Finding Your Mirrors

Posted on January 5, 2022 by russellmckinney

Even though I am a free man with no master, I have become a slave to all people to bring many to Christ. When I was with the Jews, I lived like a Jew to bring the Jews to Christ. When I was with those who follow the Jewish law, I too lived under that law. Even though I am not subject to the law, I did this so I could bring to Christ those who are under the law. When I am with the Gentiles who do not follow the Jewish law, I too live apart from that law so I can bring them to Christ. But I do not ignore the law of God; I obey the law of Christ. When I am with those who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some. I do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings. (1 Corinthians 9:19-23, New Living Translation)

Dr. Walter Wilson, who was not only a licensed medical physician but later on the founder and longtime pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Kansas City, Missouri, told the story of a wealthy man who lived near an army camp. The man knew that a certain soldier who was stationed at the camp was not a Christian, and he wanted to witness to that soldier. However, the post’s commanding officer had a fairly strict policy about visitation, and that policy didn’t make allowance for anyone to do any personal witnessing on the post.

Despite numerous requests to be allowed to visit the soldier and talk to him, the wealthy man was never granted permission to do so. Finally, he realized that he was going to have to get creative if he wanted to share the message of Jesus with that soldier. That’s when inspiration struck him. He went to a company that made mirrors and put in an order for enough small mirrors to give one to each soldier on the base. On the back of each mirror, he had “John 3:16” engraved just before the words: “If you want to see who it is that God loves and for whom Christ died, look on the other side.”

The man then took the mirrors to the commanding officer, asked for permission to give one to each soldier on the base, and was granted permission to do so. Because of the man’s creativity in evangelism, not only did he get the message of Jesus to that one soldier that he had on his heart, he got it to all the other soldiers on the base. All I can say about that is, may his tribe increase.

The fact is that many Christians do not have the confidence to verbally share the gospel with others. I’m not saying this is a good thing or something these Christians shouldn’t work to overcome; I’m simply pointing it out as an inconvenient truth. But if you are such a Christian, let me encourage you to find other ways (non-verbal ones) to share the gospel. Here are seven examples of the kind of thing I’m describing:

  • Buy yourself some gospel tracts that are not only tactful but also doctrinally solid and strategically place individual tracts wherever the Lord burdens you to place them.
  • Finance the radio or television ministry of an evangelist or pastor whom you trust.
  • If you have a talent for writing, create your own blog and use it to tell others about Jesus.
  • Give generously, sacrificially, to the missions offerings taken up at your local church.
  • Take out an evangelistic ad in your local paper if that paper allows those type of ads to be placed.
  • Don’t be shy about incorporating evangelistic verses into your Facebook posts and using your page to share your Christian testimony.
  • Use acts of service (yard mowing, baking, car washing, snow shoveling, etc.) as springboards to not only help people who are in need but also to somehow share with them — perhaps through a Christian book or a tract — about the Savior whose ultimate example of service has changed your life.

Going back to Dr. Wilson’s illustration, my question to you, Christian, is: Have you found your mirrors yet? In other words, have you found your ways to become actively involved in evangelism? Remember that Jesus knows how you are wired, and He knows what spiritual gifts and talents you have. Therefore, you should ask Him to reveal to you what YOU can do to share the gospel in your own personalized way. Since Jesus Himself is infinitely creative, He will gladly convey some of that creativity to you if He sees that you are serious about wanting to tell others about Him. And if you are wondering if He has a need for you in this type of work, let me remind you that He once mournfully said, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few” (Mathew 9:37, N.K.J.V.).

Posted in Evangelism, Individuality, Ministry, Missions, Service, Spiritual Gifts, Talents, The Gospel, Witnessing | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Corrupting Your Way

Posted on January 3, 2022 by russellmckinney

So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. (Genesis 6:12, N.K.J.V.)

It is interesting how God Himself described the world’s population of Noah’s day. He said they had “corrupted their way.” The image called to mind is that of a person who was created to live in a certain way, but that person is tainting that way, marring it, defiling it, or perverting it through behavior that is contradictory to it.

In our way of thinking, corruption is something that only happens in the realms of business, government, court rooms, law enforcement, etc. When we hear the word, we think of lying, taking bribes, covering up scandals, or showing bias one way or the other. We typically don’t think of missing God’s will for our lives as corrupting those lives. That is, however, exactly what the Bible teaches in our text verse.

You see, you can corrupt your way without becoming a murderer, a robber, an alcoholic, or a drug addict. When Jesus described the people of Noah’s day, He said they were “eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage” (Matthew 24:37-38; Luke 17:26-27). Is eating a sin? Not unless you commit the sin of gluttony by eating too much. Is drinking a sin? Not unless you commit the sin of drunkenness by drinking too much alcohol. Is marrying a sin? Not unless you commit the sin of bigamy or polygamy by having multiple spouses. Is giving in marriage a sin? Not unless you knowingly marry off your son or daughter into bigamy or polygamy. Still, though, God said concerning those people, “They have corrupted their way on the earth.” As W.A Criswell wrote in The Criswell Study Bible, “Noah’s day was characterized by preoccupation with trivial matters and neglect of spiritual concerns.”

The point is, you can corrupt God’s intended way for your life simply by not giving Him His proper place in your life. When you ignore His will and do your own, you corrupt your way. When you ignore His word and follow your own logic, you corrupt your way. Certainly when you ignore His Son (Jesus) and don’t believe in Jesus as Savior, you corrupt your way not only in an earthly sense but an eternal one.

Right now, here at the onset of this new year, you should do an assessment of your life to see how much deviation there is between it and the life that God wants you to be living. Again, the fact that you haven’t been arrested recently and aren’t in rehab doesn’t mean that you are living in your God-approved way. Remember the people of Noah’s day. Many of them were just eating, drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage, and yet somehow through all of it they were corrupting their way. Like W.A. Criswell said, they were preoccupied with trivial (worldly) matters while they were neglecting spiritual ones. If that doesn’t describe a whole lot of people today, I don’t know what does. Just be sure that you aren’t one of them and that you are living a life that is in line with your God-intended way rather than a corruption to it.

Posted in Backsliding, Disobedience, Dying To Self, Faithfulness, God's Will, Obedience, Priorities, Rebellion, Sin, Submission | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Year-End Report (2021)

Posted on December 31, 2021 by russellmckinney

In recent years on this blog, I’ve provided the readers with a year-end report such as the one you are about to read. I’ve done this as a way of celebrating how God has used the blog over the previous year. I’m not sure that I will continue to do this — because I certainly don’t want to come off sounding like I’m bragging on me — but I will at least do this one more round of it. Here goes.

As of this moment today, December 31st, 2021, the blog’s total number of hits all time stands at 357,936, and the total number of views for 2021 stands at 86,446. That’s up from last year’s 68,970. The total number of visitors for 2021 stands at 57,471, up from last year’s 42,927. Obviously, these are good signs.

One problem that I had to deal with this past year much more so than in previous years was spam. I attribute this to the site getting more popular. To counteract the illegitimate number of visitors and views created by all the spam, I spent time a whole lot of time blocking each spam commenter. That, at least, prevented that commenter from registering any more fake views and thus skewing the blog’s true numbers. In the end, there’s no doubt that some of the 86,446 views for the year didn’t come from legitimate viewers, but I think I did a pretty fair job of keeping the spam curtailed. That means that the numbers are about as reasonably accurate as I could make them.

As for the blog’s most viewed posts for 2021, eight of the top ten remained the same from last year with just a bit of reshuffling in regards to the order. The list reads as follows:

  • #1: The 10 Times Israel Tested God (6,431 views) (#1 in 2020)
  • #2: What a Bird’s Nest Can Teach Us About God’s Will (3,776) (#2 in 2020)
  • #3: What Satan Did to Peter: Sifting (2,855) (#3 in 2020)
  • #4: Does God Want Everyone to Get Married? (2,714) (#6 in 2020)
  • #5: The Beasts at Ephesus (2,496) (#7 in 2020)
  • #6: What Will Life Be Like in Christ’s Millennial Reign? (2,067) (#10 in 2020)
  • #7: How Would You Describe Your Walk With the Lord These Days? (1,173) (#4 in 2020)
  • #8: The Plowing of the Wicked Is Sin (1,050) (not in top 10 in 2020)
  • #9: What Satan Did to Judas: Possession (962) (not in top 10 in 2020)
  • #10: How Does a Worm Get Inside an Apple? (879) (#5 in 2020)

As for the list of the top 10 posts in terms of all-time views, here are the rankings:

  • #1: Does God Want Everyone to Get Married? (22,098 views) (#1 in 2020)
  • #2: The 10 Times Israel Tested God (17,548) (#2 in 2020)
  • #3: What a Bird’s Nest Can Teach Us About God’s Will (11,855) (#4 in 2020)
  • #4: How Does a Worm Get Inside an Apple? (9,920) (#3 in 2020)
  • #5: What Satan Did to Peter: Sifting (4,920) (#8 in 2020)
  • #6: How Would You Describe Your Walk With the Lord These Days? (4,770) (#5 in 2020)
  • #7: The Beasts at Ephesus (3,953) (not in top 10 in 2020)
  • #8: What Will Life Be Like in Christ’s Millennial Reign? (3,884) (not in top 10 in 2020)
  • #9: Lessons from Habakkuk (2,845) (#6 in 2020)
  • #10: What Satan Did to Joshua: Accusation (2,718) (#not in top 10 in 2020)

In regards to the countries that registered views in 2021, the top 10 remained the same except for a slight reshuffling of the order. The list looks like this:

  • #1: The United States (56,707) (#1 in 2020)
  • #2: Nigeria (2,816) (#6 in 2020)
  • #3: Canada (2,675) (#3 in 2020)
  • #4: The United Kingdom (2,576) (#2 in 2020)
  • #5: Philippines (2,457) (#5 in 2020)
  • #6: India (2,331) (#4 in 2020)
  • #7: South Africa (2,027) (#7 in 2020)
  • #8: Australia (1,458) (#9 in 2020)
  • #9: Kenya (877) (#8 in 2020)
  • #10: Singapore (769) (#10 in 2020)

In closing, let me say the two words that I always say to my readers at this time of year: THANK YOU. I operate this blog as a way of being obedient to God, and that applies regardless of whether or not anybody but Him reads what I write. But it’s certainly encouraging to know that a lot of people read this site and glean spiritual help from it. So, whether you are a regular visitor or just an infrequent passer-by, please know that I appreciate you spending some time on the site and reading something that I have written. I’ll admit that at times the work gets hard and some weeks I just don’t feel like writing anything, but the work pays off when I can provide a positive year-end report like this one. Like I said, I don’t know if I will ever do another one of these, but if this is the last one, then it sure is a good one to have as a caboose.

Posted in Personal | Tagged , | 2 Comments

What Donald Trump Jr. Has Figured Out

Posted on December 29, 2021 by russellmckinney

Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.” (John 18:36, N.K.J.V.)

News broke this week about a speech that Donald Trump Jr. gave on December 19th to a Turning Point USA gathering in Phoenix, Arizona. In case you didn’t know — and don’t feel bad if you didn’t because I didn’t, either — Turning Point USA is a nonprofit organization that caters to young political conservatives on the high school and college fronts. Its goal is to motivate those young folks to get involved in politics and fight against the leftist liberal agenda.

Turning Point USA believes the following three things: 1. The United States of America is the greatest country in the history of the world. 2. The United States Constitution is the most exceptional political document ever written. 3. Capitalism is the most moral and proven economic system ever discovered. According to their website, the organization’s political strategy can be summed up with the following sentence: “We play offense with a sense of urgency to win America’s culture wars.”

Okay, now that we know a little about Turning Point USA, let’s get back to Donald Trump Jr.’s speech. Speaking to an enthusiastic crowd of supporters, most of whom would describe themselves as being Christian evangelicals, Trump Jr. said the following about “cancel culture”:

If we get together, they cannot cancel us all. OK? They won’t. And this will be contrary to a lot of our beliefs because — I’d love not to have to participate in cancel culture. I’d love that it didn’t exist. But as long as it does, folks, we’d better be playing the same game. OK? We’ve been playing T-ball for half a century while they’re playing hardball and cheating. Right? We’ve turned the other cheek, and I understand, sort of, the biblical reference — I understand the mentality — but it’s gotten us nothing. OK? It’s gotten us nothing while we’ve ceded ground in every major institution in our country.

That last part about how turning the other cheek has gotten us nothing really riled some professing Christians. It was as if Trump Jr. was saying that Christ’s teachings from the Sermon on the Mount are for losers and we’ll never win the cultural war unless we start playing by new rules. As for me, though, I didn’t get upset about what Trump Jr. said. I just thought to myself, “Oh look, Donald Trump Jr. has finally figured out that biblical Christianity and American nationalism aren’t after the same goals.”

One of the things that disappoints me about Christians in America is that so many of us have bought into the mentality that following Jesus always makes you a winner in terms of worldly accomplishments. Do you want your team to win the big game? All you have to do is tell the team chaplain to evoke the name of Jesus over your players. Do you want your business to grow numerically and monetarily? All you have to do is put pictures of Jesus on the walls of your office. Do you want your Presidential candidate to win? All you have to do is assemble together a prayer team and have the members pray in agreement for Jesus to put your candidate into office.

While the image of Jesus as a blond-haired, blue-eyed, undefeated champion from the heartland of America plays well in not only conservative political rallies but also certain churches, the reality of following Jesus typically looks very different. That reality includes Christians being in the minority, experiencing persecution, being constantly engaged in spiritual warfare against Satan and his fellow fallen angels, and (in the worst-case scenarios) getting martyred for the faith. Try selling that to a crowd of young political conservatives who want to take America back and make it great again.

Just to be clear, no one who knows me would call me a flaming liberal. In regards to how I feel about America, I love baseball, hot dogs, apple pie, and have owned several Chevrolets in my lifetime. I would have even driven those Chevys to the levee if there had been a dry levee in my vicinity. In regards to how I feel about political issues, I am a registered Republican who preaches against abortion and homosexuality. I’d love to see Roe vs. Wade overturned, and I have never wavered in saying that the LGBTQ movement is anything but thoroughly unbiblical and sinful. In other words, I’m a conservative Christian who would feel much more comfortable at a Turning Point USA rally than I would at a Planned Parenthood rally. However, with that said, I am under no delusion whatsoever that the kingdom of the United States of America and the kingdom of Jesus Christ have ever been or ever will be one and the same.

Please allow me to be blunt: In regards to the realm of this world, Donald Trump Jr. wasn’t wrong in what he said. The truth is that turning the other cheek will cause you to take it on the opposite chin, give up ground to your enemies, and come off looking like a loser. After all, nobody ever lived the Christian life better than Jesus and it got Him unjustly persecuted, betrayed, arrested, and nailed to a cross. Why, then, do we modern-day Christians get so surprised when we come out on the short end of the stick in our dealings with the world? Jesus couldn’t have been any clearer when He said to His apostles:

If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of this world, but I chose you out of this world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word I said to you, “A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me. (John 15:18-21, N.K.J.V.)

You see, what Donald Trump Jr. has figured out is that Jesus’ teachings don’t align with playing political hardball, even when the stakes are as high as they are in America’s cultural war. “An eye for an eye” really is a more effective way to win elections, but Jesus still says, “Turn the other cheek” (Matthew 5:38-39). Speeches about hating your enemy really do fire up your constituency, but Jesus still says, “Pray for those who use you and persecute you” (Matthew 5:43-44). Doing your charitable deeds when the cameras are rolling really does make for good publicity, but Jesus still says, “Do those deeds in secret where only God can see you do them” (Matthew 6:1-4). Praying impressive sounding prayers in public really does put you in good standing with the Religious Right, but Jesus still says, “Pray privately in your secret place where only God the Father can hear you” (Matthew 6:5-8). Accumulating monetary war chests really does enable you to effectively lobby and advertise for your political agenda, but Jesus still says, “Lay up for yourself treasure in heaven, not on earth” (Matthew 6:19-21).

Warren Wiersbe, who is on a short list of my all-time favorite preachers and commentators, used to say that God isn’t trying to save this world; what He’s doing is saving people out of this world. I think that’s a lesson that a lot of professing Christians in America need to learn. If we don’t, we will fully embrace the “win at all costs” mentality of Donald Trump Jr. and all the other political mouthpieces (not only from the right but also the left) who earn a living by keeping their bases at a fever pitch.

Here’s a question that’s worth asking: If we have to kick the Sermon on the Mount to the curb in order to win the cultural war, what have we really won? Jesus didn’t say, “If you love Me, talk about My commandments and use them as screen-savers on your computers.” What He said was, “If you love Me, KEEP my commandments” (John 14:15). You say, “But if I do that, I might not come out on the winning side of things.” Oh, you mean like John the Baptist getting beheaded by Herod Antipas, Stephen getting stoned to death by the Jewish Sanhedrin, James getting executed upon the order of Herod Agrippa I, Paul getting arrested by the Romans, and John getting forced into exile on the penal island of Patmos by the Romans? Is that the kind of “losing” that you think is so unappealing, so unamerican, and so unbecoming of a follower of Christ?

Look, I didn’t write this post to go on a tirade against Donald Trump, Jr. I just wanted to point out that all he did was say out loud what some evangelical Christians have inwardly thought. You’ve heard that old saying, “The end justifies the means,” haven’t you? Well, that’s the mentality that some professing Christians seem to take when it comes to who gets to dictate the rules for American culture. Even though these Christians would never admit to thinking this way, their mindset seems to be, “Once we have won this cultural war, then we’ll hold our Bibles high and live by them, but for now the priority is to win the war by any means necessary.”

Of course, the problem with that mentality is that living by Christ’s teachings isn’t something that we Christians can just take or leave depending upon the situation. Even if it means that we don’t always come out victorious in this life, our duty is to faithfully live out those teachings as best we can regardless of where we happen to be at the time and what we happen to be doing there. Once again let me say that Donald Trump Jr. wasn’t wrong in what he said. What he was wrong about was the implied assumption that it must be God’s will for Christians to win the cultural war and that God doesn’t mind us laying Christ’s teachings aside in order to do it.

Jesus Himself says in the text verse for this post that His kingdom isn’t of this world. Once you understand that, then you’ll understand why His followers aren’t guaranteed victory in everything we do on this earth. The good news, though, is that Christ’s kingdom is coming to this world one day. That will happen when Jesus returns to walk this earth again and establishes His 1,000 year reign upon it. But until then we Christians are called to be the salt and light that this lost world so desperately needs (Matthew 5:13-16). Sometimes the Lord’s influence through us will be enough to turn the courses of events the way we want them to go, but other times it won’t be. No matter what happens, though, we will receive eternal rewards for having faithfully followed Jesus, and those rewards will be infinitely greater than any earthly accolades we might accumulate by forgetting about the Sermon on the Mount altogether and using worldly tactics to fight for our causes. That’s why, Christian, I’m sticking with the Sermon on the Mount, and if you are smart you will too.

Posted in Abortion, Christ's Second Coming, Commitment, Current Events, Discipleship, Doing Good, Faithfulness, God's Will, God's Work, Government, Homosexuality, Influence, Persecution, Personal, Politics, Priorities, Prophecy, Scripture, Service, Spiritual Warfare, Suffering, The Bible | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Today

Posted on December 27, 2021 by russellmckinney

A newspaper asked its readers to send in responses to the question: “If you could have back one hour of your past, which hour would it be?” As could be expected, readers sent in a wide variety of answers. Some people wanted to relive hours of good times, but others wanted to redo hours in which major mistakes were made.

I myself would have had a difficult time responding to the question due to the fact that I have memorable hours from both categories. If push came to shove, though, I think that I would choose to redo an hour in which I made a poor decision. I’ve never been the type to say, “I wouldn’t change anything about my past because it all worked together to make me the person I am right now.” No, as I see it, if one of my mistakes could be rectified, I’d like to rectify it.

Of course, the whole purpose of the newspaper’s exercise was futile anyway, right? No matter how much we’d like to somehow revisit the past, we can’t. All of that history, either for the good or the bad, is engraved upon our permanent record for this life. If the history was good, we can be thankful for it. If it was bad, we can learn from it. But what we cannot do is change it.

It has often been pointed out that God calls Himself “I AM” (Exodus 3:13-14; John 8:58). That’s different than calling Himself “I WAS” or “I WILL BE.” “I WAS” would place Him in the past, and “I WILL BE” would place Him in the future, but “I AM” places Him firmly in the present. And that is where He wants you to join Him. He has business that He wants to do with you today. He has blessings that He wants to bestow upon you today. He has work that He wants you to do for Him today. So look around you right now and appreciate all the beauty and wonder of what is happening today. Then join Him in the present moment and live it to the fullest with Him.

Posted in Discipleship, God's Omnipresence, Personal, Service, Trusting In God | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

God Works in Mysterious Ways

Posted on December 23, 2021 by russellmckinney

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9. K.J.V.)

O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!  how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! (Romans 11:33, K.J.V.)

In early October of 1948, a young minister was called to pastor what could have been described as an “old” church. The church building had once been a magnificent structure in a wealthy part of the town, but by the time the young pastor started his ministry there the building was in bad shape and much of the wealth had moved to another part of town. Nevertheless, with unusual enthusiasm, he and his wife began the work of painting and repairing the building in an effort to restore it to some of its former glory. Their goal was to have everything ready for the night of the upcoming Christmas Eve candlelight service.

Just one day before Christmas Eve, however, a storm dumped a lot of rain on the area. The rain proved more than the church’s old roof could take, and so a leak sprung just behind the church’s altar. The water ran down onto a wall, and the wall’s plaster, after soaking up as much as it could, began to crumble. The end result was a gaping hole in the wall.

Naturally, the pastor and his wife were despondent over this setback. Since they knew they couldn’t get the wall fixed before the Christmas Eve service, it seemed to them that almost three months of hard work had been wasted. To their credit, though, they chose to accept the ruined wall as somehow being God’s will.

That afternoon the couple attended a benefit auction for the church’s youth group, and one of the items that was put up for bid was a vintage, ivory-and-gold-colored, lace tablecloth that was nearly fifteen feet long. When the pastor saw it, an idea came to his mind. He would buy that tablecloth and hang it over the hole in the wall behind the church altar. Fortunately for him, nobody else really wanted the tablecloth, and he was the high bidder at $6.50.

The next day Christmas Eve came, bringing with it snow and high wind. As the pastor unlocked the church doors to make the preparations for the candlelight service, he noticed a woman standing at the nearby bus stop. Knowing that the bus wouldn’t be there for at least half an hour, he invited her to come inside the church and stay warm.

She accepted the offer, and as they talked she explained that she was from another part of town and was only in the neighborhood because she had interviewed for a job as governess to the children of a wealthy family. Unfortunately for her she hadn’t gotten the job, a rejection she felt was due to her being a war refugee whose English wasn’t very good. Nevertheless, despite her gloomy mood, the woman was grateful for the unexpected relief of getting to wait inside the church until her bus arrived. Even more than that she took the opportunity to pray while she was there. So, the pastor left her sitting on a pew near the back, her head bowed in prayer, as he began hanging his recently purchased tablecloth across that unsightly hole in the wall behind the church altar.

Once the tablecloth was hung the woman looked up from her praying, saw it, and immediately rushed to the pastor to say, “It’s mine! It’s my banquet cloth.” Startled by her reaction the pastor didn’t quite know whether to believe her or not. All of his doubts were dispelled, however, when she showed him her initials that were embroidered in one corner of the cloth. The woman then told him the sad story of how she had lost the tablecloth. It was the kind of story that could only happen during intense times of war.

According to the woman she and her husband had lived in Vienna, Austria, and had opposed the Nazis before World War II. Later the couple had made the decision to flee to Switzerland. For the intended purpose of safety, the woman had left first, the plan being that her husband would soon join her. Tragically, though, he had never arrived in Switzerland and sometime later she had heard that he had died in a Nazi concentration camp.

The pastor was so touched by the woman’s story that he insisted that she take the tablecloth. The woman thought about the offer for a moment but politely declined. Her reasoning was that she no longer needed the tablecloth and it did look beautiful hanging on the wall behind the altar. She then thanked the pastor for what had been an amazing experience, said good-bye, and left the church to catch her bus.

Later that night as the pastor conducted the Christmas Eve service, he couldn’t help but think even more highly of the old tablecloth, and he noticed how beautiful it looked in the flickering light of the candlelight service. Consequently, he wasn’t surprised when many of the attendees made a special point afterward of complimenting him on how beautiful the church looked. One older gentleman in particular even stayed after the service just to spend some more time admiring the tablecloth.

When the gentleman finally did make his way back to the door, where the pastor was shaking hands, he said to the pastor, “It’s strange. Many years ago, my wife – God rest her – and I owned such a tablecloth. She only used it on very special occasions. But we lived in Vienna then.” Hearing this the pastor felt goose bumps rise up on his skin. He thought, “Could the woman I met this afternoon actually be this man’s long-lost wife?”

Trying his best to keep his excitement in check, the pastor told the man about the woman, and the old man, with tears streaming down his face, said, “Can it be that she is alive? How can I find her?” Fortunately, the pastor remembered the name of the family who had interviewed the woman for the job, and with the trembling old man standing beside him, he telephoned the family and got the woman’s name and address.

The address was on the other side of town, but the pastor and the old man certainly didn’t mind making the trip. They climbed into the pastor’s car, drove to the address, and knocked on the apartment door. The woman opened the door, and right then and there that pastor was privileged to witness the tearful, joyful reunion of a wife who thought her husband was dead and a husband who thought his wife was dead. It had been more than ten years since the couple had seen each other, but now they were together again on Christmas Eve, 1948. Yes, God does indeed work in mysterious ways.

Posted in Adversity, Christmas, Church, Disappointment, Faith, Faithfulness, God's Omnipotence, God's Timing, God's Omniscience, God's Provision, God's Sovereignty, God's Work, Problems, Reconciliation, Suffering, Trials, Trusting In God, Waiting | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

God Works Through Our Circumstances

Posted on December 20, 2021 by russellmckinney

And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David. to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. (Luke 2:1-5, N.K.J.V.)

In his devotional book The Believer’s Code, O.S. Hawkins explains how God used the census decreed by Rome’s Caesar Augustus in His prophesied plan to get Jesus born in Bethlehem. Hawkins writes:

Long centuries before His birth, the prophets foretold that Christ would be born in Bethlehem. But how? Joseph and Mary resided seventy miles north, in Nazareth. God put the whole world in motion to fulfill His word. A decree went out from Caesar Augustus that everyone was to go to the place of their family lineage to pay taxes. So Joseph, because he was in the line of David, left Nazareth with his very pregnant wife on a long journey.

Many of the things in our lives that on the surface appear inconvenient may just be the hand of God’s providence getting us to our own Bethlehem. Bethlehem reminds us what God promises, He performs — no matter what. Bethlehem is a place of providence, and so are you. God is at work, behind the scenes in your life, right now. He has not abdicated His throne. He is at work in your life when you are not even aware.

This Christmas you might be wondering what on earth God is doing in your life. Maybe your finances are tight. Maybe a loved one is sick. Maybe a family member has died. Maybe you feel like God is not doing anything good for you. At the very least, you feel like He’s not doing what you want Him to be doing.

If any of this describes you, my counsel to you is very simple: don’t give up on God. He really does work through the sometimes confusing and disappointing circumstances of our lives to funnel us to where He wants us to go and what He wants us to do. That seventy-mile trip that Joseph and a very pregnant Mary took from Nazareth to Bethlehem was surely not an easy one, but it was God’s will for them. And anytime we are doing God’s will, we are without doubt doing the right thing. The rest we just have to leave up to His providence and trust that His plan will work if we will work the plan.

Posted in Adversity, Christ's Birth, Christmas, Disappointment, God's Omnipotence, God's Timing, God's Omniscience, God's Provision, God's Sovereignty, God's Will, God's Work, Obedience, Problems, Prophecy, Trials, Trusting In God | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Your Tree of the Knowledge of Good & Evil

Posted on December 17, 2021 by russellmckinney

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die!” (Genesis 2:16-17, N.K.J.V.)

God completed all the work of creation on day 6 of the creation week and rested on day 7. Not only had He finished all the work, everything was still in freshly minted, pristine condition. We know this because Genesis 1:31 says that God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. Presumably, that means that Satan and his fellow angels hadn’t rebelled yet, and sin hadn’t entered into the equation.

Interestingly, the Garden of Eden’s tree of the knowledge of good and evil was a part of what God labeled as being “very good.” This proves that the tree was not intrinsically evil or wicked. Harry F. Sanders III, writing for Answers in Genesis, compares the tree to a stove burner. He writes:

Man was explicitly commanded not to eat from the tree, yet he decided to do it anyway. This is analogous to a parent telling a preschool child not to put his hand on the stove burner. If the child does so, there are consequences for the child beyond the risk of him getting burned. However, the stove is not evil. It is still serving its intended purpose. The disobedient child sinned. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil can be viewed in a similar light. It was not somehow bad because man used it to disobey God.

Popular pastor and author Tony Evans has called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil a “Google tree.” Google is nothing more than a virtually bottomless reservoir of knowledge, and knowledge is neither good nor bad. Knowledge is just knowledge, built from amoral facts and amoral information. Just as through wisdom knowledge can be used to serve God, through foolishness it can be used to disobey Him.

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was a litmus test for Adam and Eve. If they obeyed God by not eating the fruit from it, they would acquire a knowledge of “good.” On the other hand, if they disobeyed God by eating the fruit from it, they would acquire a knowledge of “evil.” After spending an untold amount of time keeping God’s command by not eating that fruit, Adam and Eve had a knowledge of “good.” In other words, they knew what “good” behavior was because they had lived it. What they didn’t have was a knowledge of “evil.” They didn’t know what “evil” behavior was because they hadn’t lived it. And the only way to acquire that knowledge was to eat the fruit from the forbidden tree.

It should be understood, though, that the fruit itself wasn’t the problem. That fruit was definitely not poisonous, a fact that is borne out by Adam and Eve remaining physically alive after they ate it. For that matter, there’s nothing to suggest that Eden’s animals couldn’t eat that fruit without repercussion. The problem was the blatant rebellion against God’s revealed will that was accomplished by Adam and Eve eating that fruit.

It’s not like the fruit’s juices somehow magically downloaded the knowledge of good and evil into the brains of Adam and Eve. I’ve even wondered if any singular tree from the Garden of Eden, regardless of the type of fruit it produced, could have served as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil if God had chosen it for that role. The point is, it was the eating of the fruit, not the fruit itself, that created the sin and in so doing gave Adam and Eve the knowledge they hadn’t had: the knowledge of evil. The fruit was nothing more than some type of fruit. According to Genesis 3:6, it was “good for food” (K.J.V., N.K.J.V.), a description that can be taken to mean that the fruit not only looked delicious but also tasted delicious.

Of course, having more knowledge doesn’t necessarily make you happier or more godly. Seeing the video footage of President John F. Kennedy getting assassinated in Dallas, Texas, will certainly give you a knowledge of that event, but does having that mental image in your head and knowing that you live in a world where leaders sometimes get assassinated really make you happier? A teenage boy who has never seen a naked woman clicks on a pornographic site and instantly gains a new knowledge of the female anatomy, but does that knowledge draw Him closer to the Lord and make him more godly?

Physically speaking, God created Adam and Eve as fully grown adults. Adam was expected to tend (cultivate) the Garden of Eden and keep (watch over) it (Genesis 2:15), while Eve was expected to be fruitful by producing offspring (Genesis 1:28). In regards to their moral state, however, they were akin to infants. Little babies enter into this world like blank slates when it comes to knowing about good and evil. It is only over the course of time, learning, and experience that they gain a knowledge of not only good but also evil. How many of us adults, though, find ourselves sometimes longing for the days of our childhood, days when we walked around in a childlike naivety and were quite happy because of it? That simple innocence, not to mention their fellowship with God, was what Adam and Eve forfeited when they acquired the knowledge of evil by eating the fruit from the forbidden tree. And once that innocence is gone, there is no way to get it back.

Even though the exact location of the Garden of Eden has been lost to history — the flood of Noah saw to that — and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil no longer exists, you can still have your own such tree in your life. In a very practical sense, anything or anyone that God has told you to stay away from plays that role for you. If you obey God by staying away from that thing or person, you will automatically gain knowledge about doing “good” because you will be learning by experience. Conversely, if you disobey God by eating the fruit from that thing or person, you will automatically gain knowledge about “evil” because you will be learning by experience.

It might even be that there isn’t anything inherently sinful or wicked about the thing or person in question. Like the fruit on that forbidden tree in Eden, that person or thing might be amoral. Nevertheless, if God has told you that the fruit is off limits to you, that command is what makes the difference. Somebody else might be able to enjoy the thing without sinning or participate in the relationship without consequence, but you can’t because to you that fruit is forbidden.

That lands the choice in your lap, just as it once landed in the laps of Adam and Eve. And Satan and his demons will surely tempt you to choose wrongly, just as Satan did with Eve. But just remember that Satan and his demons can’t make you do anything, and with God’s help you can always resist the temptation to eat the fruit from your tree of the knowledge of good and evil. I’m not saying that it’s always easy to resist that temptation, but I am saying that it’s always doable. You see, forbidden fruit doesn’t have to be eaten, and the less knowledge of evil you have the better off you will be. That’s something that Adam and Eve found out the hard way, and here’s hoping that you don’t follow their bad example.

Posted in Addiction, Backsliding, Choices, Commitment, Conscience, Decisions, Desires, Discipleship, Disobedience, Doing Good, Dying To Self, Faithfulness, God's Will, God's Word, Lust, Man's Freewill, Obedience, Personal Holiness, Rebellion, Righteousness, Sanctification, Sin, Temptation | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Biscuit Revival

Posted on December 15, 2021 by russellmckinney

As for God, His way is perfect… (Psalm 18:30, N.K.J.V.)

A pastor asked an evangelist to come and preach a weeklong revival in his church. Each service a love offering would be taken up to pay the evangelist, and he would sleep in the guest bedroom of the parsonage following each night’s service. The deal also included three meals a day at the parsonage.

The evangelist accepted the invitation despite the fact that he was at that time struggling with his own faith. A series of recent setbacks had caused him to question God’s ways and wonder why God hadn’t spared him from it all. Still, though, he was an evangelist, and it was his job to preach revivals. So, he went and did the best he could.

After three dry and fruitless nights of services, the pastor knew that something was wrong. The evangelist’s sermons were prepared well enough and the oratory was acceptable, but there was no real emotion to the messages. They lacked fire. They lacked zeal. They lacked heart. It was as if the evangelist was preaching what he was supposed to preach, not what he truly believed.

Very early the next morning the pastor knocked on the evangelist’s bedroom door. When the evangelist opened the door, the pastor stepped inside the room and began a conversation. He said, “Brother, I can tell that something is wrong in your life. I’m a preacher myself, and I know when a preacher is just going through the motions in the pulpit. I’m just here to ask if there is anything that you’d like to talk about.” Tears began to stream down the evangelist’s face, and for the next several minutes he told the pastor all about the recent setbacks that had crippled his faith. After sharing it all, he said, “Pastor, I just don’t understand why God has allowed these bad things to befall me.”

Before the pastor could respond, his wife called out, “Breakfast is ready; you two come and eat.” Both men dutifully obeyed and were delighted to find a full-course breakfast, complete with a plate of piping hot buttermilk biscuits, awaiting them at the dining room table. Seeing the biscuits inspired the pastor to have a burst of spiritual genius. As the three people sat down to enjoy the breakfast, he said, “Let me bless the meal.” Then he proceeded to pray this very strange prayer:

Lord, I absolutely hate the taste of buttermilk. You know that about me. And I hate lard. You know that, too. And you also know that I don’t like the taste of raw, white flour. But Lord, when all of these bad-tasting things get mixed together and baked, they make for delicious biscuits, and You know that I do love my wife’s biscuits. So, help us all to understand, Lord, that when things happen that we don’t like and we don’t know why You aren’t rescuing us from them, we just need to let You finish Your mixing and baking. If we will do that, the biscuits You’ll have for us in the end will be absolutely delicious. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”

The pastor’s prayer/sermon wasn’t lost on the evangelist, and that night he preached with a renewed faith and enthusiasm. The congregation responded in kind, and a true spirit of revival broke out that caused the revival services to continue for two weeks rather one. At the close of the final service, the evangelist told the congregation, “I want to especially thank your pastor for the way he has helped my own spiritual struggles over the course of my stay with him. Through a simple prayer that he prayed over a plate of biscuits one morning, I have to say that I’ve experienced revival myself.”

Posted in Adversity, Complaining, Depression, Disappointment, Doubt, Encouragement, Faith, God's Omnipotence, God's Omniscience, God's Sovereignty, God's Work, Perseverance, Problems, Suffering, Trials, Trusting In God, Worry | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

God Works from a Schedule

Posted on December 13, 2021 by russellmckinney

He has made everything beautiful in its time… (Ecclesiastes 3:11, N.K.J.V.)

God works from a schedule, and His timing applies to everything. That even includes the birth of Jesus. The Bible’s first mention of that birth is found in Genesis 3:15 where Jesus is described as being the Seed of the woman (in reference to His Virgin Birth). But almost 4,000 passed before He was actually born. That’s a long time.

In Galatians 4:4, we read these words:

But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. (N.K.J.V.)

Those words “when the fullness of the time had come” tell us that Christ’s birth was a scheduled event that took place right on time. As for why God the Father waited so long to send God the Son into the world, Warren Wiersbe has offered a possible explanation. In his commentary thoughts on Galatians 4:4, he wrote:

Historians tell us that the Roman world was in great expectation, waiting for a Deliverer, at the time when Jesus was born. The old religions were dying; the old philosophies were empty and powerless to change men’s lives. Strange new mystery religions were invading the empire. Religious bankruptcy and spiritual hunger were everywhere. God was preparing the world for the arrival of His Son.

From the historical point of view, the Roman Empire itself helped prepare the world for the birth of the Savior. Roads connected city with city, and all cities ultimately with Rome. Roman laws protected the rights of citizens, and Roman soldiers guarded the peace. Thanks to both the Greek and Roman conquests, Latin and Greek were known across the empire. Christ’s birth at Bethlehem was not an accident; it was an appointment: Jesus came in “the fullness of time. “(And, it is worth noting, that He will come again when the time is ready.)

This Christmas, as with every Christmas, we celebrate Christ’s first arrival into this world and recognize that we are one year closer to His second arrival into it. Additionally, we take comfort in knowing that God really does have a precise schedule from which He works. He’s not making it up as He goes along. He’s not listening to the daily news to discern the signs of the times. He’s not confused by recent events. No, He has a grand plan from which he works, and by way of that grand plan He will make everything beautiful in its time. He’s already proven that once with the birth of Jesus, and He has every intention of proving it again one day with the Second Coming of Jesus.

Posted in Christ's Birth, Christmas, God's Omnipotence, God's Timing, God's Sovereignty, God's Will, Waiting | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment