Why Do Britain’s Lawyers & Judges Wear Robes & Wigs?

Posted on July 1, 2020 by russellmckinney

Did you know that British lawyers (the word is “barristers” over there) and judges still wear robes and white wigs in court? Think about that. Here we are in the 21st century, and yet you can walk into a British courtroom today and see people who look like they just time-warped in from the 17th century.

As for why this traditional attire remains in use, a variety of reasons are offered. First, the robes and wigs serve as historical reminders that Britain has had law and order for centuries. Second, they symbolically convey the idea that once the lawyer or judge puts on the robe and wig, he sets himself apart from his own opinions, preferences, and prejudices and becomes the humble servant of the law. Third, the wigs serve the practical purpose of making it harder to recognize the lawyers and judges outside the courtroom, thus lessening the chances of public harassment.

Ah, but the times do seem to be changing. In 2007, Baron Phillips of Worth Matravers, who was then serving as The Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, rendered a ruling that stated that wigs would no longer be worn during civil or family cases. That ruling also called for judges to consistently wear one type of robe, as opposed to the common practice of wearing different colored robes depending upon either the jurisdiction or the season of the year. As for criminal cases, the ruling called for the continued wearing of robes and wigs during those trials, but even that standard is now coming under increasing criticism as being outdated and useless.

This business of what to do with tradition can certainly become very tricky very quickly. We’re seeing that in news stories here in America every day. What should be done about monuments erected to certain Confederate heroes from the Civil War? What should be done about schools and other institutions that bear the names of famous men who weren’t exactly free from all racial bias? What should be done about “Columbus Day” in light of the fact that history records some of Christopher Columbus’ atrocities against indigenous peoples? If you think there are easy, simplistic answers to these questions, you don’t know Americans.

For me, one byproduct of watching all these controversies play out has been a renewed appreciation of the fact that my true citizenship is located in heaven. As Philippians 3:20 says to Christians: “For our citizenship is in heaven…” Being a citizen of God’s heavenly kingdom means that while I pay my taxes to the governments of the United States, the state of North Carolina, the county of Mitchell, and the city of Spruce Pine, I’m simply passing through these territories as I make my way to heaven. Long after all these realms have ceased to exist, I’ll still be a citizen of the heavenly kingdom. That’s why I shouldn’t sink my roots too deeply into any kingdom of this world.

Traditions aren’t always lasting, and history gets written by the winners, but Jesus Christ is eternal, and when the last page of history is written He’ll be the one who writes it. This places me in prime position because He is my Savior, Shepherd, Bridegroom, and (back to the idea of heaven’s kingdom) King. So, while I really don’t know what is going to happen with the Confederate monuments, the names on buildings, Columbus day, or those robes and wigs in British courtrooms, I do know there is soon coming a time when none of these things will matter.

Tell me, does the promise of a time without the traditional trappings of nations, states, counties, cities, and courtrooms unsettle you? If it does, then that is a clear indication that you either haven’t placed saving belief in Jesus or you have a wrong idea about what your future with Him will look like. Remember, Jesus isn’t trying to save all our venerable institutions. That would be like trying to put new wine into old wineskins (Mark 2:22). Instead, He’s bringing in a whole new kingdom, His kingdom. I’m a citizen of that kingdom. Are you?

Posted in Current Events, Government, Heaven, Salvation | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Even Satan Is Under God’s Control

Posted on June 29, 2020 by russellmckinney

Some Christians seem to operate under the mentality that Satan is bigger than God.  These folks would do well to pay closer attention to the story of Job. Sure, God let Satan take a couple of runs at Job, but those runs came with restrictions. For the first run, Satan couldn’t do anything to Job’s physical body (Job 1:12). For the second one, he could injure Job’s body but couldn’t literally kill him (Job 2:6). The point in both cases was that God was in control of Satan. Satan couldn’t do anything that God didn’t first allow.

We find this same truth on display in Revelation 2:8-11, where Jesus warns the Christians of Smyrna that Satan was about to throw some of them into prison. The warning meant that Satan was going to work through some ungodly people — perhaps the unbelieving Jews whom Jesus referred to as “the synagogue of Satan” — to persecute the Smyrna Christians by having some of them arrested. You ask, “Why would God allow such a thing?” Jesus’ answer was that God was going to use the whole ordeal as a testing of those Christians’ faith. But Jesus also explained that the testing/tribulation/persecution would be limited to ten days (Revelation 2:10). Note that: ten days, no more, no less. I favor the interpretation of the days being 24-hour days, but even if they were years or specific periods of persecution, the fact remains that God limited the number to ten.

A third example of this truth is found in Satan formally requesting that God allow him to sift Peter (Luke 22:31). Because the Greek word translated as “you” in the verse is plural, Satan’s request extended to all the apostles, not just Peter. Here again, though, we find that Satan couldn’t do what he wanted to do without first asking God’s permission. His will had to bend to God’s will. God controlled not only what he could do but also how long he could do it.

Christian, I encourage you to claim this great truth anytime you sense that Satan is coming hard at you. I won’t tell you that your time of testing/tribulation/persecution will be easy to endure, but I will tell you that it won’t last one second longer than God allows. Furthermore, it won’t be one degree more difficult than He allows. Job, the Christians of Smyrna, Peter, and the other apostles (minus Judas Iscariot, of course) got through their bouts with Satan and came out the other end of them to serve God again. And, believe it or not, so will you. Perseverance is required on your part, though, enough perseverance to see the process through to its scheduled end. That’s the end that God has had in mind for it from the get-go, and it’s the one that Satan just won’t be able to extend no matter how hard he tries. You might question why God is allowing Satan to treat you so harshly, and you might also question why God is allowing the treatment to last as long as it is, but don’t ever doubt that God remains in ultimate control of the situation. His stopwatch for the event is ticking, and He won’t let Satan color outside the ordeal’s acceptable lines in even the slightest way.

Posted in Adversity, Doubt, God's Timing, God's Sovereignty, Perseverance, Satan, Spiritual Warfare, The Devil, Trials, Trusting In God, Waiting | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

A Word to the Confused

Posted on June 26, 2020 by russellmckinney

We are definitely living in confusing times, but we aren’t the first people ever to do so. The fact is that life turned confusing following Adam and Eve’s sin and has stayed that course for some 6,000 years now. No matter how devout a Christian you are, no matter how much spiritual discernment you have, you’ll never get the answers to all the questions you’ll have this side of heaven. You just won’t.

The notable preacher Vance Havner was one of God’s most powerful voices and pens for over seventy years, but in 1973 he lost Sara, his beloved wife of thirty-three years, to a disease that rendered her an invalid before it finally took her. The ordeal was devastating to Havner. He wanted to know why God allowed Sara to suffer like she did. He wanted to know why God allowed her to die. He wanted to know how a helper like her could ever be replaced.

Havner lived another thirteen years after Sara’s death, but he never got the complete answers to all his questions. That didn’t stop him, though, for preaching about and writing about that gut-wrenching, faith-testing time in his life. His book, Though I Walk Through the Valley, is the classic work in which he dives deep into the whole ordeal. Here are a few of his quotes from that book:

“One thing I’ve learned in my journey through the Valley  — I am not the only one who has traveled this trail. Every day I meet some fellow pilgrim. Almost every other person I talk with has been scarred by tragedy, bereavement, suffering.”

“…my fellow traveler, wending your way through dangers, toils, and snares you will meet a host of kindred souls. You have joined the brotherhood at the price of heartache and tears.”

“People often try to sympathize, but you have to go through this to know what it is like. You cannot share by imagination or observation. You have been there or you haven’t.”

“There is not much I dread from here on out. When one has drained the bitterest cup he is better prepared for any other potion that life may serve.”

To Havner’s credit, he never allowed his unanswered questions to destroy his faith in God. His frequent response to the line, “I’m so sorry that you lost your wife” became, “You haven’t lost something when you know where (heaven) it is.” Even in Though I Walk Through the Valley, he continued to point people to Jesus by saying of Christ’s own suffering and death:

“Nobody ever walked through so dark a Valley and He walked it by Himself. We can never suffer as He did, die as he died. He has been through the Valley and we need fear no evil for He walks it with us.”

In his sermon “Playing Marbles With Diamonds,” which was printed in book form in the book Playing Marbles With Diamonds and Other Messages for America, Havner again expressed his faith in God even in the aftermath of losing Sara. The quote is so good that anything I might add to it for additional commentary would only lessen it. Therefore, I’ll just offer it as the close to this post. Christian, I hope Havner’s words speak to your heart as much as they do to mine:

“When before the throne we stand in Him complete, all the riddles that puzzle us here will fall into place and we shall know in fulfillment what we now believe in faith — that all things work together for good in His eternal purpose. No longer will we cry “My God, why?” Instead, “alas” will become “Alleluia,” all question marks will be straightened into exclamation points, sorrow will change to singing, and pain will be lost in praise.”

Posted in Adversity, Anger, Attitude, Belief, Christ's Death, Comfort, Death, Depression, Disappointment, Doubt, Encouragement, Eternity, Faith, God's Love, God's Omnipotence, God's Omniscience, God's Sovereignty, Heaven, Sickness, Suffering, Trials, Trusting In God | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Beware of the Devil’s Shortcut

Posted on June 24, 2020 by russellmckinney

An elderly gentleman’s hearing reached the point where he needed a hearing aid. He did some investigating and found that a good one would cost him $8,000. Not being willing to pay that much, he kept searching until he found a company that advertised one for a mere $8. So, he went down to the company’s location and was met by a salesman. He told the salesman, “I’d like to see one of your $8 hearing aids.” The salesman promptly pulled out a button attached to a string and said, “Just stick this button in your ear and run this string down to your pocket.” The elderly fellow studied the flimsy contraption for a moment and asked, “How exactly does this thing work?” The salesman said, “It doesn’t, but when people see you wearing it, they’ll talk louder.”

Many times we Christians operate like that elderly gentleman in that we try to find easier ways of addressing our problems. But you know what? Sometimes there just isn’t an easier way, not if we want the issue truly resolved. Sure, you can put a band-aid on a shotgun wound, but all that will do is enable you to feel like you’ve done something when you really haven’t.

Our churches, in particular, are notorious for taking the “button on a string” approach to serious problems. “What’s the least we can get by with?” “What’s the cheapest way to fix it?” “What’s the easiest way around this situation?” These questions and others like them ring throughout our churches almost as much as the tolling of our church bells. And if solving a problem requires having a face-to-face encounter with a difficult person, well, that’s when we get wildly inventive in developing new buttons and new strings.

I’m so glad that when Jesus addressed the problem of mankind’s sins, He didn’t take the devil’s shortcut. That shortcut was offered directly to Him by Satan himself during Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. As part of that temptation, Satan showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and said, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me” (Matthew 4:9; Luke 4:6). That, you see, was Satan’s attempt at getting Jesus to miss the cross. It was his way of saying, “Jesus, you can have the rule of the world without having to die for the sins of the people who occupy the world.” Jesus, however, refused to take that shortcut. Instead, He set His face toward Jerusalem and the crucifixion death He would die there (Luke 9:51).

Could it be that you are right now facing a specific problem for which you have competing solutions? One solution is the harder one, the correct one, the Lord’s required course of action. The other solution is the easier one, the wrong one, the devil’s shortcut. Like that elderly gentleman, you can take the button-and-string approach, but you’ll just have to revisit the problem again, won’t you? That’s why I encourage you to set your face toward that more difficult solution the Lord wants you to perform. No, that solution won’t be easy, and, yes, it might cost you something. The good news, though, is that it will carry its own reward with it in that it will give you the deep-settled inner peace that only comes from doing God’s will. That inner peace, of course, is priceless, and I hope you’ll agree with me that it sure does beat walking around with a button in your ear.

Posted in Choices, Christ's Death, Church, Church Discipline, Decisions, God's Will, Inner Peace, Problems, Satan, The Devil | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Do You Have to Get the Credit?

Posted on June 22, 2020 by russellmckinney

Have you ever performed an uncredited act of service for the Lord? I’m talking about a deed for which your name went totally without mention and you received no worldly credit whatsoever. If you have, then you can relate to a certain unnamed man of God who served as God’s voice to Eli, Israel’s High Priest.

1 Samuel 2:27-36 tells us this man of God went to Eli and opened his conversation with the words, “Thus says the Lord…” What follows are no less than ten verses that provide the details of the judgment that was soon to fall upon Eli, his two sons, and the rest of his lineage. Then, once God’s message is delivered, no mention is ever made again of the unnamed man of God.

The human race can be divided along many different classification lines, but let me mention two that we don’t normally consider: people who have to get credit for everything they do and people who don’t want any credit. Tell me, which camp do you think you are in? Perhaps the better question is, which camp would those who know you best place you in?

In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus instructs His followers to do their acts of Christian service in secret so that no one will know who did them (Matthew 6:1-4). As He puts it, “Don’t even let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.” Why? He explains: “If you do your acts of service in the audience of others, whatever earthly reward you receive from that audience will be the end of your reward. But if you do your acts of service in secret, God the Father will see them in secret and reward you with rewards that can only come from Him.”

Of course, we know that some acts of Christian service simply cannot be done in secret. For example, preaching a sermon to a congregation is by necessity a very public event. Christ’s point, however, gets to the core of the individual’s motivation for performing the act of service. Is the individual doing the act purely out of humble devotion to Christ? Or is he or she doing it as a way to impress any potential onlookers?

Similarly, Jesus follows up His instructions about performing acts of service in secret by also singing the praises of praying in secret (Matthew 6:5-15) and fasting in secret (Matthew 6:16-18). In both instances, He again promises that such activities done outside the public eye will be rewarded by the God who sees everything (Matthew 6:6, 18). Here again the issue involves motivation. Why are you praying? Why are you fasting? Are you trying to get ahead with men or with God? That’s the crux of the issue.

I once heard a preacher say, “I want to be real when it comes to serving Jesus.” Well, real doesn’t always receive the compliments. It doesn’t always make the headlines. It isn’t always mentioned in the church bulletin. Sometimes it’s a servant of God delivering a message from God and then fading into historical obscurity. Sometimes it’s praying all by yourself when no one can hear you but God. Sometimes it’s entering into a time of fasting without letting anyone else know that you are fasting. Whatever it is and wherever it is, real is you doing something for Jesus without expecting any worldly reward in return.

You say, “But Jesus, by way of the four gospels, certainly got worldly credit for all of His acts of service.” Did He? The closing verse of the gospel of John tells us that if everything that Jesus did had been written down, the world wouldn’t be able to contain the books that would be written about those acts. That tells me that more of Jesus’ deeds were lost to history than were preserved. Therefore, even in this area He has left us with the perfect example to follow. He didn’t have to have the earthly credit for every last act of service that He performed and neither should we.

Posted in Doing Good, God's Work, Humility, Ministry, Missions, Pride, Service | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

One Father’s Timely Word

Posted on June 19, 2020 by russellmckinney

G. Campbell Morgan, who was one of the greatest Bible teachers who ever lived, preached his first sermon when he was just twelve years old. Once he reached adult age, however, his preaching was forced to take a secondary role after he accepted a job as a teacher in order to help his family’s financial situation. He did keep preaching, though, preaching whenever and wherever he could, and eventually he was fortunate enough to be asked to speak at his area’s follow-up services that took place in the aftermath of popular evangelist Gipsy Smith’s evangelistic campaign. Those follow-up services drew hundreds of people, and Morgan did a good job of preaching to those crowds.

The success of those services instilled in Morgan a fresh burden to forego his job as a teacher and enter into the ministry as a full-time occupation. His problem was that despite his natural abilities as a preacher he had no formal education for the role. To gain that education, he applied for enrollment in the Methodist/Wesleyan path of ordination. The year was 1888 and Morgan was one of 150 candidates for enrollment that year.

Initially, things went well as Morgan passed his doctrinal examinations, but then came his trial sermon. Logically speaking he shouldn’t have had any trouble preaching such a sermon, but the logistics of the site threw him off his game. Whereas he had recently been accustomed to preaching to crowds in the hundreds with hardly an empty seat to be found, his trial sermon was conducted in a massive auditorium that seated over 1,000 but that day only had seventy-five in attendance to accompany the three ministers who served as the council of judges. Consequently, those three ministers were unimpressed by Morgan’s sermon and two weeks later when their list of those whom they were rejecting as candidates was displayed, his name was one of the 105 on it.

Shortly after reading his name on the list, Morgan sent a telegram to inform his father of the news. The telegram consisted of one word: “Rejected.” Morgan then sat down and wrote in his diary: “Very dark, everything seems. Still, He knoweth best.” His spirits were lifted, however, when his father, who was a preacher himself of the Independent Baptist variety, sent a return telegram. It read: “Rejected on earth. Accepted in heaven. Dad.”

Three months following Morgan’s rejection by the Methodist/Wesleyan council, he married his girlfriend Annie (better known as “Nancy”) and settled into the life of an itinerant evangelist. For a full year he preached whenever and wherever he could until finally there came a time when the Congregational church in the little town of Stone in England’s Staffordshire county appointed him as pastor. He still didn’t have any formal schooling for the ministry, but the Congregationalist denomination was not as demanding as the Methodist/Wesleyan denomination in regards to their requirements for ordination, and Morgan was ordained as a Congregationalist minister soon after becoming pastor. From those humble beginnings he went on to become internationally known as “the prince of expository preachers” throughout the English-speaking world. Among his many pastorates, he served two separate tenures for a total of twenty-three years as the pastor of London’s Westminster Chapel, one of the Congregationalist denominations greatest churches.

My point in providing all this information is to show that at the lowest point of G. Campbell Morgan’s life his father was there with an encouraging word. What an awesome responsibility a father has to provide such a word when he senses that his child is sorely in need of it. This Father’s Day may I commit myself to being such a father to my two sons, and if you yourself have such a father or had one count yourself among the blessed. Could it be that we’d produce more Christians on the spiritual level of G. Campbell Morgans if we had more fathers like his? You never know. You just never know.

Posted in Family, Fatherhood, Preaching | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

God Is Working For You

Posted on June 17, 2020 by russellmckinney

A mother was busy preparing lunch for her young daughter. The little girl came into the kitchen, stood on her tiptoes to try to see above the counter, and asked, “Mommy, what are you doing?” The mother answered, “I’m working.” Not being satisfied with that answer, the daughter asked again, “What are you doing?” The mother again replied, “I’m working.” This time with more frustration in her voice, the girl said, “But mommy, I can’t see what you are doing.” To that, the mother said, “I know — but you’re just going to have to trust me that I’m working for you.”

How many times in our lives could God say this same thing to us? We have questions. We are confused. We can’t see what He is doing. And so we ask Him, “Lord, what are you doing?” But we either get no reply or, at best, “I’m working.” That puts the squarely ball in our court. Will we trust Him during such times? Will we stick with Him, choosing to believe that He loves us even when the evidence seems to suggest otherwise? Or will we run off from Him, angry that He hasn’t given us the full answer that we desire?

Job had ten children and was the wealthiest man of the East until there came a day, a single day, in which his ten children were all killed in a tragic event and his enemies robbed him of his wealth (Job 1:1-19). Sometime shortly afterward Job’s body was struck from head to toe with painful oozing boils that caused him to have to sit and scrape himself with a broken piece of pottery (Job 2:1-8). Why did these things happen to Job? The Biblical story explains to the reader that it was all the result of God turning Job over to Satan for a while. At the time, however, Job himself wasn’t privy to this knowledge. Therefore, the only thing he could surmise was that God had done it all to him (Job 1:20-21; 2:9-10).

But in the wake of everything that had happened to him, Job made a remarkable statement. He said:

Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him… (Job 13:15, N.K.J.V.)

Trust God even when we think He is the one who is killing us? Friend, that’s a level of trust that most people just can’t muster. It’s no wonder that God told Satan that there was none like Job on the face of the earth (Job 1:8). You see, God trusted how Job would respond to adversity because He knew how much Job trusted Him.

It could be that right now you are going through a difficult time. You have questions. You are confused. You want to know what God is doing. Like that little girl who wasn’t tall enough to see the kitchen counter plainly, you are frustrated because you can’t see God at work. Well, I guess what you must ask yourself is, “Will I trust God even when I don’t know what He is doing? Will I trust that He loves me? Will I trust that He knows what’s best for me? Will I trust that His wisdom is perfect and that His decisions are always the right ones?”

During such times you would do well to remember that you are dealing with a heavenly Father who loved you enough to send His Son to die to pay your sin debt so that you might believe in that Son and thereby have all your sins forgiven. That, friend, is how much you are loved. And it’s by looking at Jesus on the cross that you can know for a certainty that even when you can’t see God at work in your life, He really is working for you.

Posted in Adversity, Anger, Belief, Christ's Death, Disappointment, Doubt, Faith, God's Love, God's Work, Impatience, Needs, Patience, Perseverance, Trials, Trusting In God, Waiting | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

What Can You Do to Help?

Posted on June 15, 2020 by russellmckinney

I am 53 years old and have never seen days such as these. Pick your headline: Covid-19, social distancing, police brutality, race riots, the Confederate Flag, Civil War monuments, polarizing politicians, etc., etc., etc. I recently talked with one man who said, “I don’t watch the news anymore, not any of it. I just turned it all off.” I have to admit that his approach would have its benefits.

Living in such a time makes attempting to make a difference for Jesus even more complicated than it already is. How can we, as Christians, be “salt” and “light” to a world that seems determined to remain saltless and dark? How can we do our part to promote justice when injustice seems inherently built into every situation we encounter? How can we let our voices be heard when all they would do is add to the deafening din of noise that has been created by everybody’s voice already being heard?

Some Christians are posting on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Others are taking to the streets to join protest marches. Others don’t really know what to do and so they are just spending more time in prayer. The whole situation has reminded me of a quote that I picked up somewhere along the way from John Stott, the noted theologian who died a few years ago. He wrote:

People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest men with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men with the smallest minds. Think big anyway.

People favor underdogs, but follow only top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.

People really need help, but may attack you if you do help them. Help them anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and you’ll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you have anyway.

Stott’s point was that serving Christ in this fallen world can oftentimes get downright messy. That’s why logic and common sense might tell us, “Don’t do it.” And God help you if you are a Christian who demands to see worldly rewards from your acts of service. Good luck with that.

Still, though, this world does need loving. It does need good done in it and to it. It does need help. As the old saying says to Christians, we are the only Jesus that some people will ever see. Or if you prefer, another old saying implores Christians to be Christ’s hands, feet, and voice today. Both sayings carry the same meaning: Christ’s followers bear the awesome responsibility of continuing His ministry today. So, Christian, stay on your knees in prayer asking the Lord to show you how to play your role in that, and then get up off your knees and go out and do whatever it is He tells you to do.

Posted in Commitment, Current Events, Discipleship, Doing Good, Faithfulness, God's Work, Influence, Prayer, Service, Spiritual Gifts, Talents | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Fanning Your Inner Flame

Posted on June 12, 2020 by russellmckinney

Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you… (2 Timothy 1:6, N.K.J.V.)

J. Glenn Campbell tells the story of a family who many years ago ran a sheep farm in Australia. Each year the family struggled to eke out enough to earn a living through the sale of their wool. Occasionally they would be forced to slaughter a sheep just to have something to eat.

One day a geologist happened to be passing through the area on his way to do some work in Australia’s mining districts. The family, who rarely got to enjoy company, happily invited him to join them for tea. During the visit the geologist noticed a large black stone the family was using as a doorstop. He asked, “May I see this?” The family son answered, “Go ahead; it’s just an old rock my father dragged in years ago. He said it looked interesting, so we’ve been using it as a doorstop ever since.”

The geologist spat upon his thumb and rubbed the saliva across the stone. Then he tried using his fingernail to scratch the stone. Having no luck, he pulled out his pocketknife and used it in an attempt to scratch the stone. Still having no luck, he pushed his diamond ring along the stone’s surface. When that didn’t work his eyes opened wide and he announced to the family that their old stone was actually an extremely rare, extremely valuable black star sapphire. Not long afterward the family sold it to a gemstone brokerage for several hundred thousand pounds.

That family had been using that stone as a doorstop for over thirty years! Can you imagine such a thing? Every day they scrimped, saved, worried, and lived hand-to-mouth. Every year they struggled to stay in business just one more year. But all the while they were the owners of an vastly underappreciated treasure.

The truth is that such underappreciated treasures are lying around all over the place. No, they aren’t valuable stones that can be sold for exorbitant prices. They are, instead, talents, skills, abilities, and spiritual gifts that God wants to use to bring great blessings not only to those who possess them but to those who could benefit from their use.

In our text verse, Paul tells Timothy to stir up the gift that was within Timothy. The Greek verb translated as “stir up” is anazopureo, and it is the combination of three Greek words: ana (which means “up” or “again”), zoos (which means “alive), and pur (which means “fire). The metaphoric word picture is one of Timothy’s spiritual gifting being an inner fire that needed to be kept in full flame lest it die out through neglect.

The Bible teaches that each Christian has been given at least one spiritual gift that is to be used in service to Christ. This gifting is imparted by way of the indwelling Holy Spirit who takes up residence within the person the moment he or she exhibits saving belief. This gift is given in addition to the individual’s inborn talents, skills, and abilities. Those were built into the person by God as part of the person’s natural birth, but the spiritual gift is a direct byproduct of the person’s spiritual rebirth in Christ.

Right now let me encourage you to do a self-evaluation and honestly assess what you are doing — or what you aren’t doing — with your talents, skills, and abilities. Furthermore, if you are a Christian, you should honestly assess how you are using — or how you aren’t using — your spiritual gift. Maybe God has you reading this because it’s time for you to fan the flame inside you of something that is lying dormant. And if that’s the case, please don’t drag your feet concerning the assignment because you are no doubt sitting on something wonderfully rare, something that will not only bring great blessing to others but to you as well.

Posted in God's Work, Individuality, Ministry, Service, Spiritual Gifts, The Holy Spirit | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

God’s Hand & God’s Shoulder

Posted on June 10, 2020 by russellmckinney

For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, Saying to you, ‘Fear not, I will help you.’ (Isaiah 41:13, N.K.J.V.)

The Lord your God, who goes before you, He will fight for you, according to all He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness where you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, in all the way that you went until you came to this place. (Deuteronomy 1:30-31, N.K.J.V.)

A lawyer landed a job at a law firm in New York city and moved his family to the metropolis. As a way of getting to know the city, he began taking his young son on long walks around town. The custom was for the boy to hold tightly to his father’s pinkie. But one day the little guy became very tired and was barely able to keep hold of the pinkie. He looked up at his father and said, “Daddy, I can’t hold on to you much longer. If you want us to keep walking together, you’re just going to have to take hold of my hand.”

Christianity means walking with the Lord, but sometimes we Christians get like that young son. The walking makes us so tired that we feel like we can’t hold on much longer. During such times each of us should take the little boy’s example and say, “Lord, if you want us to keep walking together, you’re just going to have to take hold of my whole hand.” That’s where the Isaiah 41:13 reference comes into play.

As for the Deuteronomy 1:30-31 reference, some of the fondest memories that I have are of carrying my two sons when they were little fellows. It was a nightly ritual that I would pick them up in my arms, carry them to their beds, kiss their foreheads, and make sure they were tucked in for the night. I can still remember each of those heavy heads flopped over onto my shoulder as I made my way through the house.

You see, those moments illustrate the times of our lives when we can’t even stand on our own feet anymore. I’m talking about days and nights when us holding onto God’s pinkie or even Him holding onto our hand isn’t enough. Those are the times when we need Him to just pick us up and carry us, as He carried the nation of Israel through the wilderness and into Canaan.

Perhaps you are in such a time right now. If you are, let me encourage you to allow God to carry you to where He wants you to go. Tell Him that you are too tired to hold onto His pinkie. Tell Him that Him holding onto your hand will only result in Him having to drag you along. Tell Him that you need to rest your tired head upon His strong shoulder. Remember, Christian, this is one of the greatest privileges of your salvation, the privilege of having God bear you up when you can no longer do it yourself. So never fail to claim this privilege anytime you need it, and know that your heavenly father will be more than happy to play that role for you. I know that I sure do wish that I could travel back in time and play it for my children once again.

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