Between The Lines

Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee.

Psalm 63:3

Yesterday is history, and as much as we would like to change things in our life concerning yesterday, looking through the rearview mirror is in many ways a waste of time. Better, looking ahead because the future is there and completely unpredictable. All we have is today and today is the tomorrow that never came.

Friends from many places came down to my home over several days to celebrate this writer’s 83^rd birthday. One man said, “I have outlived all of my enemies and friends,” but I still have a few true friends left who enjoy visiting and eating with me.

The zenith was on last Sunday when two of my friends drove me to the country church, in which I grew up. The church was built by my great grandparents-- both maternal and paternal-- and was the center of the lives of my grandparents, parents and most relatives. It had been 15 years since I was in the church. I so well remember homecoming Sundays as a child, when people who, like me had been raised in that church, returned for the day. Many were old, but their minds were still alert with memories. Some, before they were seated, hearing the old hymns of their childhood, would begin weeping. It was truly a homecoming on this earth. Most were filled with the memories of their families and friends who had already experienced their “homegoing.” Can we even imagine the joy of our blessed Lord in his “homegoing” from this earth-- the world, which He had created, the earth and everything in it, where he lived very much like us for 33 years. Those of us who know His redemption will only experience clinical death, because we were born twice (physical birth-- chosen by God-- and the new birth, when we became filled with the righteousness of God).

Just as no one but my father had cut my hair, prior to me attending college, I did not know about other churches. And, since college, throughout the many times returning as a visitor (my life and Christian walk is filled with activities in other churches and denominations) I always tried to sit in the second pew from the pulpit, on the left (the left-hand side of the church from the front door, the side on which the women sat-- the men sat on the right side. The partition dividing the church down the center was still there during my childhood.) The first image in my mind, as a child from probably 3 years of age (I have used this every time I have spoken in a Free Will Baptist church and other FWB groups, as well as their graduation exercise), watching my mother on that side of the church, on her knees, washing the feet of another saint of God (foot washing is part of the communion service of the FWB denomination). Perhaps this one image has been the foundation, guidepost, and frame of reference of my life.

Recently my assistant and I rewrote my obituary-- the usual ancestry, education, military, professional, civic, travel, business, and life. The thought occurred to me over and over that it is life “between the lines,” the hyphen on the tombstone, between date of birth and death, which makes the difference-- the difference between the believer and nonbeliever, those who think the cause of Christ is foolishness, and those of us who believe with all our personhood that the cause of Christ is everything in living. As I sat in this church, built in 1874, on truly holy ground, sightless, everything remained in my mind as is was 60 - 80 years ago when I had good sight. I remembered the many who had been such an inspiration in my life. Those who’s trust and faith I clung to when I had the doubts, brought on by the trials of this world.

For us to really understand the mercies and mission of God, we must put flesh and blood on the people we have known as well as the bible’s saints, of which we have read. We can understand why God laughs when the creatures of the creator forget “who is boss.” (Psalm 2:2) Probably those, before the flood of Noah, those building the Tower of Babel, even the first Jew, and his decedents, wanted God to be in their image, instead of them being in God’s image. The history of the Jewish people is given for our understanding-- the understanding that God does not “play around” with us.

Onlookers would have believed that those in the Jewish nation, following the laws of God, were just foolish and wasteful: ceremonial law, presenting burnt offerings to God, a sweet savour to him, burning unblemished animals. (Genesis 8:20) If the priest, who’s job it was to sacrifice the animals, was not totally committed and God-fearing, he may have compromised and cut corners. Do you suppose a priest, making sacrifice of a calf, bullock, or sheep, inspecting to make sure the animal was perfect inside, as well as outside, was thinking, “This bullock has a nice liver; I would like some liver for supper.” God did not want a sweet savour from a liverless animal, any more than he wants a half hearted, hypocritical testimony, witness, and offering from any so-called Christian this day-- particularly after He gave his only son to save us from our sins. Think of the 20,000 oxen, and sheep without number (too many sheep to count), sacrificed at the dedication of Solomon’s temple, which is still, to this day, the greatest building ever built. Think of it, a building of cedar wood, brass, silver, and gold, a building built without the sound of hammer or saw, the cedar wood cut from the cedar trees of Lebanon, traversing the Mediterranean sea and then over land to Jerusalem, the foundation of the temple being the same size of the Great Pyramid of Giza (13 acres).

We no longer make burnt offerings, sweet savours through smoke, to God. Our unbelieving world would believe our offering to be foolishness-- our giving, foolishness. Even Jesus’ own disciple, Judas, when the alabaster box of ointment was broken on the body of the Lord, said, “Why this waste.” (John 12) I still remember one of my own aunts, after I made large financial gifts to churches and colleges said, “Thomas, you’d better be careful with giving away your money.” She considered giving to churches to be foolishness. The early Jewish nation knew they could not out-give God-- they had experienced his presence, a parting sea, a shaking mountain. We have no record of any regrets in keeping the ceremonial law.  Between the lines, those of us who have known the joys of Christian living and giving-- know the joy of presenting our own bodies as living sacrifices.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Romans 12:1-2