The Key to Happiness

One of my favorite authors speaks of the purpose of education as preparation for service in this world and for wider service in the world to come.  Long have I considered the concept of service in the world to come.  To me an act of service is something we can do to supply a need for another.  I can understand that here.  There is so much need here.  But what need could exist in a universe without pain, heartache, starvation and sin?  There is so much yet I do not grasp.

What I do know is service is the key to growth and happiness.  When we live only to ourselves and see others only as a means to satisfy us, not only does our character shrivel but does also our joy in living.  The fullness of life comes from finding someone who needs us.   It is basic.  We need to be needed.  The one who needs us is providing service to us.

Recently I spoke with an older person who lost most of what he had labored for all his life.  When wondering how this could have any meaning at his stage of life we pondered together the concept that it was a preparation for his wider service yet to come. We must not limit our scope to now and here.  If we truly believe what Jesus promised in John 5 that when we accept His gift we step into eternity, then there is so much more for us, so many things to do, so many tasks to accomplish, so much service that needs us.  If we ever wanted to feel needed all we must do is to become a citizen of God’s Kingdom.

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 7, 2011

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Communication Challenges

Communication is without a doubt one of the most challenging tasks of humanity.  Wars are started because of miscommunication.  Marriages are shattered because of miscommunication.  Parents and children stop talking because of miscommunication. Today in the twenty-first century we have so many tools for communicating.  We can talk face to face.  We can send snail-mail or email.  We can Twitter or just plain scream at each other.   This day at an institution that shall go unnamed there was a communication problem.  The voice mail went down.  Thus we were notified that it was not working.   We were notified by VOICE MAIL.

Surely God must be frustrated on so many occasions while trying to send us a message.  While it is true He could send an angel that’s pretty scary.   I’m sure you have noticed in the Bible stories when an angel appears he (she) usually begins with “Fear not.”   Hebrews one begins with “in past times God spoke to us via various prophets but in these last days He has spoken to us through His Son.”  Nothing ever has surpassed the life and ministry of Jesus for revealing to us the true nature of the Father.

Recently, someone expressed to me that Jesus and another prophet of a very large religion were really the same. Apparently they never noticed that one began his movement with acts of extreme violence while the only time Jesus ever became the least bit violent was when He drove the money changers from the temple because they were abusing the poor.

If we want to hear from God, if we want to hear what He has to say to us, if we want to know how to live our lives, we need to look to Jesus.   He is the ultimate communicator of what God wants us to know

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 4, 2011

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

Rogerbothwell.org

My Teacher

I was observing one of our student teachers practice teaching in a local 3rd grade.  I was sitting in the back of the room and noticed one little guy giving me the eye.

Finally he got up from his desk, came back and asked, “Who are you?”

Giving him a big smile I said, “I’m your teacher’s teacher.”  Nodding at me he went back to his work. Maybe five minutes had past and he was back again.

This time he said, “If my teacher has a teacher, do you have a teacher?”

“Yeah,” I said, “I do.” I was wondering if he would be back later to ask, “Does your teacher have a teacher?”   But he never did.

Yes, I do have a teacher, lots of them.  My wife teaches me lots of things.   My students teach me patience and long-suffering.   However, my best teacher is Paul.     In his writing there is a treasure trove of ideas about Jesus.   I continue to marvel at the close of Ephesians 1 where Paul extols the glory of Jesus and how exalted Jesus is.

Then comes the following in chapter 2, “God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

If that doesn’t light your fire I am sorry to tell you the bad news. You are mentally dead!

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 5, 2010

Spring of Life Ministry. PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Ecclesiastes 1:18

Ecclesiastes 1:18 says, “In much wisdom is much grief, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.”   This is part of Solomon’s dissertation on the futility of life.  The more we know about the world the more we learn of man’s inhumanity to man.  The more we know about ourselves the more knowledgeable we become of our defects and natural depravity.  If one is speaking of the end result of much education and study then Solomon is absolutely right.   With knowledge comes despair because injustice and pain just keep on going.

However, it is imperative to say Solomon is not completely right and had he known Jesus he surely would have added an exception.  To know Jesus is to know what God is really like.  To know Jesus is to know there is hope for a better tomorrow.  Not all tomorrows will be like all our yesterdays. The sun will not always come up and go down with the same wearisome effects. To know Jesus is to know that character growth and godliness contribute to a better eternity with God and it is not merely something that will decay in the ground with those who never bothered to better themselves.

Had Solomon known Jesus he most likely would have amended Ecclesiastes 1:18 to read something like this.  “In most wisdom there is much grief, and he who increases worldly knowledge will increase sorrow.  But he who learns much about Jesus will grow in wisdom and joy.”

Jesus was a game changer. He took the human experience and turned it from futility to purpose.  Jesus showed us that life is full of pain but only for now because a richer, better, fuller future awaits those who grow in Him.

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 4, 2010

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Quantity and Quality

The Chilean earthquake, the seventh largest on record at 8.8, has shifted the axis of the earth.  It is estimated by geologists that our days may now be 1.26 microseconds shorter.  This is much like a figure skater tightly hugging herself and thus spinning faster, so it is with our earth.  If this were maintained for almost a million days we will have lost a second, which means we would live longer.

Considering the loss of life and the tininess of the time loss, it is a tragic way to calculate time.  Actually, biologically we will not live longer, it is merely a time calculation, like losing an hour when we change to daylight saving time.    There are some real ways to live longer, such as eating right, exercising, resting, etc.  We can add ten years or so to our lives by following the rules of good health.   Then again there is the biggie.  We can add decades, centuries, and millenniums to our lives.  We can live forever.  How’s that for living longer?

Of course I am referring to allowing Jesus to be the Lord of our lives. Plus, it is not merely the addition of breathing time.  We are speaking of maximum quality.  The gift of quantity without quality would actually be hell instead of heaven.  Fortunately, He loves us and He wouldn’t think of giving us the quantity without the quality.  I have known many people who wanted the quantity of life here to be shortened.  Circumstances can compound into such a low quality of existence it is horrible to go on.  That is exactly what Jesus wants to save us from.   When Jesus talks about life He is talking about the abundant life.   See John 10:10.

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 3, 2010

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

Rogerbothwell.org

Sandbagged No More

While literally sandbagging the basement door of my home last week to stop a minor flood I got to wondering about the meaning of the expression “to sandbag someone.”   I discovered the following, “To downplay or misrepresent one’s ability in order to deceive someone.”   I rarely talk about Satan because I don’t want to give him any publicity but this is exactly what he does to us.  He downplays his abilities or even that he exists so he can deceive us more easily.   I have friends who don’t even believe he is real. They think he is just a personification of human depravity.  He sandbags us.

The Bible is very clear that he is very real and he hates us because we have the opportunity to receive what he had and stupidly threw away.  Since he has been around for a long time he has had almost endless opportunities to study human nature. While he cannot read our minds he knows people so well he can with great precision guess what we are thinking and what it will take to get us to fall into sin.  We are no match.

Now comes the good part.  He is a defeated foe.  Jesus came, took him on, and beat him.   The first part of Hebrews assures us Jesus was without sin. Jesus promises to be with us always.  See the end of Matthew.  Peter assures us we do not have to depend on ourselves we can tap into divine power.  See II Peter 1.   Paul says it so well in Romans 8, “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers . . . shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 2, 2010

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Little Things – Big Situation

Situations are created by a multitude of little things.  Often it is difficult to explain why something happened without a long dissertation of things that are almost inconsequential but are indeed not inconsequential.

It snowed.  Okay.  No big deal.  It snows in New England.  We expect it and want it.  It got warm.  We like that.  Some of the snow melted.  It got cold.  It always gets cold here in February.  The melted snow turned to ice. It snowed on top of the ice.  It got a bit warm and a huge storm came through that rained instead of snowed.  See.  This is tedious. But it set up a minor disaster.  The ice with the snow on top created a dam that would not let the water run off the patio and thus created a lake that could only run into the basement under the door.  Horrors.  Time for sandbags – free from city emergency services.   I realize this was a boring paragraph.  But that’s my point.  Small things create situations.

It’s like that with lies.  A tiny exaggeration here and there is no big deal.  Or is it?  Once a foundation is laid for a scenario it often becomes necessary to continue to embellish so the original story continues to make sense.  Neighbors fight with neighbors often over something very small that compounded into someone shooting someone.

One of life’s great lessons is watch the little stuff because little stuff has a tendency to become big stuff.  Tell the truth.  Say I’m sorry. Be quick to give more than you think is fair because what you think is fair usually is smaller than what others think is fair.

Basically do what Jesus told us to do.  Go the second mile. (It’s the second mile in our heads.  It’s the first foot for the person we offended.)  See Matthew 5:41

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 1, 2010

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

Rogerbothwell.org

Individuals Count

In 1945 the Japanese had been fighting American soldiers for over three years.  They were convinced that they could not lose the war because their gods had made them superior.  They were a chosen people.  Americans were a mongrel people who were not racially pure.  It was unbelievable that their warriors were losing island after island.  When Americans reached Okinawa it became evident that heaven had deserted them.  In despair thirty thousand military and civilian personal hurled themselves to their deaths from the top of an Okinawaian cliff.  They could not endure the shame.

There is something deep inside the human psyche that makes us want to believe we are God’s favorites.  Young people knock on my door and tell me they are God’s elect and my baptism is of no value unless I am rebaptised by one of them.  Group after group, denomination after denomination, nation after nation believe they are the chosen ones. It is not an idea foreign to my childhood.  I even learned memory verses from Scripture to support this deep basic human hunger.

Could it be that God is not and has never been impressed by groups and organizations?  Could it be that God is instead searching for humble individuals who deem themselves unworthy and come to Him as one willing to be used in any way God needs to further His kingdom?   There is a very interesting verse in Revelation 7.  John wrote, “After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindred, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, . . .”  It seems to be about people and not about groups.

Written by Roger Bothwell on February 15, 2011

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Our Sensible God

It’s amazing what a dog will do for a treat.  When I ask our lab to shake, as she picks up her paw she cocks her head and gives me a crazy look as if to say, “Look, this is really stupid.  It serves no real function other than to make you happy, so here. Now where’s my treat?”   Actually it has gotten even worse.  When she wants a treat she taps me with her nose, sits down and picks up her paw.  I think the psychologist Skinner would say I am the one who has been conditioned.

I am so thankful God does not ask me to do mindless things that I might receive blessings.  There is no eleventh commandment that says, “Shake.”  God is so practical.  Each commandment comes with a blessing not as a care package from heaven but as a result of doing something very useful.  For example the first command says not to worship idols.  Of course that would be stupid because a piece of stone or wood can’t interact with us.  The fourth commandment tells us to rest every seventh-day.  If God didn’t command that most of us would work seven days a week and burn out at 35 or 40.   If I honor my parents, my children will see me do this and they will then treat me the way I treated grandma and grandpa.

Everything God asks of us is sensible, practical and leads to the abundant life Jesus promises to us.  Even the Old Testament food requirements in Leviticus were there to keep the children of Israel healthy and well.  What a wonderful God.  He doesn’t need His ego to be massaged by our behavior.  He just wants us to be happy, safe and well.

Written by Roger Bothwell on February 16, 2011

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Frogs

Frogs are fascinating creatures.  They come equipped with an amazingly accurate tongue that can snag all manner of flying food.  However, there is a problem.  If there is no flying food they will starve to death.  We can put all kinds of nutritious morsels in front of them but if it isn’t moving they will not eat it.  In an age of constant media saturation with flashing lights, stirring sounds, blazing pictures and the best media producers in the world filling our senses, I wonder if a Bible sitting quietly on our bedside table can catch our attention.  I wonder if we have become frogs when it comes to our spiritual diet.

It is difficult for John, a Galilean fisherman, with little education to compete with 21st century media.  Mark Zuckerberg, the developer of Facebook, is the world’s youngest billionaire because corporations pay him very large amounts of money to advertise on Facebook.   Corporate executives know where our eyes are and pay a lot to catch our attention. So just how would Matthew, a first century tax collector, get us to notice what he wrote?  If it were not for one very important advantage that Matthew and John have, it would be a lost cause.  Their writing would fade into the abyss of historical writing.  However, their advantage is something no media expert could ever seek to match.  It is called the Holy Spirit.

The very same Spirit that moved Matthew and John to write their incredible accounts of Jesus’ life and ministry moves upon our hearts twenty centuries later.  When we see our Bibles and feel a tug to open and read, that isn’t just idle curiosity or guilt, it is the Holy Spirit Himself wooing us.   We must not ignore it.

Written by Roger Bothwell on February 25, 2011

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

Rogerbothwell.org