Smiling At The Guards

Smiling At The Guards

 

The short excerpt is by Tim Keller, and the Scripture is Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.

 

There was a Highland Scott named Murdo McDonald; and during WW2 he was captured with another Scott and put in a prisoner of war camp.  Both Scotts acted as chaplains and were on opposite sides of the fence, one with the British group and one with an American group.  Once a day they were allowed to go to a big fence in the middle of the prisoner of war camp and talk with each other briefly.  They had to do it in the presence of the guards who knew English and French as well as German.  The two Scotsman discovered that these guards did not know Gaelic, the native tongue of Scotland, so they communicated with each other in Gaelic. 

 

It turned out that one of the Americans had a short waved homemade radio that the Germans did not know about, so everyday Murdo would bring news about the war to the other Scott.  One day he came to the gate and said that Germany had surrendered; and the war was over, but the guards did not know about it because communication had totally broken down.  The other Scott went back to the British barracks, and the next thing you know, you could hear this tremendous cheering going on.  For the next three days were still prisoners, but we walked around as though we were at a party.  We did not complain about the food anymore, and we smiled and felt sorry for the guards and did not hate them anymore.  Four days later the Germans had gotten the word, and the guards were gone and the doors were opened.  But Murdo says, We were liberated by the news before we were liberated by the guards.

 

Every other religion is works based, and they say that maybe you will eventually be saved by what you do.  Murdo McDonald gives us a perfect illustration of what our lives can be like to the degree that we understand that we are saved by mercy and by what Jesus has done in history, not by works and what we are doing now.  If you are not able to walk around no matter what prison that you are in and smile at the guards, if you do not stop complaining about the food, you do not know how complete that your salvation is.

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

Not Your Sins But Your Good Deeds

Not Your Sins But Your Good Deeds

 

Dear Champions,

 

The short excerpt is by Tim Keller, and the Scripture is Matthew 22:11-12 But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes.  Friend, he asked, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?  The man was speechless.

 

What is so intriguing about the parable from Matthew 1-22 is that the only person who gets thrown out is not the bad, but a person who feels that he is fine.  It is not your sins that keep you from God; but it is your good deeds and damnable good works, the things that you think make you good enough.  Religion is middle class, and it appeals to the people who say, I can do it if I work hard enough. 

 

The gospel says that no one is good, not one (Romans 3:10).  There is nothing in your heart that is good.  Even your good deeds have been done to feel superior to other people and to try and get control and leverage over God and to get Him to owe you.  Even your best deeds are as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6).  You are filled with self-righteousness, and you are no better than the person who has lived an immoral life.  Therefore, you are utterly lost, there is no love of God in your heart, and there is only one hope and possibility.  Jesus Christ, the rich one, became poor.  When you come to God you must come and say, Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to the cross I cling. You have every right to send me to Hell, but I want your mercy because of what Jesus Christ did. 

 

Religion says, I give God a record of righteousness, and then God owes me blessing.  But the gospel says, God through Jesus Christ has given me a perfect record of righteousness which I receive by faith, and now I live for him. 

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

Small Deposits of Time

Small Deposits of Time

 

Dear Champions,

 

The short excerpt is by Andy Stanley, and the Scripture is Ephesians 5:15-16 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.

 

There is a cumulative value to investing small amounts of time in certain activities over a long period.  There are certain things that if you will give them a little bit of time on a consistent basis will have a big payoff at the end.  One installment does not make any difference, but it is the adding all of those installments that make the difference.

 

The reason we ignore this is that there is no immediate benefit to any one singular installment of time.  If you have not been exercising and you get all motivated and go out tomorrow and work out hard and you go to work the next day no one is going to look at you and go, Wow, what did you do?  Because there is no benefit in any one singular installment it is just easy to think that there is no value in any one installment, but there is cumulative value of investing small amounts of time in certain activities over a long period.

 

The other reason that we do not do this is that there is no immediate consequence if you skip an installment.  If you are pretty regular at exercise and you decide to take Wednesday off it is not like your body falls apart.  Because there is no consequence when we skip one installment we begin thinking that there is no benefit from making these installments to begin with. 

 

Because there is no immediate benefit or no immediate consequence, it is easy for us to talk ourselves out of investing those bits of times in the critical disciplines and in the critical relationships and in the critical things that relate to our spiritual life.

 

If you were God who loves you and knows that your days are numbered and knows the number of your days, what would He say to you about how you use your time?

 

Small deposits of time over time make all of the difference.

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining