Author: Ian Bothwell

I went to a dermatologist last week.  She was brutal.  Apparently I have old man spots on my head and she was determined to destroy them.  She was armed with a can of super cold stuff and she sprayed and sprayed and sprayed and sprayed.  I’m not exaggerating.  About halfway through I had a brain freeze without the ice cream, but she kept on spraying.  It better work.

Her diagnosis was too much sun from too many years in Africa, Georgia and California.  Our sun – we can’t live without it and we can’t live with it.  That is at least too much of it.  Finding the right balance is one of life’s great challenges.  In I Corinthians 9:25 Paul wrote, “Every man that strives for the mastery is temperate in all things.”  Temperance is abstinence from bad things and no indulgence in good things.

It would be easy at this point to go on a diatribe about certain foods and habits.  But that would be insulting your intelligence.  We know we should be eating our veggies, fruits, grains and nuts.  We know we should exercise and get adequate rest.   Instead let’s look at the word “mastery.”   The dictionary defines it as being in total control, being an expert in something.   It helps if we have a mentor or a role model.  I cannot think of any role model more outstanding than Jesus Himself.  Talk about total control.  In Hebrews we are told He was tempted just like we are and yet was without sin.  He was a master of Himself.  And He did this while dining with publicans and harlots.  If we seek mastery we best contemplate the life and teachings of Jesus.  Go for the best.

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 10, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

While watching my mechanic put new brake pads on my car I remembered something I heard from one of my friends who races stock cars.  He mentioned that the brakes on his car were the best he could find.  When he saw the puzzled look on my face he said, “Unless you have the best brakes and can quickly stop you cannot (should not) go as fast as you might otherwise.”

Jesus, a man without a massive army, a man without a great university, a man without a personal legacy of writings divided history.  His personal purity among friends of questionable character propelled Him to the heights of history. Had His personal life been stained with the failures of humanity this would not have been so. He would have been a flash and then lost in the unknowns of billions who have breathed our air.  It was His moral brakes.  He could mingle.  He could race.  He could as expressed by Jeremiah 12:5 run with the horses.  He could go head to head with Satan himself and yet not sin.  In Hebrews we are clearly told He was tempted in all things just as we.  The difference was His brakes.  He knew when to stop.  He knew where not to tread.  His daily time spent with His Father gave Him the best brakes.

All of us are tempted. All of us sometimes think how sweet certain forbidden behaviors might taste.  The difference between those who fall and those who are successful in stopping prior to the disastrous accident are those with the best moral brakes.  And just where can we obtain such?   They are available to us at the same place Jesus found His.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 2, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Titus was a gentile convert who had responded to the preaching of Paul.  He traveled with Paul and Barnabas and was left in charge of the new church on the island of Crete.  Somewhere along Paul’s travels he wrote to Titus.  There are a few verses that seem to be a simple summary of Romans and Galatians put together and simplified for us.

Enjoy this from chapter 3, “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.”

There is the entire Gospel in a nutshell. If you have difficulty with some of Paul’s work in Romans, Peter admitted to struggling to understand Paul (II Peter 3:16), all you need to read is Titus 3.  If you understand this you get it.  It contains all the elements. 1. We didn’t do the righteous deeds.  2. It is all mercy. 3. We are justified (declared sinless) by grace.       4. We are heirs of eternal life. 5. We are generously filled with the Holy Spirit.

I like things when they are made simple.  I used to tell my ministerial students, “The mark of an educated person is not one who makes simple things complicated but one who can make complicated things simple.”  Paul was a master of the latter while also being able to challenge the brightest minds.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 5, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Paul wrote to Timothy, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.”  City managers in Massachusetts need to read their Bibles.  According to our newspaper local towns have exhausted their snow removal budgets for the year and are going in the red.  It is true that we have had a fair amount of snow and more is coming. However, last year we barely had any snow and they used very little of their snow budgets.

Even as a little boy I knew the story of Joseph in Egypt.  They had seven fat years and seven lean years and they filled the storehouses during the seven fat years.  It’s a great lesson.  When you have a windfall don’t spend all of it.

Scripture isn’t merely useful for training in righteousness.  It teems with life lessons.  Jesus’ parables are a great source of life wisdom.  There is everything from not building on sand to not hiding your talents.  Many years ago I saw one of His parables play out in a committee room.  One eager fellow came and sat in the chairman’s seat.  When the chairman arrived he was very kind and sat with the rest of us.  During a break someone quietly moved the eager fellow’s papers to an appropriate seat.  The best part of the story is when he came back he picked up his papers and again sat down in the chairman’s seat.  How much better it would have been if he had remembered Jesus’ counsel to take the lowest seat.  Life is interesting.

Written by Roger Bothwell on February 23, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

After our very pretty waitress left our table this evening my wife said, “How I wish I could stay like that and yet still have my current brain.”  One of the joys of youth is you don’t know what you don’t know; therefore, you think you know when you really don’t.  The result being that you are quite happy.

When I left the seminary I was an absolute authority in the area of theology.  After all, I had an MA in Systematic Theology.  What else would someone need to be a pastor?  Lots.  I just didn’t know.  Now decades later my knowledge of God has lessened. He is bigger and grander than I knew.  However, don’t misunderstand me.  I don’t want that twenty year old brain.  I just want my twenty year old strength.

What Jesus promised in John 5:24, “. . . whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life . . .” is what my wife was wishing for.  Jesus is promising eternal youth with a never ending growing mind.  The concept is overwhelming.  Best of all there will not be any senior moments.  Oh those are frightening things greatly to be abhorred.  We can be talking about someone we have known for decades and both of us cannot recall the person’s name, that is until we stop trying and then it pops right up.  What’s with that?

How can we explain senior moments to young people?  They think it is just us and it will never ever happen to them.  Boy, are they in for a surprise.  Or they think, “Well that is a long time away.”  No, that’s not true either.  Years become months and weeks become days.  Jesus is not just a good idea.  Jesus is a necessity!

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 7, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

On the way out of class I passed a man carrying a box with the words “Class Disposal.”  When I looked more closely I saw that someone had placed a piece of tape on the box turning a “G” into a “C.”   But I like the idea of “Class Disposal.”  No, I am not thinking about disposing college classes.  I love classes.  Especially being the teacher.  When I am thinking of “Class Disposal” I am thinking about social classes.  I realize when I start talking about a classless society I am treading into dangerous political ideology.   But putting politics aside, wouldn’t it be grand if we lived in a world where everyone was a “Have” and there were no “Have Nots?”  It’s not that I want less, it’s that I want everyone to have what I have.

When Paul was thinking of our being one with Christ he wanted classes or groups to be nonexistent.  He wrote in Galatians 3, “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

I grew up hearing that in heaven we will have one star in our crowns for each person we helped receive salvation.  If that is so we certainly will need better characters than we now have.  This has the potential of developing a star class structure.  The more stars the closer to Jesus or something else.  Honestly, I hate it.  There only needs to be one class – the redeemed.   There are many of us that desire hair on our heads instead of a crown.

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 5, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

I just received the following message from one of my best friends. She wrote, “My favorite azalea has been stolen.  It was in a huge pottery pot, lovely pale green, well grown azalea of deep beautiful pink color.  Hope they enjoy it, whoever they are.”  First off, I cannot imagine someone stealing something like this.  I hope they had a pickup truck.  Secondly, I am not sure how someone could enjoy it should they put it in their yard.  Wouldn’t it be a daily reminder to them regarding their character or lack of?

What I do admire is my friend’s lack of animosity and desire for the thief to enjoy it.  She is certainly not a dog in a manger.  There are some people who if they cannot enjoy something they don’t want anyone to enjoy it.  Satan is a dog in a manger.  He has lost eternal life and since he cannot have it he is on a savage campaign against each of us trying his best, or should I say worst, to see to it that we are lost with him.  If he can’t have it why should we?

We are so blessed.  Each of us is presented on a daily basis the opportunity to extend our lives into an endless future.  If I had a pill that would guarantee an additional ten years of life, I would be a very rich man.  But that is only ten years.  What we are offered is a gazillion times better.  Jesus said, “I say unto you, He that hears my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 4, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

When we were children we thought fairness was treating everyone exactly the same.  As we grew up the true definition of fairness dawned on us.   Fairness is meeting each person’s needs.  Just as each of us is unique so are our needs.  Fairness isn’t giving something to someone if they don’t need it while skimping with someone who needs more.  Thinking about this made me wonder about grace.  Do some people need more grace than others?  Does my pastor need less grace than some mass murderer?  If so, I could imagine that heaven will be a pain because some people like to brag about their sinful past and how much grace it took to save them.  Of course, it could go the other way and some would brag that they were so good they didn’t need much grace.

You know what?  This is stupid.  The truth is we have all earned death and it took the same thing for my pastor as for the mass murderer.  It required the death of a righteous person and the world didn’t have even one.  So God sent His son to do it for us.  A saint isn’t someone with lots of personal merit.  A saint is someone who acknowledges their need and accepts what God has given.

Paul wrote, “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”  Romans 3:23   There will be no room for bragging in heaven other than our outright adoration for Jesus.  Him we can brag about.  There will not be enough wondrous adjectives in our vocabularies to come near describing His love and grandeur.   But it will be great fun trying.

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 3, 2013

Spring of Life, PO Box 124, Saint Helena, CA 94574

Rogerbothwell.org

If I had a dollar for every time I have heard “the law was nailed to the cross and is no longer important” I would be, well not a rich man, but I would have enough to put a few gallons of gas into my car.   In chapter 10 Luke tells us about an expert in the law discoursing with Jesus.  Together they agreed on a summation of the law.  The Ten Commandments were reduced to two principles.  Actually just one principle focused on what most philosophers agree is the only principle in the universe – Love.  Because Jesus died on the cross did love become unimportant?  Quite to the contrary, His death was the greatest demonstration ever that love is all important.

God is love.  The commandments are a description of His character.  Love God with all your heart and love others as we love ourselves.  Are the nay-sayers serious or perhaps they have not understood what the law is?  They are making reference to Galatians 3 and Colossians 2 where Paul speaks of our debt to the law being cancelled by the cross. Our debt to the law was incurred because of our transgressions.  Jesus “forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.”

The law as a means of salvation is impotent.  Perhaps I should say we were the impotent ones in the face of the law.  Its purpose was not to save but to awaken us to the reality of our need to be rescued.  And rescued we have been. God made us alive with Christ.  Now we want to be like our rescuer.   The law ceases to be an external code but has become an internal standard of our Savior’s character.

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 2, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

In John 21 there is an interesting verse.  Jesus’ disciples have been fishing all night and have caught absolutely nothing. Jesus appears on the shore and according to the King James Version He said, “Children, did you catch anything?”  Children!  Would one address someone like Peter or Simon the Zealot as children?  I don’t think so.  Neither did the translators of the New International Version which translates it “Friends.”  However, the Greek word for “children” is what is in the Greek text.  I would like to propose an alternative translation.  How about “boys”?  Men often refer to themselves as “the boys” as in “I’m going bowling with the boys.”  In the right context it can be an affectionate term or in the wrong context derisive.  In the context of John 21 it certainly could be one of endearment and still be very masculine.

Jesus had been three years with these men.  They had been together through some glorious days and hell.  The glory days were the feedings of the masses.  One time He fed 5000 and another time 4000.  What a high that must have been.  Gethsemane and what followed was surely as bad as anything could get.   They had eaten together, slept on the hillsides together, bathed together and walked many hundreds of miles together.  The bond between them was certainly exceedingly strong.  Calling them “boys” in the right way would have been extremely appropriate. Friends do that.

Jesus is also our friend and He calls to us.  Does He call us by our first names or by our family name?  Does He have a nickname for us that appropriately fit our personalities?  Whatever He uses, of one thing we can be sure.  He calls us with great affection.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 8, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org