The Law of Jesus’ Kingdom

Surely it did not come as a surprise to Jesus when James and John’s mother approached Him with the request for her sons to have privileged positions in Jesus’ kingdom.  Also He could not have been surprised at the anger of the other disciples when they heard about the request.  He knew human nature.  He understood the challenge of teaching people that the main principle of His new kingdom was service.  If one obtains position and power it is given that one might be of greater service.

Having been a pastor enables me to understand how difficult it is to remember the principles of humility and service when one is fawned over by one’s congregation. One is greatly tempted to believe the nice things people say to one’s face and to be thankful not to hear what they say behind one’s back.  The greatest sin of pastors is jealousy.  It is human to want to be the best, thus it is difficult to hear how wonderful another pastor is. Everyday a pastor needs to remind himself/herself why God gave him/her a congregation.

I am puzzled about heaven and eternal life.  If service is the law of God’s kingdom, what kind of service will be needed in a universe that has no sin and no rebellion?  If every being has everything they need what is there to give that would be meaningful?   Also I am puzzled while here we speak of our need to be unselfish and yet most of the time when we speak of heaven we speak of all the things WE are going to get, such as mansions, health, etc.  Surely there are amazing challenges and tasks awaiting us.  But what could they be?

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 27, 2015

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Getting Our Wings

Angels don’t necessarily have to be ethereal beings with halos and large white wings.  They can come in all manner of shapes and sizes.  I saw two today.  They came in a large pickup truck.  They were wearing work clothes and ball caps and might have needed a shave.  I didn’t notice for sure but being that it was the weekend I figure they might have given their chins and cheeks a rest.  They even had a golden retriever with them who was such a good dog he could have belonged to an angel.  They backed up to my garage and unloaded a freshly cut and split load of dried maple ready for the woodstove.  After a few minutes of neatly stacking in my garage they were gone. I will remember these guy/angels on cold New England evenings when the wind is howling and my woodstove is toasting me.  Needless to say I really love angels like this.   Thanks guys.

Each of us can be an angel.  All we need to do to earn our wings is to do something very unselfish and very useful for someone.  In Hebrews 1 angels are called ministering spirits.  If we minister to others we qualify.  We can speak for God in our actions and behaviors.  We want to make sure our speech and behaviors come from the same page.  Sometimes I have heard people say very nice things but not act very nicely.  That’s not very angelic.  Consistency really counts.

We can be angels in our workplaces by easing the load of others.  We can be angels in our neighborhoods by helping to create a safe environment for the children on our streets.  Advancement to angelhood can be really rewarding.  I highly recommend it.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 27, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

On Deelevating

In March of 1942 the HMS Trinidad launched a torpedo at a German destroyer.  With horror the men aboard the Trinidad watched their torpedo make a big circle and come back.  Thirty-two men died.  Eventually the British were forced to scuttle the Trinidad by having the HMS Matchless fire a torpedo into her.   She sank to the bottom of the Arctic Ocean.

This is so much like barbed comments we sometimes make about others. Unlike torpedoes that almost never came back, our demeaning comments about others usually come back.  Our attempts to hurt others might be successful but they also hurt us.  We are days away from mid-term elections and our televisions are filled with demeaning comments about candidates for office. Sometimes what is said is an outright lie but mostly it is half-truths.  I find myself disgusted with the one promoting the ad and not the one attacked.  So why do they do it?  We are told it helps win elections.  If so, shame on us.  And so they win.  But they are still diminished.

Sometimes we falsely believe we can elevate ourselves by deelevating others.  My word checker is telling me that deelevating is not a word.  But I’m sure you get the idea.  Rarely does deelevation accomplish its intention without deelevating the deelevator.

Have you ever wished you could back up the clock or suck back the words?  In chapter 3 Jesus’ brother James said, “The tongue also is a fire. The tongue is the most evil part of the body. It pollutes the whole person. It sets a person’s whole way of life on fire.”

With a sigh I wish I could say, “In all my life I have only said nice things about others.”  I wish.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 24, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

“You’ll Like the Way You Look”

Nine years and six months ago we had a new Harvey storm door put on our house.  About a year ago something strange happened to it.  It looked like an internal cancer ate its way out from the inside like some horrible growth.  One of my friends contacted Harvey Doors and Windows for us and would you believe they had a record on file for the door and it had six more months of warranty left. We are getting a new free door. I am amazed. Blessings come from strange places.

I love guarantees.  That must be why I am so extremely fond of Jesus.  He is the ultimate guarantee.  What is terrific about Him is there are no expiration dates.  If my friend had called the Harvey people seven months from now there would be no new door.  Jesus offers lifetime guarantees.  As long as we can breathe, as long as we can think, the replacement warranty is valid.  According to Paul we get new bodies with new minds.  “When this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.”  I Corinthians 15.   Now that’s a guarantee we can count on.  He has our names and the date of our acceptance on file.  It’s ours.  I especially like the immortality part.  When Jesus raised Lazarus in John 11 Lazarus only lived a few more years and died again.  He is one of very few who will be able to speak of being raised more than once.

The man who sells suits on television for Men’s Warehouse always says, “You’ll like the way you look.  I guarantee it.”  Jesus promises the very same thing.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 23, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

My Gluttonous Red Squirrel

Our squirrel population seems to be down to one small red denizen.  A month or so ago we had a large group of grays but I am suspicious they became meals for the various predators who are also residents of Old Farm Road.  Yesterday I put out a five inch by five inch cake of suet for the incoming chickadees and tufted titmice that will be residing here for the winter.  Several times during the day I saw the little red squirrel tanking up on the suet.  Much to my amazement he ate all of it in one day. It was bigger than he.  I can only imagine his physical discomfort as his small body attempts to process all that fat and grease.  I wonder if he sat in a tree thinking, “I can’t believe I ate the whole thing.  Why oh why did I do that?”

Most likely all of us know the feeling of having eaten too much.  There is just one slice of pizza left.  I better eat it.  Then the regret comes.  I am amazed at how resilient our bodies are.  They can handle an amazing amount of abuse.  However, little by little the cost mounts up and one day when we are far too heavy and find ourselves panting after climbing one flight of stairs we wake up.

We get sick and wonder why God isn’t taking better care of us.   God must shake His head at our ignorance and self-imposed ills.   My little red squirrel doesn’t know anything about I Corinthians 6:19 where Paul clearly states that our bodies our not our own.  We are temples of the living God with obligations to care for it.  My squirrel can be excused but do we really think we can be excused.  Forgiven? Yes.  Excused? No.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 22, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

The Lawn of My Character

While blowing the leaves out of my yard this afternoon I could not help but notice the leaves were falling from the trees behind me.  I was making progress but should I pause for a moment or so they would catch up to me making it look like I hadn’t done anything.  I wanted to impress my wife that I was still worth keeping but the fruit of my labor was most unimpressive.

Our sins are somewhat like my leaf blowing.  I ask for forgiveness and readily receive what Jesus is anxious to give, but the lawn of my character doesn’t stay clean but for a moment.  Often we err in thinking sins are merely acts of wrong but there is also a more important element that we are sinful beings.  It is centered in selfishness which might not show on the outside but I know it’s there.  Rarely do I hear of someone being shamed for breaking the 10th commandment.  “Thou shalt not covet.”  If we were to rank sins (and we don’t) I would say this was perhaps #1 on the list.  It is internal.  It is at the core of our being.  It is the seed that manifests itself in the other commandments. I wouldn’t steal something if I had not first coveted it.  I wouldn’t kill someone unless I first coveted something that motivated the murder.

Tomorrow is another day and I will once again have my sins forgiven just as I will blow the leaves again.  Someday I might be leafless.  But considering the reality of trees I somehow doubt that there will not but be a leaf or so tucked in a quiet corner.  Such is life.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 21, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

 

What to Think About

This weekend I picked up a book and read, “This book appears at a time when only Western civilization – European and American – but the civilizations and the cultures of Asia and Africa as well, are in a condition of violent crisis.  The whole world is affected by a malaise of the soul, a confusion of the mind, a conflict of social, philosophical, scientific, artistic and literary systems, theories and experiments.”  I would have assumed this was written in the latest edition of Time or The Economist. It describes 2014.   But I was holding a worn looking book, so I checked the copyright date.  It was written in 1933.   America was in depression and Europe was hurtling toward WWII.

Has there ever been a time when that paragraph isn’t on target?  Is this not a statement of flow and flux of humanity?  There are so many things wrong around the world and with 24/7 media coverage bombarding us with information regarding those wrongs we seem perched on the edge of oblivion.   It is so easy for someone to sound authoritative by proclaiming doom and gloom.  All one has to do is wait long enough and something bad will happen.  Then they can claim to be wise and prophetic.  But any fool knows all things come to an end and bad things will happen.  The challenge is to not be part of the problem but to be part of something that will make things better.  Our task is not to wring our hands and promote despair but to promote health of mind and spirit.

It is not being Pollyannaish to look for and speak of hope and of the good people, which make up the majority of humankind.  Paul was right when he said if things be of good report.  Think on them.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 20, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

The Gift of Healing

I saw a small boy with a withered hand and longed to make him whole.  It is not one of the gifts of this age.  I could not say as did Peter and John to the lame beggar, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth walk.”  My impotence fills me with despair.  Yet, I understand the media circus that would occur should someone truly have the gift of healing.  There would be riots of those in need seeking access to such a person.  Mayhem would overwhelm any bodyguards.  It was bad enough for Jesus as Mark said, “Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places.”

Jesus’ heart was moved with compassion for the crowds.  How could He not but help?  The night before the cross in Herod’s court they brought some pathetic cases before Jesus hoping to see Jesus perform a miracle.  How it must have pained Jesus to see them and yet not turn His power into a circus act.   Jesus remained silent knowing what was ahead.

Today God shares His knowledge with researchers and scientists.  How ironic that some of them are the very ones to deny His existence and yet the prizes they have won for their breakthroughs were only possible because He enlightened them.  He calls upon us to pray, to ask.  It is not a denial of faith to use modern medicine any more than it would be wrong for someone to use the gifts given them from their parents. God is thrilled for us to ask and He is happy to give good gifts for all mankind’s benefit.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 10, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

 

Hot Chocolate at Starbucks

I embarrassed my son this weekend.  We stopped at his usual Starbucks and I ordered a medium hot chocolate.  I was informed by the guy at the cash register that they did not have anything medium.  I needed to order a Grande.  And the next time I needed to remember was the guy at the cash register was a barista. I thought this was America!  For a moment I wanted to be Steve Martin so I could properly say, “Well, excussseee me!”

As I sat waiting for my hot chocolate to cool enough so I could drink it without scalding off a layer of skin inside my mouth, I got to wondering about the difference between the words “forgive” and “excuse.”   What I discerned was “excuse” could imply one had an explanation for an offense making it appear more acceptable.  “Forgive” was to pardon or to release someone from punishment.  Therefore my sins cannot be excused but must be forgiven.  However, I might add my sins often occur because I have a sinful nature which is an explanation.  But, with God’s enlisted help I am not a slave to my sinful nature and can be an overcomer.

Jesus was an overcomer and so can we be.  “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace.  In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”  John 16:23.   “Who is he that overcomes the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?”  I John 5:5

That is great news.

By the way.  How come a Starbucks Venti is bigger than a Grande, which means big, large or great?

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 19, 2015

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Mr. Flattoad

There is a flat toad on the street in front of my home.  I checked our begonia basket to see if it is “our” toad.  All summer we have had a toad hide in our begonia basket each day.  In the evening it jumps out to forage for whatever.  It wasn’t in the basket this afternoon.  Could Mr. Flattoad be ours?

I  am concerned and remembered something Jesus said about His Father and birds.  “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.”  Did God care about the toad?  Would He care about it more if it was “our” toad?  Does loving someone add value to them?

Several years ago I had a graveside service for someone.  I mean “someone” because we did not know his name.  We were burying him in the anonymous section of the cemetery.  It was a very plain section off to the back edge of the cemetery. There were no flowers or shrubs, only numbers.  The only people there were the undertaker, me and two grave diggers waiting for me to finish.  Did he have less value because there wasn’t anyone there that cared?  You might ask, “Didn’t you care?”  Sorta.  I needed to because no one else did?   I wondered if he had a child or grandchildren somewhere?  Would they care if they knew?

If loving someone gives added value then he had a lot of value because the most important being in the universe cared.  Just in case you have ever wondered about your worth, just ask what price was paid for you.  For God so loved the world that He gave His only son for you.  Talk about added value.  You are something wonderful.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 15, 2015

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

Rogerbothwell.org