Just the Right Time

Blind Faith (No. 37, 2008)

Did you ever wonder why God did all those things recorded in the Bible so long ago, and not today? After all, instant news coverage and mass media of all kinds can get the word out worldwide in a flash, these days. But, consider the problems God avoided by calling Noah when he did, instead of in the fictional, contemporized setting posed in an e-mail message I received recently:

NOAH
In the year 2008, the Lord came unto Noah, who was now living in the United States, and said, “Once again, the earth has become wicked and overpopulated, and I see the end of all flesh before me. Build another Ark and save 2 of every living thing along with a few good humans.” He gave Noah the blueprints, saying, “You have 6 months to build the Ark before I will start the unending rain for 40 days and 40 nights.”
Six months later, the Lord looked down and saw Noah weeping in his yard – but no Ark. “Noah!” He roared, “I’m about to start the rain! Where is the Ark?”
“Forgive me, Lord,” begged Noah, “but things have changed. I needed a building permit. I’ve been arguing with the inspector about the need for a sprinkler system. My neighbors claim that I’ve violated the neighborhood zoning laws by building the Ark in my yard and exceeding the height limitations. We had to go to the Development Appeal Board for a decision. Then the Department of Transportation demanded a bond be posted for the future costs of moving power lines and other overhead obstructions to clear the passage for the Ark’s move to the sea. I told them that the sea would be coming to us, but they would hear nothing of it. Getting the wood was another problem. There’s a ban on cutting local trees in order to save the spotted owl. I tried to convince the environmentalists that I needed the wood to save the owls – but NO GO! When I started gathering the animals, an animal rights group sued me. They insisted that I was confining wild animals against their will. They argued the accommodations were too restrictive, and it was cruel and inhumane to put so many animals in a confined space. Then the EPA ruled that I couldn’t build the Ark until they’d conducted an environmental impact study on your proposed flood. I’m still trying to resolve a complaint with the Human Rights Commission on how many minorities I’m supposed to hire for my building crew. Immigration and Naturalization are checking the green-card status of most of the people who want to work. The trades unions say I can’t use my sons. They insist I have to hire only Union workers with Ark-building experience. To make matters worse, the IRS seized all my assets, claiming I’m trying to leave the country illegally with endangered species. So, forgive me, Lord, but it would take at least 10 years for me to finish this Ark.”
Suddenly the skies cleared, the sun began to shine, and a rainbow stretched across the sky. Noah looked up in wonder and asked, “You mean you’re not going to destroy the world?”
“No,” said the Lord. “The government beat me to it.”
(Author unknown)

Looks like God’s timing was just right, all along!

God always does his work at just the right time. Creation occurred at just the right time. God’s salvation of Noah and all humankind through him happened at just the right time. Moses broke the bonds of slavery for God’s people and led them on their journey to the home God promised, at just the right time. God’s most loving and gracious work through Jesus Christ came at just the right time.

A recurring theme of Sunday School and Sunday evening Training Union lessons as I was growing up – perhaps as you were growing up, too – was God’s perfect timing for revealing himself to mankind. We studied the history of the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their descendents), the kings of Israel (Saul, David, Solomon, and the monarchs of the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah), and the prophets. In each era, God’s people were presented with new insights into God’s love, justice, mercy, and care. God continually revealed himself, as much of himself as people were able to comprehend. Then, we learned, God did something brand new, just when human conditions were best ready to receive his most complete, personal revelation. In what would become known as the first century B.C., areas we call Europe, Asia, and Africa were united as never before by the power of the Roman Empire. Pax Romana, the Roman peace, quelled previously incessant wars of conquest in large areas of three continents. Earlier conquests by Alexander the Great had brought a common language, Greek, to much of those lands. The use of Greek was so universal that the most widely read version of the Hebrew scriptures (our Old Testament) was the Greek translation, the Septuagint. Trade and commerce flourished, and roads and shipping made travel all over the world, from Brittan, to India, to Ethiopia much easier than any time before. So, we learned, at just the right time Jesus was born into the world.

One Bible verse was paramount for teaching that Jesus was born at the right time in history: ” You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.” (Romans 5:6 NIV) Certainly, the Roman world facilitated followers of Jesus taking the good news of his love and grace across major distances in the years immediately after his earthly ministry. It was the right historical, chronological time for God to reveal himself through his Son, Jesus Christ.

But God acts at a far more important “just right” time for each of us. The Greek word for time in Romans 5:6 does not refer to time on the calendar, but to time that is ripe and bursting with meaning and possibilities (Greek – kiros). It is, indeed, “just right” time for each person who encounters the subject, Jesus, regardless of the time in history. Another contemporary translation, with a couple of verses added to the context, indicates clearly that what God did through Jesus always comes to each of us today at just the right time, when we need him most: ” Since we have been made right with God by our faith, we have peace with God. This happened through our Lord Jesus Christ, {2} who has brought us into that blessing of God’s grace that we now enjoy. And we are happy because of the hope we have of sharing God’s glory…. {6} When we were unable to help ourselves, at the moment of our need, Christ died for us, although we were living against God.” (Romans 5:1-2, 6 NCV) We encounter today the same Jesus who rose from the dead 2000 years ago, historically, and he is with us in the moment of our most intense need, whenever that may occur for each of us.

God’s timely presence through time was stated well in a Psalm written almost 3,000 years ago: ” I know the LORD is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me. {9} No wonder my heart is filled with joy, and my mouth shouts his praises! My body rests in safety.” (Psalm 16:8-9 NLT)

What time is it in your life? What do you need, right now? God is always at work, revealing himself in the marvels of creation, in obedient love and service of his faithful people, and in the written and living Word, the Bible and the eternal Son, Jesus Christ, and what he can do in your life. Not even government red tape can thwart God’s grace, which is just right for you, right now!

- J. Edward Culpepper, Ph.D.

Like a Stunned Hummingbird

Blind Faith (No. 36, 2008)

Another bird-on-deck parable:

When my wife, Sherron, and I had our deck built, we replaced

large floor-to-ceiling double windows with a triple-wide patio door

leading onto the deck. The expanse of glass both floods the den with

natural light and offers a broad view of the deck and sights beyond. A

pleasant feature right outside the window on the deck is a potted

salvia plant. We always have salvia there, because its brilliant red

blossoms are favorite feeding stops for hummingbirds. Elsewhere in the

yard, we have tree-form hibiscus plants, with double crimson blossoms

that also are natural hummingbird diners. As a result, we get to enjoy

frequent visits by hummingbirds with different patterns of coloration.

Our favorites are the ones with green feathers on their backs, black

wings and heads, and gray across the breast. Sherron is always excited

to report visits by hummingbirds to the salvia, clearly observable from

the den, as they hover amazingly for their in-flight draughts of

nectar. We have even been buzzed a time or two by hummingbirds when we

were outside, apparently at their mealtime.

Last Sunday, we were finishing cups of coffee after lunch when

Sherron spotted a hummingbird at the salvia, letting me know that we

had a visitor. Just a couple of minutes later, we heard a sharp THUD

against the glass of the patio door. “What was that, the hummingbird?”

I asked. Sherron got up from her chair across the den from the door,

and looked out mere inches from the glass. “O, my! Yes!” she said. A

hummingbird lay sprawled out on the deck, lying on its back, its wings

extended and its head skewed at an unnatural angle to its body. Its

tail feathers twitched erratically, either blown by gusts of wind on

the breezy afternoon, or involuntarily as the little bird lay in

obvious distress. “I think its neck is broken,” Sherron said. “What

should we do?” Although I love hummingbirds, I was not anxious to

incur the expense of neurosurgery and NICU veterinary care for our

visitor, nor did I want to make its condition worse by moving the at-

least-dazed bird. “Let’s give it some time,” I replied, “and see what

becomes of it.”

Sherron noted the time of impact. She went out onto the deck

through the door in the kitchen to water other plants on the deck.

While on the deck, she took a long, close look at the motionless

hummingbird. From the stairs of the deck, she could see the probable

cause of the hummingbird’s catastrophic collision. The early afternoon

light caused the door glass to reflect the deck and the sky with mirror

clarity. She could not see into the den from outside. Apparently, the

hummingbird had drunk its fill at the salvia, then assumed it was

taking a perfectly clear flight path — right into the door glass, with

disastrous results.

Stepping back into the kitchen, Sherron walked to the den for

another vantage point. To her surprise, the hummingbird had begun to

move its head back and forth to one side, and to move its wing on that

side. She returned to the kitchen to warm another cup of coffee for 90

seconds in the microwave. When she returned to the den, the

hummingbird was sitting up on its feet! It turned its head tenuously

side to side. It fluttered its wings, although it did not take flight

or lift from its perch on the deck floor. The tiny bird simply sat for

about five minutes, seemingly trying to regain its wits. Occasionally,

it would look quickly to either side. Then, twenty five minutes after

the unsettling collision, the hummingbird took a hop, its wings beating

at blurring speed, and it fluttered and flew away! Sherron said that

she had committed the hapless bird into God’s care some time

before.

Hear the parable of the stunned hummingbird. It is not

intended to be an allegory, in which each element in the story stands

for some feature of the readers’ lives. Allegorical interpretations

are applied to almost all parables, but the entirety of the story in

the parable is often the most powerful message.

Our hummingbird suffered its injury through no faulty judgment

or misconduct. It apparently saw what looked like a perfectly safe

path to fly on its way to another feeding flower, or perhaps back home

after a satisfying meal. But the image of open sky concealed the

unyielding glass, and its natural flight speed created an impact that

left the beautiful hummingbird stunned and utterly helpless.

Fortunately, God so gifted living things with regenerative energies and

abilities, that after a period of anxious rest, the diminutive bird

resumed its wondrous hovering and flitting flight.

Sometimes, calamities happen in our lives that have no ill-

intention, whatsoever, as their cause. No malice, no negligence, no

self-serving ambition, no animosity, no lapse in judgment creates the

catastrophe, it just happens. We may be left stunned, disoriented,

disabled, or worse. We wonder if we can survive. Thanks be to God, we

may find that some quiet moments in God’s care allow new possibilities

to regenerate, and our lives can resume.
A Psalm of David – who was afflicted both by trouble of his own

making, the ill intentions of others, and some things that just

happened – testifies to the secret to regaining life in the face of

disaster. David wrote of the need to simply sit still in God’s care

for awhile: ” God is our protection and our strength. He always helps

in times of trouble. {2} So we will not be afraid even if the earth

shakes, or the mountains fall into the sea, {3} even if the oceans roar

and foam, or the mountains shake at the raging sea…. {10} God says,

‘Be quiet and know that I am God….’ {11} The LORD All-Powerful is

with us; the God of Jacob is our defender.” (Psalm 46:1-3, 10a, 11 NCV)

Our hearts may race anxiously as we try to sit still in God’s care and

trust his design and grace to restore us, but his record of restoration

is proven.

Of course, many disasters happen due to our own wayward

schemes. In the cartoons, Wile E. Coyote schemed to catch Road Runner

by painting an apparent railroad tunnel on the side of a rock cliff.

Coyote would lay railroad tracks leading to the rock face, expecting

Road Runner to come speeding along the tracks, smashing into the image

of the railroad tunnel. What happened most often, however, was that

Wile E. Coyote would chase Road Runner along the bogus tracks,

forgetting that the tunnel was just a painted image, and smash in to

the rock himself. Or, he would think he had Road Runner cornered

against the rock face, only to have a locomotive emerge from a real

tunnel and flatten him on the tracks. Sometimes, we set the stage for

our own catastrophes.

We are instructed in the scriptures to do all we can to avoid

getting ourselves into calamitous situations we can avoid. Paul

cautions followers of Jesus to wake up, to be alert, to realize that

dangers lurk around us, especially endangering our living consistent

lives that display the love and grace of Christ. He writes, ” Watch

your step. Use your head. Make the most of every chance you get. These

are desperate times! Don’t live carelessly, unthinkingly. Make sure you

understand what the Master wants. (Ephesians 5:15-17, The

Message) God’s quiet care is always available, even when we get

ourselves into a jam. His intention for us, though, is to be attuned

to his way of love and grace, and to make every effort to stay out of

trouble.

Have you crashed and burned? Did it just happen to you, in

spite of your best judgment and intentions? Or, did you set yourself

up for disaster? In either case, the most powerful restorative answer

comes from Psalm 46: “Be still, and know that I am God.” Resting

awhile in his care may be exactly what you need to put you back on your

wings.

J. Edward Culpepper, Ph.D.

Thoroughly Vetted Faith

Blind Faith (No. 35, 2008)

Everyone these days, from candidates for President and Vice-

President to judicial appointees to school teachers are subjected to

vetting, although almost no one had heard of the process a couple of

years ago. Now, everyone and everything must be thoroughly vetted

before any decision or action can proceed. Similar processes have been

occurring all along, but the term, vetting, seems to have

emerged as a word of the decade in recent years.

I was curious about where the term, vetting, came from.

Merriam-Webster reports that the first appearance of the word in print

occurred in 1891, so it is not just a recent invention of political

pundits or security operatives. Wikipedia explains that “‘to vet’ was

originally a horse-racing term, referring to the requirement that a

horse be checked for health and soundness by a

vet</strong>erinarian before being allowed to race.

Thus, it has taken the general meaning ‘to check.’” Vetting in

journalism is done by fact-checkers to assure that assertions made in

print are correct. Software is vetted during development to verify

that the code is error-free, and that the program performs according to

specifications. Stocks, bonds, and other financial securities are

vetted prior to committing capital to an investment. Intelligence

assets are vetted to determine their reliability and usefulness. An

employee may be vetted before a firm job offer is extended. And, of

course, candidates at all levels of political life should be thoroughly

vetted before they are selected for office. In each case, the subject

is evaluated for possible approval or acceptance.

Another plausible etymology for vetting proposes its

root as the Latin verb, vetare, “to forbid.” The contemporary

usage of vetting in this sense refers to thoroughly

investigating a subject and having an opportunity to veto a decision

before it is finalized. Although the notion corresponds well with many

applications of vetting , evidence is scant to support this derivation.

This etymology simply cannot be positively vetted!

Deciding to live as a follower of Jesus is a matter of utmost

importance. The New Testament says again and again that it is a life-

or-death (or eternal-life-or-death) matter. It is a decision that

should be thoroughly vetted. Part of the process is on our side,

deciding that the claims and promises of Christ are worthy of our total

commitment. The other side of the process belongs entirely to God,

who, alone, is in any position to measure our response to his

grace.

Vetting the claim of Christ on our lives draws on an abundant

supply of credible witnesses. Jesus, himself, offered complete

transparency for his disciples to vet him for faith. He told them

during a time of severe criticism from religious leaders opposing him,

” Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?

The words I say are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his

work through me. {11} Just believe that I am in the Father and the

Father is in me. Or at least believe because of what you have seen me

do.” (John 14:10-11 NLT) Jesus appealed to the disciples’ first-hand

experiences of his words and deeds to authenticate who he was and why

he was worthy of their faith. Peter also cites Jesus’ public ministry

to vet him for the crowd at Pentecost: “People of Israel, listen! God

publicly endorsed Jesus of Nazareth by doing wonderful miracles,

wonders, and signs through him, as you well know…. This prophecy was

speaking of Jesus, whom God raised from the dead, and we all are

witnesses of this…. So let it be clearly known by everyone in Israel

that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified to be both Lord and

Messiah!” (Acts 2:22, 32, 36 NLT) Other witnesses provide documentary

support and eyewitness accounts to verify Jesus’ qualification as Lord

and Savior. Paul submitted this report: ” I passed on to you what I

received, of which this was most important: that Christ died for our

sins, as the Scriptures say; {4} that he was buried and was raised to

life on the third day as the Scriptures say; {5} and that he was seen

by Peter and then by the twelve apostles. {6} After that, Jesus was

seen by more than five hundred of the believers at the same time. Most

of them are still living today, but some have died. {7} Then he was

seen by James and later by all the apostles. {8} Last of all he was

seen by me….” (1 Corinthians 15:3-8a NCV) The strongest vetting

sources are the people who know the subject best. John, the “Beloved

Disciple,” certainly was one of Jesus’ closest associates, and he

openly presents the facts of who Jesus was and the significance of who

he is: ” The one who existed from the beginning is the one we have

heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our

own hands. He is Jesus Christ, the Word of life. {2} This one who is

life from God was shown to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify

and announce to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with

the Father, and then he was shown to us. {3} We are telling you about

what we ourselves have actually seen and heard, so that you may have

fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his

Son, Jesus Christ.” (1 John 1:1-3 NLT) John’s more complete report is

available in the gospel that bears his name. Book after New Testament

book vets Jesus as the only one deserving our total commitment, as well

as detailing the cost-benefit analysis of surrendering our lives to

him.

We may remain tentative – some might say fickle – about our

commitment to Christ as we continue to vet him. Doubts and questions

may cloud our side of the vetting process. God’s side of the process,

however, is always crystal clear. His vetting of us is supremely

important, and only God does it with perfect justice, combined with

grace and love. God’s vetting of us is always for the purpose of

leading us to eternal, right, loving relationship with himself. David

welcomed God’s vetting, and faithfully sought its intended result: ”

Investigate my life, O God, find out everything about me; cross-examine

and test me, get a clear picture of what I’m about; See for yourself

whether I’ve done anything wrong — then guide me on the road to eternal

life.” (Psalm 139:23-24, The Message) Our most pervasive

departure from God’s way is to assume that we can manage to save

ourselves on our own terms. God’s examination lays such designs bare,

guiding us away from our own hubris to the only authentic saving faith

in Jesus Christ. True faith seeks God’s vetting and his veto before we

fall prey to our own misplaced confidence in ourselves. Paul sought

God’s vetting in this sense: ” God forbid that I should boast except in

the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been

crucified to me, and I to the world.” (Galatians 6:14 NKJV) Those

words inspired one of Isaac Watts’ most cherished hymns, When I

Survey the Wondrous Cross. Written in 1709, almost two centuries

before anyone wrote about vetting, verses 2 and 4 of the hymn

magnificently express a desire for God’s careful examination of our

faith, and the faithful relationship to which we should aspire:

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, Save in the

death of Christ my God:
All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to his

blood.
Were the whole realm of nature mine, That were a present far too

small;
Love so amazing, so divine, Demands my soul, my life, my all.
(Isaac Watts, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, 1709)

How well will your faith stand thorough vetting? If you have

questions or doubts about God’s love demonstrated in Jesus Christ,

consult the documentary reports in the Bible, or talk with someone who

has both done the research and has personal experience as a faithful

follower of Jesus. What will vetting by God’s Spirit reveal about your

faith, your actions, your attitudes, your life? Allow God to guide you

in the only way to authentic life, faith in Jesus Christ.

- J. Edward Culpepper, Ph.D.

100!

Blind Faith (No. 34, 2008)

Permit me a moment of celebration. This week’s Blind

Faith is the 100th episode of the weekly devotional series! I am

thankful for fellow Sunday School members who were the first readers.

I am humbled by others who have subscribed after receiving forwarded e

-mail devotionals. I continue to be eager to hear from you, as you

have inspirational thoughts to share, or issues concerning following

Jesus in today’s world, or questions about what the Bible has to say to

a contemporary situation or in a particular passage. I continue to

pray that God will direct my writing and that he will use these

devotionals to draw you closer to Christ, fellow believers, and other

people.

If Blind Faith was a TV show, reaching the 100th episode

would mean that it would be generally marketable for syndication.

Instead of being broadcast by only the original network, syndicated

shows may be aired by multiple channels, at all times of the day and

night. Some syndicated shows are rerun so many times that many viewers

can identify the next lines of dialog and the plot of the episode from

any three or four words they might hear. Somehow, I don’t think that

will ever be the case with episodes of Blind Faith! So far, no

reruns of my words have appeared in this space, although several

favorite Bible passages have been repeated.

Such things as key Bible passages should be

rerun until they are easily brought back to mind. A regular part of

the curriculum in English when I was in elementary school was

memorizing classic poetry. Two poems that everyone learned were Psalm

23 and Psalm 100. I honestly do not recall the psalms being taught in

the school classroom as they might have been treated in Sunday School.

No elementary education was thought to be complete without learning

these and other ancient poems. Knowing them was considered every bit

as important as knowing the mythological Greek and Roman pantheons.

Once upon those times, almost everyone could recite Psalm 100 upon

request.

In celebration of 100 Blind Faith devotionals, Psalm 100

seems especially appropriate. First try to recall the psalm in the

familiar King James Version. (Can you do it without looking at the

page?) Then we will ponder what it says:

Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.
Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with

singing.
Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and

not we ourselves;
We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with

praise:
Be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth

endureth to all generations.
(Psalm 100 KJV)

(Could you recite it? Why not refresh it in your memory right

now?)

Psalm 100 is a marvelous song of celebration for God’s merciful

care and grace. Shouting for joy is a universal human response when we

experience thrilling surprises, or exciting victories, or happy

discoveries. Singing adds to the expression of joy. Psalm 100 reminds

us that God’s perfect goodness and his gifts of loving care are

continual reasons for bursting forth with shouts and songs of

thanksgiving and celebration. When we remember that we are not self-

made men and women, but everyone of us is God-made, our joyful praise

becomes rightly directed to God, and may not degenerate into blowing

our own horns. As James reminds us, ” Whatever is good and perfect

comes to us from God above.” (James 1:17a NLT) So every good thing

that happens today and every day is a loving gift from God, and is

deserving of our happy shouts of thanks an a never-ending song in our

hearts, praising God. Whether the gift is an opportunity to write

something others may read and thus think more about God, or if it is

some simple joy of sharing life with family or friends, or if it is a

happy sense of accomplishment of some task, we have ample reasons for

singing a song like Psalm 100 to God.

While I love the grand language of the King James Version of

Psalm 100, modern translations help to connect the psalm a bit more

naturally to my daily experiences. If I consistently cultivate the

attitude toward God, myself, and life in general expressed in the

modern God’s Word Translation (God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society,

1995) of Psalm 100, I could become a closer follower of Jesus and a

better friend to everyone around me:

Shout happily to the LORD, all the earth.
Serve the LORD cheerfully. Come into his presence with a joyful

song.
Realize that the LORD alone is God. He made us, and we are his.
We are his people and the sheep in his care.
Enter his gates with a song of thanksgiving. Come into his courtyards

with a song of praise.
Give thanks to him; praise his name.
The LORD is good. His mercy endures forever. His faithfulness endures

throughout every generation.
(Psalm 100 GWT)

No matter what kind of day you may be having, remember that

everything good that happens is God’s gift of love for you. Singing a

happy song and thanking God for his good care can change your

perspective on the day. The psalm reminds us to fill each day with

service, worship, thanksgiving, truth, joy, faith, and humility. A

life filled with those attributes calls for a celebration!

J. Edward Culpepper, Ph.D.

P.S. Thanks for continuing to read and forward Blind Faith.

Thank you, God, for each reader, and for the opportunity each week to

write.

Start Strong, Finish Strong

Blind Faith (No. 33, 2008)

“Start strong, finish strong.” Applications of that

sage advice appear in fields as diverse as sports, weight control

programs, public speaking, creative and technical writing, and many

others. Amazing sprints to the finish in this year’s Olympic races

have won gold medals by hundredths of a second. Intense desire to win,

or to bring a project to a successful conclusion often fuels a strong

finish, but getting off to a strong start can be more difficult to

achieve.

When Snoopy sat at his typewriter to begin another novel, he

always began with the cliché` worst-opening-line for a book, “It was a

dark and stormy night….” The line is the actual beginning of the

1830 novel, Paul Clifford, by British novelist Edward George

Earl Bulwer-Lytton. His first paragraph has become infamous for

exemplifying florid, ostentatious, self-contradictory writing. Its

reputation became so widespread that it inspired professors in the

English Department of San Jose University in 1982 to launch an

international literary parody competition, the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction

Contest. Entrants are asked to submit bad opening lines to imaginary

novels. Although Bulwer-Lytton also wrote The Last Days of

Pompeii (made into a movie three times), and originated phrases

such as “the pen is mightier than the sword” and “almighty dollar,” his

place as a cultural icon is secured by the satirical contest and that

almost never credited opening line, “It was a dark and stormy

night….”

Far more positive accolades have enshrined the opening lines of

Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities as paragons of how to start

a novel: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

Dickens (a contemporary of Bulwer-Lytton) goes on to construct a

paragraph deftly foreshadowing the themes of oppression and freedom,

death and resurrection, privilege and squalor portrayed in his

historical novel set during the French Revolution. Dickens both starts

strong in the novel and finishes strong. The last lines of A Tale

of Two Cities are, ” It is a far, far better thing that I do, than

I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to, than I

have ever known.”

Getting off to a strong start can make a profound difference.

Opening lines can seize attention, powerfully directing the reader’s

interest to the major theme of all that is to follow. The Bible starts

with a loaded theological affirmation that resounds through all the

subsequent pages: “In the beginning God ….” (Genesis 1:1, all

versions) Much of our theology is encapsulated in those four words.

Before anything else, God was present, and God’s work of creation

underlies all that follows. God is the principle character, acting

throughout the book to create, sustain, and redeem what he has made.

The Bible’s strong start foreshadows God’s desire to bring us, the ones

created in his image, into loving relationship with himself and one

another.

The Bible finishes strong, too. After telling the story of

mankind’s rebellion against God, and our futile quest for good fortune

and glory on our own terms, it tells about the gracious solution

provided by God, himself, in Jesus Christ. God enters humanity, born

as a baby in Bethlehem, teaches and demonstrates his love in the

ministry of Jesus, and vanquishes sin and death by his crucifixion and

resurrection. Many of the closing pages implore us to follow Jesus’

way of life, loving God and one another as he did. The strong finish

voices a faithful anticipation of the eternal, perfect presence of

Christ in the consummation of God’s Kingdom, along with an all-

sufficient prayer for the interim: ” Come, Lord Jesus! {21} The grace

of the Lord Jesus be with all.” Amen. (Revelation 22:20b-21 NCV) If we

begin with the recognition that God is before all else, and finish with

seeking to be with Jesus and to spread his grace to all, we can achieve

the strong start and the strong finish God wants for us.

Since failing to start strong is more often our downfall, the

Bible offers some encouraging opening lines to some of the individual

books in the collection. Psalms, a favorite source of comfort and

inspiration, starts with a strong description of the conflicting ways

of life we face, and an affirmation of the one we should follow: ”

Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor

stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;

{2} But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he

meditates day and night.” (Psalm 1:1-2 NKJV) Coming about halfway in

the Bible, this strong start to Psalms helps to reorient our thoughts

to what God has in mind for us to do.

Several New Testament books begin with strong statements of the

core of our faith and our actions that should result from staking our

lives on such a faith. John picks up the theme from the opening lines

of the Bible in Genesis, intrinsically weaving the story of Jesus into

the beginning of all things in God: ” In the beginning was the Word,

and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the

beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and

without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in

him was life, and the life was the light of all people. (John 1:1-4

NRSV) John’s gospel continues to develop the theme of Jesus as the

origin of life, and the only One through whom we may find life again,

after losing ourselves in rebellion against God and one another. Lest

we forget, a book for second-generation followers of Jesus starts with

a recapitulation of God’s history of loving us and inviting our

faithful love in return, epitomized in the ministry of Jesus: “In the

past God spoke to our ancestors at many different times and in many

different ways through the prophets. {2} In these last days he has

spoken to us through his Son. God made his Son responsible for

everything. His Son is the one through whom God made the universe. {3}

His Son is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact likeness of

God’s being. He holds everything together through his powerful words.

After he had cleansed people from their sins, he received the highest

position, the one next to the Father in heaven.” (Hebrews 1:1-3 GWT)

Hebrews starts with strong reassurance that no other voice calling for

us to follow can lead us more authentically to him than that of Jesus.

John scores another strong start with his first letter, setting the

focus on the profound effect Jesus had on John and his colleagues, the

relationship Jesus invites us to have with himself and fellow

followers, and the task we are to assume as believers in him: ” That

which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen

with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched–this

we proclaim concerning the Word of life. {2} The life appeared; we have

seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life,

which was with the Father and has appeared to us. {3} We proclaim to

you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship

with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus

Christ. {4} We write this to make our joy complete. {5} This is the

message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him

there is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1:1-5 NIV) As the last lines of

the Bible say, we are to extend Jesus’ grace to people around us,

inviting them to share the joy of real life through faith in

Christ.

Start strong, finish strong. The good news is that Jesus

continually offers a new start, overcoming our botched beginnings with

the strength of his grace and love. Find a beginning and an end of a

book in the Bible that gives you new hope and strength for living as a

faithful follower of Jesus. Make them your prayer for starting and

finishing your day. Start with Jesus, finish with Jesus. The start

and finish of your day can’t get any stronger than that.

J. Edward Culpepper, Ph.D.

Big Rocks First

Blind Faith (No. 32, 2008)

d

Modern parables that have true “staying power” don’t come along

very often. Illustrations abound in speeches and sermons, but pithy,

striking images that can vividly imprint themselves in your mind and

easily reappear when life presents situations addressed by the parable

are much more rare. One I have always loved has been replaying in my

mind since last week’s Blind Faith dealing with What Really

Matters.

Last week I wrote that visions of Olympic gold, or images of

people desperately trying to salvage truly important items after

earthquakes, floods, and other disasters may cause us to ask of our own

lives, “What really matters?” Loving God, demonstrating God’s grace to

others, and following Christ, whatever the cost were the items I

highlighted among what the Bible says really matters. But many other

important concerns – from home and family, to work, to self-improvement

- quickly and persistently demand attention. How do you deal with the

competing demands?

Setting priorities correctly touches everything we do at

church, home, work, school, or wherever we spend our time. Stephen

Covey tells about one of his associates attending a time-management

conference where the seminar leader presented this memorable modern

parable. It has been repeated in countless sermons, speeches, and

online postings since Covey included it in his book, First Things

First. Stephen Covey, himself, has demonstrated the parable

numerous times. The following version is slightly shortened and edited

from the book:

One day an expert in time management was speaking

to a group of business students. As he stood in front of the group of

high-powered over-achievers he said, “Okay, it’s time for a quiz.”

Reaching under the table, he pulled out a wide-mouthed gallon jar and

set it on the table next to a platter covered with fist-sized rocks.

“How many of these rocks do you think we can get in the jar?” he asked

the audience.

After the students made their guesses, the seminar leader

said, “Okay, let’s find out.” He put one rock in the jar, then another,

then another–until no more rocks
would fit. Then he asked, “Is the jar full?”

Everybody could see that not one more of the rocks would fit,

so they said, “Yes.”

“Not so fast,” he cautioned. From under the table he lifted

out a bucket of gravel, dumped it in the jar, and shook it. The gravel

slid into all the little spaces left by the big rocks. Grinning, the

seminar leader asked once more, “Is the jar full?”

A little wiser by now, the students responded, “Probably

not.”

“Good,” the teacher said. Then he reached under the table to

bring up a bucket of sand. He started dumping the sand in the jar.

While the students watched, the sand filled in the little spaces left

by the rocks and gravel. Once more he looked at the class and said,

“Now, is the jar full?”

“No,” everyone shouted back.

“Good!” said the seminar leader, who then grabbed a pitcher of

water and began to pour it into the jar. He got something like a quart

of water into that jar before he said, “Ladies and gentlemen, the jar

is now full. Can anybody tell me the lesson you can learn from this?

What’s my point?”

An eager participant spoke up: “Well, there are gaps in your

schedule. And if you really work at it, you can always fit more into

your life.”

“No,” the leader said. “That’s not the point. The point is

this: if I hadn’t put those big rocks in first, I would never have

gotten them in.”

(Paraphrased from Stephen R. Covey, A. Roger Merrill, and Rebecca R.

Merrill, First Things First, Free Press, 1996, pp. 88-90)

Identifying the big rocks, gravel, sand, and water allusions in your

own life is helped greatly by the vivid visual image of the

parable.

One big rock, according to Jesus, is setting our highest

priority as living the way God designed us to live. The Bible verse I

have quoted most often in these devotionals states Jesus’ teaching

clearly. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, ” The thing you

should want most is God’s kingdom and doing what God wants. Then all

these other things you need will be given to you.” (Matthew 6:33 NCV)

Food, clothing, and personal appearance are some of the sand and gravel

Jesus mentioned specifically just before he called for putting the big

rock of living responsibly as a citizen of the Kingdom of God in our

lives first.

Paul had an impressive resume`, which he recited on several

occasions. He was highly educated in the best schools. He was a full

Roman citizen. He was a respected religious leader. His star had

blazed brightly among his contemporaries when he was a young man. But

Paul would certainly have called all these laudable factors in his life

just more sand and gravel, (actually, he called them something much

less!) when compared to the essential rock of Jesus Christ in his life.

Another of my favorite passages of scripture conveys Paul’s testimony:

” I once thought all these things were so very important, but now I

consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. {8} Yes,

everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of

knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have discarded everything else,

counting it all as garbage, so that I may have Christ {9} and become

one with him. I no longer count on my own goodness or my ability to

obey God’s law, but I trust Christ to save me.” (Philippians 3:7-9a

NLT)

Jesus seems to recognize how constantly we are tempted to fill our

lives with what we think of as the “nitty gritty” matters of life, many

of which simply turn out to be gravel and sand. As important as

families, homes, jobs, financial security, education, and all our other

daily concerns may appear from our point of view, if we fill our lives

with those concerns first, we may not find room for our relationship

with Christ. But if we miss following Jesus, we miss foundation-sized

rocks that will sustain us all the way through eternity. Jesus was

clear about this with his disciples: “Then Peter said, ‘We’ve left

everything to follow you.’ {29} Jesus said to them, ‘I can guarantee

this truth: Anyone who gave up his home, wife, brothers, parents, or

children because of the kingdom of God {30} will certainly receive many

times as much in this life and will receive eternal life in the world

to come.’” (Luke 18:28-30 GWT)

Can you identify the big rocks that need to go in your jar?

What about sifting out all the sand and gravel that always wants to

fill your jar prematurely A little of this, a little of that, and soon

no room is left for what really matters, personally following Jesus and

loving others the way he does. But get those rocks settled, and other

concerns will snug up around Jesus’ kind of love very well.

J. Edward Culpepper, Ph.D.

What Really Matters

Blind Faith (No. 31, 2008)

“Going for the gold” will seem to be all that matters when the

Olympic Games begin in just a few days. Thousands of athletes

worldwide have invested countless hours in training and have sacrificed

countless personal relationships striving for their goal. They stand

to gain wealth and adulation for winning, or penury and anonymity for

losing their games. Many stories will be told of families, larger

communities, and even nations sharing dreams of Olympic competition,

offering tangible and emotional support for the athletes’ quests. Too

many stories will uncover athletes and trainers so blinded by Olympic

gold that they abuse themselves, the rules of their sports, and the

spirit of the Olympics by using steroids and other performance-

enhancing drugs. These sad tales lay bare the widespread obsessions

with winning and commercial success. For some, winning is the only

thing that matters. And Olympic silver medals are not acceptable to

some people. For some athletes and nations, Olympic gold is worth any

cost. But, does it really matter?

Competition for headline space will continue to come from

disasters across the nation and around the world. People lambasted by

the Sichuan province earthquake in China, or the Big Sur and Yosemite

wildfires in California, or the landfall of Hurricane Dolly along the

Rio Grande in Mexico and Texas, or the floods in Iowa and Missouri

reacted to the catastrophes with amazing similarity. Sifting through

the ruins of their homes and lives, many pled for an opportunity to

retrieve whatever personal treasures they could find intact. Many were

barred from their homes for days and weeks at a time, sometimes finally

being allowed as little as a 15 minute window in which to snatch the

few items of value they could locate. The tragedy is that the scenes

are certain to continue being repeated following other disasters. In

such a situation, what really matters? Disaster victims universally

talk about grabbing family photo albums, or Grandmother’s quilt, or

sensitive papers, or collections of love letters. Some people put

themselves at grave risk in order to salvage some representation of

their identities. You don’t usually find anyone saying that they just

had to get their stereo, or some trophy or even their golf clubs. What

really matters seems to be people-to-people links, symbols of intimate

and meaningful relationships. A news crew almost always finds someone

saying, “We’ve lost everything! But we can rebuild, and we can get new

things. We’re thankful to be alive, and that’s all that matters.”

Ambitious striving to achieve worthy goals, charting a new

course after surviving a disaster, or facing temptations to find

shortcuts to either pursuit all raise the crucial question, “What

really matters?” Understanding what really matters is important for

keeping everyday decisions about material things, relationships with

other people, personal integrity, and our awareness of how our actions

affect our fellowship with God in proper balance. The Hebrew prophet,

Micah, offered a concise catalog of what really matters: ” The Lord has

told you what is good. He has told you what he wants from you: Do what

is right to other people. Love being kind to others. And live humbly,

trusting your God.” (Micah 6:8 International Children’s Bible)

Micah doesn’t prescribe a sure-fire training regimen for winning

Olympic goal, or for recovering from natural disaster, but the

principles will equip anyone for taking on those challenges or any

others.

Jesus thought and taught that what Micah said was on target for

what really matters. Some other rabbis were actually trying to lay a

trap for Jesus, looking for a self-justifying shortcut for religious

obligations (see Matthew 22:35-40, Luke 10:25-27), when one of them

asked, “What is the greatest commandment?” Jesus’ answer could be

prefaced with “What really matters is….” What Jesus said was: ” Love

the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind,

and all your strength.’ {31} The second command is this: ‘Love your

neighbor as you love yourself.’ There are no commands more important

than these.” (Mark 12:30-31 NCV) The answer is simple and direct.

What really matters is to shape everything we do by demonstrating our

love for God and for other people.
Jesus also explained how we are to maintain the disciplined

life that will lead us to what really matters. It simply means

following Jesus. No exotic religious rites, no austere lifestyle, no

macrobiotic diet, no “Ten Keys to Success.” What really matters is

simply – and radically – to follow Jesus. Here is what Jesus said:

Then he said, so everybody could hear, “If anybody

really wants to share my way of life, let him have no regard for his

own welfare, and let him risk his life every day and walk the way with

me. Whoever puts his own life first shall lose it. But whoever lays his

life on the line for me shall come out on top. For what has a man

gained if he gets the whole world, and his own life is broken or

destroyed?” (Luke 9:23- , Te Cotton Patch Version)

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Shortcuts, extreme training, and many other paths may lead to golden

results, but if Jesus is not at the center of life, it doesn’t really

matter. Only by following Jesus – all the way to our own cross, if

necessary – will we reach genuinely the best life we can live.

What goals are you clamoring to reach? What drives and

disciplines your life? What significance do you attach to material

things, relationships, and personal ethical values? What really

matters to you? If you honestly seek to make your answer, “Jesus,”

that simple answer will lead you to the most challenging and the most

rewarding life you can possibly live. What really matters to you?

J. Edward Culpepper, Ph.D.

God Cares

Blind Faith (No. 30, 2008)

Some days start out brimming full of God’s blessings. A recent

Saturday morning was one of those days. We awoke to surprisingly mild

temperatures, in spite of several scorching afternoons in a row and a

sweltering forecast for later in the day. We checked to see if

breakfast on the deck seemed tolerable. That’s when the blessings

began to flood over us.

First, Although the rising sun peeked under the canopy of shade

offered most of the day by the gingko tree, a filtering haze, then a

puffy cloud held the temperature nicely within our comfort zone. Most

mornings the intense sun makes the table too hot for comfortable

dining, especially with a hot cup of coffee. This Saturday morning was

a delightful mix of sun, natural shade, a slight breeze, and a

generally inviting summer morning at treetop level in God’s gorgeous

creation.

Second, we decided to have blueberry pancakes for breakfast,

out on the deck. These would not be just any Aunt Jemima blueberry

pancakes, though. These would feature blueberries fresh from our own

blueberry bushes, visible in our yard from the deck. We had no

blueberry crop at all the past two years, due to drought and a late

killing freeze. This year, we thanked God all through the Spring for

adequate rain, moderate temperatures, and prolific blossoms that

promised an abundant blueberry harvest. Blueberries are one of God’s

nicest creations, growing on bushes that serve as beautiful hedge

plants, with magnificent scarlet displays of foliage in the Fall, and

sweet blueberries to eat. Picking them from our own yard is an extra

blessing. We thank God for a fine crop this year, and we will enjoy

blueberries from the freezer on harsh winter days to come.

We were reveling in God’s blessings of the day and the

blueberries when the further reminder of God’s care began to play out

before us. Several days ago, my wife, Sherron, spotted a robin family

in the branches of the gingko tree. Their nest is cradled in a fork of

a branch that extends far over the deck. A branch above offers shade

and cover for the nest. One morning, Sherron saw a parent robin land

in the tree, with a worm dangling from its beak. Her viewing angle and

the sunlight filtering through the leaves backlit a baby robin beak

bobbing up to receive the wriggly breakfast. She watched similar

feedings over the next several days. While we were having our

exquisite blueberry pancakes out on the deck, she saw a baby robin hop

up onto the top step of the stairs to the deck. It was still fluffy,

its feathers not yet fully developed. The little robin looked

confused. It flexed its legs several times, finally hopping a step or

two. After a few minutes, it issued a plaintive call – not yet a robin

song. Sherron said that the baby robin seemed to spot us, studying us

carefully. Finally, the little bird appeared to devise a plan. The

robin hopped over to the edge of the deck, between two of the railing

stiles. With a clear path out over the yard, the robin took one more

hop, and launched itself into the air. Sherron lost sight of its

flight – but she didn’t find the little bird crumpled on the ground,

either.

A little later, Sherron walked down the sidewalk away from the

deck, and heard some fluttering underneath an azalea. As she

approached the azalea, she heard the plaintive call again. Suddenly,

she found herself dive-bombed by the protective parent robins, both of

them squawking warnings not to bother their apparently reluctant flier.

We monitored the little robin’s plight through the day, hoping that we

might sight it back in the gingko branches, but we never did. Sherron

had another encounter with the dive-bombing parents near our fig tree

later that morning. We were thankful that our yard is fenced, and that

the young robin seemed to be safe, watched over by two anxious parents.

We hoped that the grace of flight would come quickly to the little

bird.

As the drama unfolded, I recalled Jesus’ apparent appreciation

for birds, and for his Father’s care for them. Jesus called his

hearers’ attention to birds and other parts of God’s splendid creation

numerous times in his teaching ministry. Once, the crowd clamoring to

hear Jesus was fretting about everything from economic security, to

family provisions, to how they could receive God’s eternal blessings.

Times were hard, and they equated God’s blessings with having nice

clothes, plenty of food for their families, and other material

possessions. Jesus gently chided them for their high anxiety,

illustrating the abundance of God’s blessings and his loving care by

references to God’s care for the birds in his creation:

“What is the price of five sparrows? A couple of

pennies? Yet God does not forget a single one of them. {7} And the very

hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more

valuable to him than a whole flock of sparrows….” {22} Jesus said to

his followers, “So I tell you, don’t worry about the food you need to

live, or about the clothes you need for your body. {23} Life is more

than food, and the body is more than clothes. {24} Look at the birds.

They don’t plant or harvest, they don’t have storerooms or barns, but

God feeds them. And you are worth much more than birds.” (Luke 12:6-7

NLT, 22-24 NCV)

God demonstrates his sustaining grace all around us. We can be

spared from much of our worry and anxiety, if we will only stop our

frantic scrambling for “just a little more,” and simply relax in the

care he provides for all creation. The little robin in our yard

matters to God; how much greater is God’s care for us and how

overwhelming are his blessings for us each day!

Of course, not every day begins with such delights as our

Saturday breakfast on the deck. Some days are shrouded in storm clouds

from even before the time your feet hit the floor in the morning.

Anxieties of every variety – economic, relational, work-related,

national and international, spiritual, and more – grip us and threaten

to drain the life out of us. We rush through the day in a futile

attempt to take care of everything ourselves. We may not take the time

to notice how marvelously well God takes care of his beautiful

creation. But be still … breathe in that fragrant smell … hear the

birds singing praise to God … see the grandeur of flowers … feel

the warmth of the sun and the cool of the breeze. Calm your restless

spirit, remembering to ” Give all your worries and cares to God, for he

cares about what happens to you.” (1 Peter 5:7 NLT) If God cares about

our little robin, the faulty flier, he certainly cares about your

needs.

Are you having a great day today, with delightful surprises

continuing to give you opportunities to give thanks to God? Are you

remembering to take time to enjoy God’s blessings and care, and to be

thankful? If the day has you fretting and full of anxiety, have you

listened for a bird’s song, an unexpected joy, an example of God’s

goodness in the world? Take a moment to look for them, letting God

quiet your spirit as you find them – because you can be certain God has

put them there. If anyone asks why a smile suddenly spreads across

your face, tell them a little birdie told you that God cares for

you.

J. Edward Culpepper, Ph.D.

Repetition Is the Key

Blind Faith (No. 29, 2008)

Repetition is an important key to memory. How many times have

you been introduced to someone for the first time, and the new person’s

name is said only once by the person making the introduction? Did the

new person’s name stick with you, or did you almost immediately forget?

Some memory coaches suggest repeating the new name at least three

times in the first minute or two after being introduced in order to

help retain the person’s name. Repetition is one of the keys to

memory.

Losing the ability to remember names, things to do, or other

information is a universal complaint. Advancing age, contrary to

widespread assumptions, does not cause an appreciable loss of ability

for most people to remember. Yes, some medical conditions and a few

medications can interfere with a person’s memory, but for most people,

the brain retains its mysterious and amazing capacity to memorize and

retrieve information undiminished by age. Perhaps as we grow older, we

may be called upon to access some information from our memories less

frequently, or we may encounter a person less often, or we may hear or

see less clearly the things that prompt memories, reducing the

reinforcing repetition that may have kept our memories fresh in earlier

days. Maybe we figure that life has taught us enough, so we just don’t

pay attention or devote much psychic energy to committing new names and

other information to memory. For most people, regardless of age,

repetition is one of the keys to memory.

For the first months after I became blind, I asked church

members to read the Bible texts from which I would preach in the

worship services. One Sunday, I wanted to give the text a particular

interpretive vocal inflection. I decided to memorize the five or six

verses and recite them myself. I was surprised at how many listeners

seemed to pay closer attention to the memorized text. (I wondered if

some people followed me word-for-word in their open Bibles, checking to

see if I got all the words just right.) Perhaps the increased oral

interpretation while reciting rather than reading the text helped.

Memorizing the text soon became a standard part of my approach to

preaching.

Memorizing the text also changed my own experience with the

sermons I preached. In order to memorize the text, I would listen to

it repeatedly. Phrase by phrase, I would have my talking computer read

it to me. Then I would begin repeating the verses back – first in my

head, then aloud – until I was confident of being able to recite the

passage publicly. During the cycle of repetition, I found that nuances

of the Bible text began to emerge. The more often I repeated the text

to myself in preparation for preaching, the better I felt that I

understood those Bible verses. I began to memorize the text first, then

to prepare the sermon, because prayerfully repeating the text to

memorize it always provided opportunities for God to lead me to new

insight and appreciation for the text. Repetition of the Bible text

became one of the keys both to memorizing verses for public

presentation and – more importantly – for that part of the Bible to

change my life.

None of this should be a surprise to us. From the beginning of

God entrusting his written word to his people, they were instructed to

practice repetition of his word. In personal, family, and community

life, God’s commandments and guidance were intended to be repeated

continually so that his people would be changed by them. When Moses

came down from the mountain to present the 10 Commandments to the

people, he first told them: “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the

LORD alone. {5} And you must love the LORD your God with all your

heart, all your soul, and all your strength. {6} And you must commit

yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands I am giving you today. {7}

Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you

are at home and when you are away on a journey, when you are lying down

and when you are getting up again. ” (Deuteronomy 6:4-7 NLT) Moses

went on to explain that this repetition would help them to remember

God’s grace in delivering them from slavery in Egypt, and his covenant

promise to love and to care for their needs. Unfortunately, they

forgot to remember and to repeat God’s words, and wandered aimlessly

for forty years in the wilderness. Centuries later, when God’s people

had experienced sweeping renewal of faith and national solidarity, they

were reminded of the necessity of actively committing God’s words to

memory. Repetition is cited as one of the keys: ” Listen carefully to

what wise people say; pay attention to what I am teaching you. {18} It

will be good to keep these things in mind so that you are ready to

repeat them. {19} I am teaching them to you now so that you will put

your trust in the LORD.” (Proverbs 22:17-19 NCV) The result of

repetition and memorization of God’s words is clearly and poetically

stated in one of the first Bible verses I recall memorizing: ” Thy word

have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” (Psalm

119:11 KJV)

What gets repeated in your daily routine? Whatever gets

repeated is what will stick in your memory. It could be the rerun of

Friends that you have seen innumerable times already, so that

you can now recite the dialog verbatim. It could be the argument you

had with a loved one, which you have replayed so many times that it is

now etched in your memory as irreplaceably as your phone number or

address. It may be the dirty joke your neighbor told you, and you told

a friend, and you heard your friend tell someone. It may be the

oppressive tedium of your daily routine, the things you have to do over

and over and over every day. Remember, repetition is one of the keys

to memory. And what you remember does change you from the inside

out.

How long has it been since you committed a Bible verse to

memory? Here’s an assignment for this week. Repeat the following

Bible verse every day, several times at breakfast, lunch, supper, and

bedtime. Enough repetition of this one verse will cement it in your

memory, if it is not already there. If you know the verse, repeat it

daily, anyway, so that it can exert new life-changing power. This

week’s memory verse is:

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my

heart, be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my strength, and my

redeemer. (Psalm 19:14 NKJV)

Repeat the verse in your mind. Repeat the verse aloud. Pray

it as a first-thing-in-the-morning prayer. Find a friend with whom you

can share the verse, and repeat it to one another. Repeat it as you

are going to sleep, expressing your hope and commitment for the next

day. Remember, repetition is one of the keys to memory. What else

will you repeat this week?

J. Edward Culpepper, Ph.D.

Pay Attention!

Blind Faith (No. 28, 2008)

Student attitudes in school are a frequent topic of conversation

with our high school teacher son. Often, any ideal of the classroom as

a place where young minds eagerly seek to expand their knowledge and

experience soars far above the schoolday reality. No matter how gifted

the teacher might be, students sometimes respond with boredom,

indifference, or other self-serving lack of attention.

Several discussions of classroom deportment reminded me of a

wry fictitious encounter someone wrote about how contemporary classroom

behavior might sound if Jesus was teaching his 12 students today:

“Then Jesus took his disciples up the mountain and

gathering them around him, he taught them saying: “Blessed are the poor

in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven, Blessed are the meek…

Blessed are they that mourn… Blessed are the merciful… Blessed are

they that thirst for justice… Blessed are you when you suffer… Be

glad and rejoice for your reward is great in Heaven.”
Then Simon Peter said: “Are we supposed to know this?”
And Andrew said: “Do we have to write this down?”
And James said: “I don’t have any paper.”
And Bartholomew said: “Do we have to turn this in?”
And John said: “The other disciples didn’t have to learn this!”
And Matthew said: “May I go to the rest room?”
And Judas said: “What does this have to do with real life?”
Then one of the Pharisees who was present asked to see Jesus’ lesson

plan and inquired of Jesus: “Where is your anticipatory set and your

objectives in the cognitive domain?”
And Jesus wept.
(Author Unknown)

We are conditioned to imagine the disciples intently absorbing

every word Jesus said as he taught them a radical understanding of the

Kingdom of God. Several times in the Gospels, however, Jesus chides

them for failing to catch onto his teaching. Only after Jesus’

resurrection did they recall that he had told them prior to his

crucifixion that he would rise from the dead on the third day. I

wonder what the disciples were doing , instead of paying attention to

those lessons. And what keeps us from paying attention to what the

Lord is trying to teach us about the love of God today?

At least three examples of paying proper attention to Jesus are

recorded in the New Testament as models for becoming sharper students

of the Master. Educators today seek to engage students with diverse

learning styles. Even though a particular student may have a dominant

learning style )visual, auditory, tactile-kinesthetic), applying

multiple teaching methods often produces the best understanding for the

most students. Jesus always offers lessons of his love and grace so

that every person can get the point.

Visual learners often need to see the instructor’s body

language and facial expressions to fully understand the subject matter.

They tend to prefer sitting at the front of the classroom. Once when

Jesus was teaching at the home of his friends Lazarus, Mary, and

Martha, he validated this approach to learning:

As they were traveling along, Jesus went into a village.

A woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. {39} She had a sister

named Mary. Mary sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to him talk. {40}

But Martha was upset about all the work she had to do. So she asked,

“Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work all by

myself? Tell her to help me.” {41} The Lord answered her, “Martha,

Martha! You worry and fuss about a lot of things. {42} There’s only one

thing you need. Mary has made the right choice, and that one thing will

not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:38-42 GWT)

Mary appears to have been a visual learner, sitting at Jesus’ feet,

able to concentrate on both his spoken words and his body language.

Jesus affirms her choice of methods for receiving the instruction he

was offering — and that Martha was unfortunately missing on that

occasion.

Auditory learners gather and process information through

listening or speaking. They are best able to learn through verbal

lectures, discussions, and listening to what others have to say. Jesus

encountered two students who were already deep in discussion, trying to

sort out the events of Good Friday and what they had understood of

Jesus’ teaching up to that time:

On the same day, two of Jesus’ disciples were going to a

village called Emmaus. It was about seven miles from Jerusalem. {14}

They were talking to each other about everything that had happened.

{15} While they were talking, Jesus approached them and began walking

with them. {16} Although they saw him, they didn’t recognize him….

{27} Then [Jesus] began with Moses’ Teachings and the Prophets to

explain to them what was said about him throughout the Scriptures. {28}

When they came near the village where they were going, Jesus acted as

if he were going farther. {29} They urged him, “Stay with us! It’s

getting late, and the day is almost over.” So he went to stay with

them. {30} While he was at the table with them, he took bread and

blessed it. He broke the bread and gave it to them. {31} Then their

eyes were opened, and they recognized him. But he vanished from their

sight. {32} They said to each other, “Weren’t we excited when he talked

with us on the road and opened up the meaning of the Scriptures for

us?” (Luke 24:13-16, 2732 GWT)

Jesus led them to verbalize what they had seen and heard, and what

they understood it all to mean. Then, as they walked, he explained

God’s saving grace. They were excited to have God’s saving message

presented in a method that they could readily comprehend.

Tactile-kinesthetic learners respond most effectively to

moving, doing and touching. They learn best through a hands-on

approach. Jesus set his disciples on this course of learning what he

had demonstrated for them. After teaching them by both word and

example in the Upper Room, he gave them the hands-on assignment of

serving one another in the spirit of his love:

[Jesus said,]“You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and

rightly so, for that is what I am…. {15} I have set you an example

that you should do as I have done for you…. {17} Now that you know

these things, you will be blessed if you do them.” (John 13:13, 15, 17

NIV)

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus had taught that hearing and doing

what he taught made the lesson rock-solid, while merely hearing it

often resulted in the lesson being swept away. (See Matthew 7: 24-27)

James adopted the teaching method, counseling, ” be doers of the word,

and not merely hearers who deceive themselves…. not hearers who

forget but doers who act–they will be blessed in their doing.” (James

1:22, 25b NRSV)

How do you learn best? Do you pay attention to the lessons

from Jesus’ love and instruction in living by grace God tries to teach

you? Do you pay as much attention to God’s lessons as you do to

instructions about a hobby or new skill you want to learn? For those

pursuits, do you attend to private lessons, extra reading, practice and

repetition, or rapt attention to demonstrations by a master? Do you

pay that kind of attention to God’s lessons? God offers his grace by

methods corresponding to your best learning style. So, students, no

excuses this week! Pay attention in God’s personal classroom.

J. Edward Culpepper, Ph. D.