighbourhoods all winter to feed mostly on nuts scattered under the snow, or what remains on trees. They’re out in the worst weather hunting for food, and seem to thrive.

Now what’s my point in all of this? If a simple squirrel must work hard to eat, even on frigid winter days without fail, isn’t it true that we must work hard to feed on the word of God just as regularly? We feel like hibernating in winter too, but we have to get out and be with other Christians at Bible study times regularly. It takes work, inconvenience and determination, but that’s what we have to do to be strong and survive.

Paul told Timothy to be “constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following” (1 Tim.4:6). This is how he was to remain strong as a preacher. Peter urged Christians to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet.3:18). Where does that knowledge come from? By being taught by well prepared teachers, and by your own personal study. We must avail ourselves of both. Even in winter.

Nature knows it must eat or die. Do we?

– Tim Johnson

The Grinch

Posted on by Shannon

One of the most amusing characters this time of year is the Grinch, who despises Christmas and has a generally negative personality. People like him have been around for a long time.

Such a man was encountered by Paul and Barnabas in Acts 13 when they took the gospel to Cyprus and the household of the Roman Governor. In his employ was a magician named, ironically, Bar-Jesus (meaning the son of someone named Jesus), aka Elymas. When Paul tried to teach the gospel to the governor, Elymas kicked up an awful fuss and tried to “turn the proconsul away from the faith” (v8). He was a first-class Grinch. Paul said to him, “You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord?” (v9) That’s quite an indictment against this troublesome man.

How many times have people tried to turn others away from the good news of Jesus Christ? Or made crooked the straight ways of the Lord? We often see modern-day versions of Elymas, who do all they can to discourage others.

Sometimes we can have a Grinch-attitude by criticizing good things that may simply be new, different, inconvenient, or something that threatens the status-quo. I’m not talking about matters that are rebellious or un-Biblical, which are rightly rejected. But good and righteous things are sometimes criticized just because we don’t like to consider change.

The New Testament urges us to be positive, kind, open to that which is good, Biblical and helpful. “Encourage one another day after day” (Heb.3:13). “Encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing” (1 Thess.5:11). Faith has an open attitude to God and the brethren. “Put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience” (Col.3:12).

Let’s make sure the Grinch is just a fairy-tale, not a reality within us.

– Tim Johnson

Unfathomable Riches

Posted on by Shannon

The apostle Paul was ever aware of how unworthy he was to preach the gospel. In Ephesians 3:8 he said, “To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ.”

His was a world in which half of all people scraped along to make ends meet, and the other half strove for power and great wealth. Some would say things haven’t changed very much today. At one time, Paul was an accomplished Jewish Pharisee, respected for his strength and zeal and his opposition to the early church. He would not have been unfamiliar with wealth and power. But all that changed when he met Jesus.

In Paul’s estimation, he went from greatness to the very least of all saints. His pride of power and place no longer existed. He now lived to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. But God gave him the valuable and ironic role of preaching to the Gentiles, no longer the Jews.

But it was the substance of what he taught them that was so stunning: “the unfathomable riches of Christ.” They are riches that are so deep and complex that no man can ever wear them out or fully learn them all. They were mysteries that had been “hidden in God for ages,” but now revealed. Paul was given the work of preaching such marvels about Christ to people who had never heard them before.

Most of us live basic lives without much wealth to enjoy or power to wield. We wonder if society has passed us by. But Paul reminds us in Ephesians 3:8 that we have been given unfathomable riches that open up to us more and more every day, and will be fully revealed in the next life. “For 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” (Rom.8:18).

Like Paul, we are certainly unworthy of such profound things.

– Tim Johnson

A Christmas Tree Kind of Life

Posted on by Shannon

The wife of a friend of mine really loves Christmas. The Christmas tree goes up immediately after Halloween and stays up until late February. That’s a full one-third of the year! I like a nice Christmas tree too, but a month is enough for me.

Some people live a Christmas tree kind of life. They insist on extravagance, excess, lots of glitter and show, missing out on nothing. It’s an attempt to have the perfect life. Hardship and sacrifice don’t exist for them, for it doesn’t fit their lifestyle. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with some luxuries and comfort, but is that the point of living? Is that what Jesus died to give people?

We can learn from the mistakes of ancient Israel in Amos 4:1-3, where the wives of powerful men prodded their husbands for cash to spend on endless luxuries. They stooped to cruelty and extortion to get it. Amos warned that their spoiled and lustful ways would soon come to an end.

Is a life really worth living if it never experiences hardship, or doesn’t have to fight hard for good purposes, or is rarely kind to others? Something valuable is missing if we always insist on putting ourselves first, and always own the best.

Paul warned Timothy, “Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier” (2 Tim.2:3-4). Soldiers have everyday lives too, but they’re not to become so entangled by it that they become ineffective. In this text, I don’t think Paul was simply trying to get Timothy to work hard. Suffering hardship wisely infuses life with wisdom and value. This is just as true for preachers as it is for anybody else. Life is not for selfish indulgence; sacrifice and service must play its part too.

Enjoy your Christmas tree, but don’t insist on a Christmas tree kind of life.

– Tim Johnson

Life is an Echo

Posted on by Shannon

The bat flies and hunts with what is called bat radar, more properly called “echolocation.” The radar signals it sends out bounce back. Jesus recorded this same idea in another way 2,000 years ago – the same principle.

Jesus said, “In the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (Matt.7:2). The same principle is reflected in Galatians 6:7, “A man reaps what he sows.” In Ecclesiastes 11:1, we see the principle again: “Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again.”

Chance is not king in our world. We live on an ordered planet. God at the very beginning laid down the principle of radar in our lives. What we do comes back to us. The destroyer shall be destroyed. He who hurts others will be hurt. Etc.

Remember Jacob of old. He deceived his father and was later himself deceived. His son, Joseph, lived honourably and became ruler of Egypt.

This principle works not only in our personal lives, but also in whole congregations. Each of us should be determined not to disturb the unity of the Spirit over likes and dislikes, opinions and preferences, matters of judgment or expediency. If we sow discord, division we will get.

Remember the bat and his radar.

– David Johnson (with some extras from Tim)