Roger Bothwell

I am reminded of the literally thousands of prayers I have heard in churches since I was a child.  Often the suppliant begins, “Oh, mighty God, ruler of the world, master of the universe, Father of our magnificent savior Jesus Christ.”  That goes on for a while and the second half of the prayer is a list of prayer requests.

Have we never read Matthew 7:11?  “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”

As a father I would have been extremely put off had my sons ever approached me when they needed something by saying, “Oh, wonderful and generous father, who truly lives up to the greeting cards that say, ‘Best Dad Ever.’”  I think that would have most likely guaranteed they would not get what they wanted.

God knows our needs and our wants.  He wants us to live the abundant life and yes we should thank Him and praise Him for His goodness to us.  But when it borders on psychologically trying to manipulate Him I doubt if He is pleased.  When Jesus told us to call God Father there was an important reason.

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 24, 2017

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There truly is a lot of fake news and most of it circulates on Facebook.  It seems the more outrageous the story the faster people pass it on.  It was said that President Trump gave Germany’s Angela Merkel a multi-billion dollar invoice for past NATO expenses.  Both the United States government and the German government have stated it did not happen. But it made for an interesting few moments when we first read it.

Spreading fake news is nothing new. Please note the story of Jesus’ resurrection in Matthew 28:12-15.  “When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.”

So there is fake news, real news, bad news and best of all Good News.  When one thinks seriously about the Good News, it really is outrageous.  The disciples would have loved Facebook.  Outrageous news spreads.  Paul addresses this issue in Romans 5:19.   “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.”  And so the Good News spread. Yet the task is not yet finished.  It is up to us in the 21st Century to use the modern tools God has given us.  Today there isn’t any corner of the world that cannot hear.  Isn’t it time we all posted the Good News instead of what we had for breakfast?

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 29, 2017

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In II Corinthians 3:6 Paul wrote, “He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”  I have watched good people struggle in a diminished state of despair over their inability to perfectly keep God’s law.  When they are honest with themselves they know deep down they don’t measure up.  Trying to keep the letter of the law kills.  The alternative is to be filled with the Spirit and understand the law in terms of love, true justice and safety from harm.  Keeping the spirit of the law brings life and joy because God gave us minds to discern how a loving person will react in any situation.  With the power of the Spirit that we CAN do!

Once grasped we can begin to understand Ecclesiastics 3. “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, . . . a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.”

A life in Christ is a life of comprehension of what the law is and that true obedience is responding to the spirit and not the letter.

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 16, 2017

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Springtime in our little city means it’s time to do the annual flushing of the fire hydrants.  It doesn’t make one overly happy if you just washed your car and have to drive through a huge spray of water.  This afternoon I saw people turning onto side streets to avoid the baptism.  However, there was one very inventive fellow doing just the opposite.  Apparently his car was still salty from the winter streets and he saw a hydrant spouting into a parking lot.  First he drove through it very slowly and then turned around and drove through it again getting the other side, then he pulled up to it and got a good dousing over the front end.  He got a $12.00 wash for free.

It reminded me of someone being baptized by immersion.  You want to make sure you get them completely wet.  Not long ago I had the joy of baptizing my niece’s husband. He is about 6 feet 7 or 8 inches tall.  I couldn’t reach high enough to get my hand over his head.  Because he is a retired navy diver, he figured out how to get low enough for me.  I still couldn’t bend him backwards and bring him back up so he knelt and I splashed water over the remaining top of his head that wasn’t submerged.  I must admit I completely understood the hearable snickers from the congregation.  But it was a very happy, joyous experience.  It was a time for laughter.

Baptism is a public expression of having given one’s life to Jesus.  It is not a ticket to heaven.  It is a joyful way of saying, “Thank you, Jesus, for the gift of eternal life and the forgiveness of all my sins.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 21, 2017

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It’s spring and the goldfinches are turning their lovely canary yellow.  It’s fascinating to note the different stages of maturity at our bird feeder.  One or two are bright yellow while some are still gray.  Others show various shades of transition.

I have always been fascinated by Paul’s addressing his letter to the Corinthians to the saints at Corinth. When you read the letter one soon becomes aware that these people were far from perfect.  A very important lesson may be drawn from this.  Each church member at Corinth was at their own personal stage of maturation. Yet each qualified to be a saint.  To Paul, the person who was an infant Christian qualified compared to the old hands who had weathered the battles of character growth and development.

Just as our gray goldfinches are still goldfinches, so everyone who makes Jesus the Lord of their life is a precious saved child of the Lord.  Justification makes us saints and sanctification is a reflection of our growth.  We are saints before we are sanctified.  Just as I am looking forward to all the goldfinches displaying their dazzling summer plumage, so our heavenly Father is anxious to see us radiating Jesus in our attitudes and actions.

There is a wonderful hymn with the words, “Just as I am without one plea, But that Thy blood was shed for me, And that Thou bidst me come to Thee, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.”  Jesus never told anyone to go, clean up their act and come back later.  He first touched the leper and then said, “Be thou clean.”  Awesome.  Just plain awesome.

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 27, 2017

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I witnessed an argument between two earnest souls.  One had taken the position that Jesus miraculously, creatively produced more bread and fish at the feeding of the 5000.  The other took the position that the miracle was the opening of the hearts of those present to share what they had with them as had the little boy with his basket.

I would like to take a third position.  What does it matter?  The real point is the people were fed.  But the arguers were adamant as if they had been there and personally saw what happened.  While I tend to lean toward the creation of more bread and fish, I also think changing the hearts of selfish people is a great miracle.

Sometimes we get worked up, generate a lot of heat and hard feelings over issues that really are insignificant.  Issues that relate to our salvation – these are what matter.  How Jesus did or did not do something has not been shared with us.

I confess that through the years I found myself sucked into meaningless arguments and afterwards I always regretted it.  I went away wishing I had not spoken.  Silence on issues of which we were not witness to, issues on which God has not given us definitive information, issues that tend to divide us when we really don’t know the actual facts seem to me to be a ploy of Satan to draw our attention away from Jesus and His command to love each other.

I have some young men in my classes that are studying to be pastors and I see the fervor and fire that burns in their hearts.  Hopefully they will always use that zeal to lift up Jesus and proclaim Him and only Him to be our savior.

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 28, 2017

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My class this morning was moved to a classroom containing a real human skeleton.  While waiting for all my students to arrive I tried to remember the names of all the bones.  I haven’t done that since high school biology class.  I need to bone up a bit to get all of them.  While lecturing he was looking over my shoulder.  I wanted to turn around and say, “Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy; . .”  Hamlet Act 3.  And I wanted to add from Act 5, “To be or not to be: that is the question: Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them? To die: . . . ’tis a consummation devoutly to be wish’d. To die, to sleep; to sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub; for in that sleep of death what dreams may come when we have shuffled off this mortal coil, must give us pause.”

If only Hamlet really had known Jesus his fear would been stilled.  But then we would be missing one of the world’s greatest soliloquies, which should give all of us pause to reflect on the wonder of the promises we have received from Jesus, the Resurrection and the Life. Surely Satan cringed with contempt when he heard Jesus say in front of a tomb of a man who had been dead four days, “Lazarus, come forth.”  It was a hallmark moment in the history of mankind.  If you are a friend of Jesus, death is temporary.  A fleeting moment of nothingness and then the trump of God blares across the universe.  Please refresh yourself by rereading the close of I Corinthians 15.

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 31, 2017

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Have you ever listened to people talk to a baby?  Often it is the sweetest, syrupiest sound.  Since we learn to talk by mimicking the language of adults I have wondered how it is that we don’t permanently talk baby talk all our lives.  I think there is a gummy candy commercial with adults talking like babies.  I think it is so creepy.

It did remind me of I Corinthians 13:11, “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.”  I wondered if God uses “baby talk” to communicate with us.  Because He knows everything and we know so very little, does He condescend and make things as simple as possible when He wants us to know something?  It seems as though that would out of necessity have to be the case.  Yet Isaiah 1:8 says, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”  Hebrews 1:1 says, “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by  his Son . . .”

And Jesus said to His disciples, “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.”  John 16:12.   There it is.  While God does NOT speak to us as babies, He does note our limitations and adjusts for each of us individually.

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 20, 2017

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I was raised with the idea that one can only love things that are alive.  I really can’t love my car.  But I come really close to love when I think of my GPS.  I am directionally challenged and until I got a GPS I was a master at getting lost.  Statistically one should only turn the wrong way at an intersection 50% of the time but I am sure I destroyed that stat.  It got so bad that I would choose which way to go and then go the other way.  And sure enough I was right the first time.

Fortunately when it comes to major decisions in life I had help.  I always counted on Proverbs 3:6.  “In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”  That’s not to say I haven’t made some poor choices through the years.  But the really important choices worked out and I thank Him for being my divine GPS.

The secret to making this work is not magic. It is a matter of prayerfully asking for guidance when studying His word. “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” Psalm 119:105   Paul had a template for his letters.  He started with a greeting and almost immediately got into some heavy theology.  Before he finished he almost always spent considerable time talking about practical Christian living.  The close of Romans and Ephesians are especially rich with directions for living a Christ-like life.   Treat yourself to a careful quiet reading of Ephesians 5 & 6.  The man was amazingly smart.

So I love my GPS and really, really love my spiritual GPS.   Use it and never worry about getting or being lost.

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 12, 2017

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It is easy to confuse one’s culture with one’s faith.  Our culture is about customs and socially acceptable practices and behaviors.  Our faith is about our relationship with God and growing and becoming more like one’s God.   Culture is about the way we dress and what music and foods we enjoy or don’t enjoy.  Faith is about morality and how we treat each other.  How often through the years have I not only seen immorality thrust upon others in attempts not to make people like Jesus but to make them like us.

I have been guilty.  In my mistaken zeal I championed that all our students at our school in Africa wear neckties when coming to church.  I sent young men back to their dorms to “finish dressing” before they could be counted present at church.  How often have I judged people by the items in their grocery carts and chastised a fellow faculty member for his politics.

Now years later I realized how misguided and unChrist-like I was. Jesus’ brother James wrote, “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.”  Please note the admonition is to keep oneself unspotted and not our neighbor.  Paul wrote, “For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: Love your neighbor as yourself.” Galatians 5:14.

We all have personal tastes, likes and dislikes.  That is okay.  We just need to be careful not to censure someone because they like vanilla and we like chocolate.  Since we cannot go back and undo we can rejoice that God understands and is quick to forgive.

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 11, 2017

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