We Won

Sunday evening with less than a second on the play clock Khalil Edney hurled an impossible 55 foot swish basketball shot to win the game.  That was amazing.  But something much more amazing then took place.  Fellow students from his school ran onto the court yelling, “We won.”  What an interesting use of the word “we.”  For the duration of the game they were in the bleachers.

My first reaction is, “No you did not win.”  Khalil Edney won.  Then I remembered Romans 8:37.   “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”   Paul was not hesitant to use “we” when speaking of Christ’s victory.  We are included in the glorious victory.   The Father is so anxious to give to us He even makes us joint heirs with Jesus.  With all this inclusiveness one might think we would someday forget who it was who won and think we saved ourselves.  However, there is no need to fear.  Revelation 5:13 says, “I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, forever and ever!’”

We could never forget because every time we see Jesus we will see that the sacrifice was not for 33 years but was eternal. Paul wrote to Timothy, “For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,” 1 Tim. 2:5.  Note the present tense.  This never-ending mystery will fill our minds with wonder when we assemble for praise services.  There He will be.  God and man – wonder of wonders.

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 5, 2013

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

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Who Was He?

While sitting in a waiting room I was drawn to the face of a man my age.  There was something about his eyes that said, “You know me.”  My internal computer was running on high capacity as it searched for someone, somewhere in times past.  Was he once one of my best friends?  Decades part us from childhood pals and we add pounds and wrinkles and lose hair that is no longer the same color.   Just as I was about to approach him and ask who he was a lady returned to him and they left.  Now I am haunted.  Regularly we see people who remind us of another, but this was different. I could not identify who that might be and of course it might have been a once close friend.

I must confess the very human trait of being extra nice to people who remind me of people I love.  As a teacher I have to be very aware that I do not do the opposite of not being kind to someone who reminds me of someone I don’t like.  Sorry, I am not Will Rogers.  I don’t like everyone.  I’m not sure God likes everyone.  He loves all of us but there is a difference between liking and loving.   Loving is wanting others to do well and be happy and healthy.  Liking is wanting to be with them.  I doubt very much that Jesus liked Pilate, Herod, Caiaphas and company that terrible Thursday night.  The stench of stupid hatred in the room was so foreign to His nature He had to be repulsed by those who were torturing Him.  Yet there was a place in God’s Kingdom for each of them; if they so chose.

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 4, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

No Cs – All As

He is probably twenty years old but to someone my age he is a kid.   He surprised me.  He came into the first class and took a seat up front right under my nose.   I assume those are the students who are eager to be engaged and do well.   I proceeded to tell the class what they needed to do to get an A and if they did so they were guaranteed an A.   This is when he surprised me.  He piped up, “I don’t want an A.  I just want to pass.”   Well, he pressed my buttons and I launched into a motivational presentation.   I told him I was determined to see him get an A.  About thirty minutes later he slumped down, closed his eyes and started to take a nap.  I was all over that boy like bees on honey.  I woke him and made him stay with me.  He continues to sit on the front row.  At the close of the semester I will let you know if I win and he gets his A.

On my way home this evening it occurred to me that God doesn’t want us to just get to heaven.  He wants the best for us.   He wants us to star.  He wants us to be all we can be.  If He has to jar us out of our sleepy lethargy He will do it.   Slipping in through a crack at the bottom of the door is not His dream for us.  The first time we enter the throne room He wants an angel standing at the door to announce us.  “Ladies and Gentleman, ambassadors from galaxies afar, I present to you ……….”   Please put in your name.  You are a star.  No Cs. You get an A.

Written by Roger Bothwell on January 30, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Life Is Full of Surprises

Some time ago my older son drove in “The King of the Hammers,” a desert rock race in Southern California.  It is more than a hundred miles of brutally traumatizing your internal organs while trying to keep your car upright.  Isn’t it strange what some people call fun?  His goal was to finish with the car, his spleen and kidneys intact.  You can imagine his ecstatic surprise to not only finish but to place third in his class of car.

Life is full of surprises, some pleasant and others not so pleasant.  Obviously the pleasant ones are to be desired.  One of my pleasant ones was getting married and discovering she was so much more wonderful than I thought she would be.   Having children can be incredible.  We think the baby is wonderful and how grand it is when he or she just keeps getting more interesting and rewarding.

I sometimes think life is so worth living even if these few decades are all we get; however, the really good news is Jesus has made it endless.   He said, “He who believes in me has already crossed over from death to life.”  Awesome.   The Bible is a love story.  If you like books or movies with a happy ending you will love the Gospels and especially the end of Revelation.  Don’t let people make you think being a Christian is dull and unimaginative.  They only say that because they have never tried the real thing.  Be surprised – read John.

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 1, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Clementines

I am sitting here eating a clementine and it occurred to me that I do not know the difference between clementines and tangerines.  So I did my usual routine and Googled it.  And the answer is – clementines don’t have seeds and tangerines do.  Tangerines are a natural fruit and clementines are engineered.  Without seeds means they are sterile and have to be the product of a graft on a varietal.

Through the years I have talked with many Christians who are fearful of their salvation because they are not aware of ever reproducing.  They cannot identify anyone coming to Christ as a result of their influence or ministry.   First of all, I am not aware of any Scriptural reference saying in order to be saved one must reproduce.  The only thing I have ever discovered in the Bible is that salvation is a gift without attached requirements.  This is not to mean we aren’t grateful and don’t want to be as much like Jesus as we can be.  But once again that is the fruit of allowing the Holy Spirit to reside in us and transform us.

Secondly, I doubt if there is such a thing as a sterile Christian.  Just because we are not aware that we have positively influenced someone doesn’t mean we didn’t.  The smallest act of kindness, the shortest expression of care, the contribution to a church’s mission all make a difference for eternity.  It is an old expression but non-the-less true, “No man is an island.”   Every day we touch others and they are not the same because of that contact.  One does not have to be a great evangelist to make a difference.  We channel God’s love.  It is His love that changes lives.

Written by Roger Bothwell on January 29, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

Not Transferable

While reading the fine print on a coupon my wife noticed that it was not transferable, which seemed strange considering it had come addressed to OCCUPANT.  Did this mean that I could not give it to my neighbor and he could not give his to us?  Perhaps it meant not transferable to a different restaurant.  I have noticed that the various donut shops in our town will take each other’s discount coupons.  But I have never known restaurants to do so.

I did think of something much more significant that comes to OCCUPANT.  Romans 10 says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”  That seems to cover OCCUPANT.  That means anyone.  God is not fussy about gender, race, age or nationality.  He is an all purpose savior.

Now that brings us to the not transferable.  It is not. We cannot be saved for another.  It is a highly personal relationship with our saver.  I know that many parents would exchange their salvation for one of their children.  However, that does not work.  That was done once.  Jesus gave His life for all.   Once you give something of which you only have one, you cannot give it again.  In Romans 6:10 we read, “For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; . .”  He could do that because He was without sin.  Hebrews 4:15   We can’t.   There are some who are baptized for past ancestors.  Sorry.  That is not transferable.

So I still do not understand the coupon we received in the mail.   But I am overwhelmed by the power of us being occupants of earth and each receiving a non-transferable gift of salvation.

Written by Roger Bothwell on February 28, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

On Discerning What Is Really Important

Many years ago I organized a necktie party. (No not the traditional kind.)  It seems in the eagerness of my youth I confused western culture with Christianity.  It is a common error of missionaries – especially young ones.  It is difficult for us to sort out traditions from what really matters.  I wrote to one of the churches I had pastored as a very young man and asked them to rid their closets of neckties and send them to our school in Uganda.  When they arrived I passed them out to our male students and required them to wear them for church services.  After all we must dress properly if we are to come into the presence of the King of the Universe.  The problem was neckties were not the local custom, to which I should have been very much more sensitive.

When we baptized a man who already had more than one wife we required him to put away all but one wife.  (He always kept the pretty one.)  And so we created homes with mothers with children and no father figure.  Fathers would make monthly visits to bring food and money to those homes.  I do believe we created a lot of guilt as a result of those visits.  Once again we confused Christianity with western culture.   The only thing Paul had to say about such men with more than one wife is that they not be church leaders.  Some of the men were more perceptive and compassionate than we.  They came to church every week and just were never baptized.

Psychologists call what I (we) did “Group Think.”  In our group we had convinced ourselves we were on moral high ground and God was on our side.   May God make us wise enough to discern real truth from our acculturated beliefs.

Written by Roger Bothwell on February 27, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

The Hunting Catalog

A L. L. Bean Hunting catalog came in today’s mail.  It reeks with testosterone. I feel manly just turning the pages and looking at the Labrador Retrievers holding slain ducks in their dripping maws.  My credit card wanted to leap from my wallet as I savored the waterproof boots, jackets and GPSs.  I imagined sitting in a Massachusetts swamp with my faithful Lab as we filled the air with duck calls designed to lure prey. Of course I would need one of the “Cool Weave Camo Crew” outfits so I would seamlessly blend into the surrounding reeds.  I would watch for ducks with my 2800 dollar Swarovski binoculars. Instead of using a shot gun I would use my L. L. Bean bow and arrow and fell those ducks like Native Americans did in my swamp 200 years ago.  My primal instincts were honed to an edge as my dog and I patiently waited to slay and retrieve a lesser species. Triumphantly we would take our success home in a four wheel drive pickup truck for my wife to pluck and roast.

It is amazing what happens in my head from merely looking at a catalog.  I am not alone.  This catalog was masterfully designed to stir such feelings.  It almost worked, but I didn’t purchase anything.  There is power in the printed page.  There is power in our Bibles.  As we read stories of Jesus moving through the crowds in Galilee we are moved as we see Him lovingly, powerfully restoring health of body and mind to those He touched.  Instead of primal instincts filling us with a desire to kill something we are filled with visions of life – eternal life.  There is power in the Word.  Don’t leave it on the bedside table gathering dust.

Written by Roger Bothwell on February 26, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

 

The Uniqueness of Jesus

“Requite injury with kindness. Keep behind, and you shall be put in front.  He who is great makes humility his base. To know, but to be as one not knowing, is the height of wisdom.  To the good I would be good; to the evil I would also be good, in order to make them good.”  Sound familiar?  If we were asked to identify the writer most of us would say Jesus.  However, they are just a few of the sayings of Lao-Tse, a Chinese philosopher who lived 600 years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem.  This is just one small sample of the vast treasure of wisdom literature written prior to Jesus.

Jesus’ moral teachings and life lessons were not new.  What was new about Jesus was something far more significant than the Sermon on the Mount and other such passages. Along with His great wisdom Jesus revealed His divine identity to us by saying such things, “I and the Father are One.”  “Before Abraham was I am.”   And Thursday evening before the cross He said, “I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

He is totally unique and He left us with some very specific promises regarding our eternal futures.  Via Paul, Jesus left us with the understanding that our righteousness is the fruit of our relationship with God and grows out of our gratitude for His lifting from us the burden of the Law.   Christianity is unique because it is the only religion ever that has God pursuing us for the sole purpose of giving us salvation.  Every other requires works.

Written by Roger Bothwell on February 25, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Beyond Grace?

Once in a while a student will startle me.  It happened this afternoon.  Out of the last fifteen classes she has been absent twelve times.  That wasn’t startling.  What made me almost gasp was her question, “How am I doing?”  She has heard three lectures.  She missed an exam and she wants to know how she is doing!

Now I am a grace man.  I understand needing forgiveness. I hope I am never the man in Jesus’ parable about the fellow who was forgiven a million dollar debt and then met a man who owed him a thousand dollars for which he threw him in jail.  But her question seemed to be beyond grace.  What I had expected was her to ask, “Did I miss anything?”  To which I usually answer, “No, nothing happened during the twelve classes you missed.  We just sat here.”  What I am thinking is there is a place for some grace in the classroom but primarily our educational system is based on works.  School is not grace based.  It is performance.

However, as I drove home, I wondered if it was ever possible for a sincerely repentant person to be beyond grace.  Hebrews 7:25 says, “He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”  “To the uttermost” and “always lives to make intercession” are amazingly powerful words.  I have this belief that the faintest prayer from the weakest will not only be heard but cause extreme action on the part of heaven.  Do I believe in deathbed confessions?  I surely do.  Our God is in the business of saving people even if He has to squeeze them under the door.

Written by Roger Bothwell on February 25, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org