DAY 192 - One Life to Live

Ephesians 4:1-6 (RSV)  ¹ I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, ² with all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love, ³ eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. ⁴ There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, ⁵ one Lord, one faith, one baptism, ⁶ one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all.

Did you know that the word “responsible” is not found in Scripture? Some might say that while the word “responsible” may not be found the concept of being responsible certainly is. Perhaps it is. I have been wondering. In Jesus Christ, Paul has found a new way of life that is better than simply being a responsible law abiding Hebrew person, and he calls others to lead this called life, one that is responsive to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Some of us may think of a responsible life and a responsive life as the same thing. But consider the difference between driving a motorboat and a sailboat. In a motorboat, we are in control. We go where we want to or where we need to. In a sailboat, we hoist the sail and are utterly dependent on the wind that blows where it will. If there is no wind, we do not move. And if there is the slightest puff we respond and do what we need to do to catch the wind. That is the difference between the responsible life and the responsive life.

How responsive are we to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior? How much influence has Jesus been on our life? In this “fix it and fix it now world” some responsible people want to fix all problems and fix all people. But, we must practice forbearance with each other. Forbearance is not simply putting up with someone. It is not gritting your teeth and not trying to say anything. It is not simply overlooking something someone has done. The forbearance we see in Jesus is patience with hope. It is patience rooted in a confidence in what God can do. It is a confidence that remains unshaken by the seeming hopelessness of human behavior. It is good for the soul and good for those around us.

Has Jesus so influenced our life that we live with confidence that gives us forbearance? Bring peace. Jesus came to establish peace. His message explained peace. His death purchased peace. His Resurrection bestowed peace, and the presence of His Spirit continues to give peace.

To live responsibly is to try hard to live up to whatever image we have of a responsible person. To live responsively is to live in a state of self-surrender to Jesus in which the soul responds to every movement of Grace.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope July 9, 2000

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 191 - Hope for the New Year

Ecclesiastes 3:1-11 (NIV) ¹ There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: ² a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, ³ a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, ⁴ a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, ⁵ a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,  ⁶ a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, ⁷ a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, ⁸ a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. ⁹ What do workers gain from their toil? ¹⁰ I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. ¹¹ He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

Peace and prosperity are the twin hopes that have driven humanity for as long as we have a history of our hopes. The potential of our hopes is that they are very close to vision. A vision called Abraham out of Haran and sent him on a journey to a land called PROMISE.  A vision caught Moses in his tracks and brought him to Pharaoh with a command from God, “Let my people go.” A vision pulled David from tending sheep that he might bring peace and prosperity to Israel. The vision came to each one in a different way, with different promises and different commands. But always the vision was from God and for the fulfillment of God’s purpose on earth. Jesus came preaching the vision He called the Kingdom of God, a vision He said had come true in Him and would continue to come true in the days and centuries ahead.

What is this thing called vision that figures so prominently in the lives of God’s people? It is a conviction about the way God wants life to be and an understanding of how we are to contribute to that life. A vision is an overriding motive for our life. Do we have any kind of vision for our life this coming year about the kind of person God wants us to be, about the kind of things God wants us to accomplish? Even if we cannot see the vision in detail can we see an outline of God’s vision for our life?

Some people have a dream for their life rather than a vision. A dream is our desire for the future, a picture we have in our mind of the way we want our life to be some day. A dream comes from our own wishes and desires. A vision comes to us from God. A vision is something received rather than conceived. It comes to us rather than simply from within us.

A message of our culture is that belief in God may give some comfort, but in the real world listen only to yourself. Other claims are that God gave visions to people in times past but does so no longer, or that God gives vision still, only we are deaf and blind and callous to the vision. Is God silent? Or do we fail to give proper attention to the Word, to the picture of the vision given to us? Could it be that receiving the Vision is as simple and as difficult as giving time and attention to what God is giving us?

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope January 1993

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 190 - And You Call Yourself a Christian

John 7:16-18, 24 (NIV) ¹⁶ Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me. ¹⁷ Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. ¹⁸ Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory, but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him. ²⁴ Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.”

I John 2:1-6 (NIV) ¹ My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. ² He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. ³⁴ Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. ⁵ But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: ⁶ Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did. We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands.

“And you call yourself a Christian.” The remark digs deep. Is there any defense against the charge? We can try to dismiss the accusation by saying Christians are not perfect, only forgiven. But defenses seem to fall flat, for the truth is the charge is at least partly true. There is a gap between our profession and our performance. How do we close the gap?

Our most basic behavioral assignment is not to obey the Golden Rule nor is it even the command to love one another. We are to conform our life to the life of Jesus. Before we were called Christians we were called Followers of the Way. The work of the first disciples was not simply to study with Jesus or learn about Him, but to practice His life. The insight and inspiration they received from Jesus helped them find faithful answers to new problems and difficulties.

Walk in His way. Conform your life to Jesus. There are rules, but trying to obey them without the instruction and inspiration of Jesus is difficult and often confusing. Walk in His way. That is the assignment. By this we can be sure we abide in Him. Certainty about God becomes more solid as we walk in His way. God’s realness, God’s will, God’s work emerge from the shadows of wondering and doubt as we walk in His way. Many of us are fairly cautious people when it comes to action. We want to be absolutely sure before making a move, but if we act on whatever small glimmer of light we may have we will know more.

As we walk in His way we will sometimes succeed and will marvel that frail mortals such as we can in truth be remade and molded into the image of Jesus. Sometimes we will fail, but if Simon Peter is any example, there is still hope. For God works His will for us through our success and our failure.

“And you call yourself a Christian.” Yes. And thank you for reminding me.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope January 1993

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 189 - What is a Christian?

John 1:9-13 (NIV) ⁹ The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. ¹¹ He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. ¹² Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— ¹³ children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

From Ephesians 2 (NIV) But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace,  and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.  He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household,  built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.  And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

In the push and pull of life the understanding of what it means to be a Christian has a way of getting distorted. It is easy to drift away from a primary commitment in our life. There are crosscurrents we must battle to stay on course in our understanding of and commitment to being a Christian. The strength and genius of the Christian faith is not that we all agree or are always right, but that we are frequently corrected by that abiding Presence. Christianity is not a forced truth, but there is truth to what we believe that can be good for all people. 

Inwardly, a Christian is someone who has experienced a change in his or her relationship to God because of Jesus Christ. When the Scripture speaks basically about being a Christian it speaks about a basic change. Becoming a Christian is like moving from the orphanage into the home of God. Outwardly, a Christian is someone who expresses this change by a heartfelt commitment to Jesus Christ, to have an exclusive commitment to Jesus. It is a priority commitment that gives first place to Jesus and not to anyone or anything else. It rules out a commitment to the religion of money or to other religions.

Christianity is seen in our commitment to Jesus Christ who has bestowed upon us this gift. The channel God uses to reach us is different, but always there is the same truth that comes to us. It is the truth of God’s care and compassion and commitment to us seen in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope January 10, 1993

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 188 - How Soon We Forget

Deuteronomy 8:11-18 (NIV) ¹¹ Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. ¹² Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, ¹³ and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, ¹⁴¹⁵ He led you through the vast and dreadful wilderness, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. ¹⁶ He gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you. ¹⁷ You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” ¹⁸ But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today. 

Psalm 103:2 (NIV) Praise the LORD, my soul, and forget not all his benefits—

Most of us want to be grateful. Gratitude feels good. Gratitude lifts our spirits, lightens our load, enlarges our soul’s experience of the goodness of life. Gratitude brings us into harmony and love with other people. We ought to feel grateful. We want to feel grateful. But sometimes neither the command nor the desire is enough to stir the grandeur of gratitude within us. What is it that makes gratitude so hard for us today?

Our affluence is usually blamed as the culprit for a general lack of gratitude. We suffer from a kind of sensory overload that dulls our spirit of responsive gratitude. Affluence can make us grasping, greedy, and ungrateful. And if affluence is the culprit in making us ungrateful, then poverty ought to cure us. But, that doesn’t seem to be the case.  Both affluence and poverty can wear away a grateful spirit, but neither seems to be the real culprit. The real culprit that steals gratitude from our heart is not as threatening as poverty nor as slick as affluence. The crook is plain old respectable forgetfulness.

In the final analysis gratitude dies not so much from abuse as from neglect. Our thoughts and our worries and our feelings about poverty or wealth simply crowd out any thought of gratitude. The Psalmist does not say “O Lord do not let me lose the spirit of gratitude,” but rather “forget not.”

If gratitude can so easily be lost by forgetfulness, then the good news is that it can be recovered by remembering. And notice that it is the act of gratitude that we are to remember to do. There is nothing about remembering to feel grateful. Just do it, and the feeling will follow. Remember. Gratitude resists the growth of a callous spirit during the good times, and allows us to thank God for the benefits that come to us in hard times. Remember. Remember all God’s benefits. 

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope November 22, 1992

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 187 - More For Your Money

From Deuteronomy 8  (NIV) He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.  Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years   a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills;  a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; 

From Luke 16 (RSV) "There was a rich man who had a steward, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his goods. And he called him and said to him, `What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.' And the steward said to himself, `What shall I do, since my master is taking the stewardship away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do, so that people may receive me into their houses when I am put out of the stewardship.' So, summoning his master's debtors one by one, he said to the first, `How much do you owe my master?' He said, `A hundred measures of oil.' And he said to him, `Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.' Then he said to another, `And how much do you owe?' He said, `A hundred measures of wheat.' He said to him, `Take your bill, and write eighty.' The master commended the dishonest steward for his shrewdness; for the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous mammon, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal habitations. No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."

Money is powerful, and it can be a very destructive power until and unless we make friends with unrighteous mammon. We are to take money with all of its destructive power and bend it to a good use. We are to corral the might of money and make it into a servant. It takes a special kind of shrewdness to do this. Shrewdness is a special insight and is always profitable to the one who has it. The steward was shrewd. He used his master’s money to buy something that money could not buy. He bought some gratitude for canceling debt. He used the tangible to buy the intangible. Do we have that “shrewdness?” Do we know how to use the tangible to gain the intangible? 

Be shrewd … make friends with unrighteous mammon. Learn how to use and spend your money so that it brings kingdom living to your life. That is the heart and soul of this parable. Giving helps bring kingdom living into our life, but the parable is not about giving. It is about spending. The parable is a challenge for us to use all of our money to bring kingdom living into our life. God provided manna in the wilderness so that when the people entered the Promised Land they would be armed with the truth that God had provided. Most of us have had the same kind of teaching experience. We receive from unexpected sources and for unknown reasons and are gifted with the material things we need. Can we see through the myths so we can manage our money with Christian shrewdness?

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope November 15, 1992

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell

DAY 186 - From Recession to Recovery

Luke 12:15-23 (NIV) ¹⁵ Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” ¹⁶ And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. ¹⁷ He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ ¹⁸ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. ¹⁹ And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’ ²⁰ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’  ²¹ “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.” ²² Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. ²³ For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes.

II Corinthians 8:2-5 (NIV) ² In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. ³ For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, ⁴ they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people. ⁵ And they exceeded our expectations: They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us.

The belief that brings poverty is called “covetousness.” There are two Greek words for covet. One means “to fix passion upon,” and the other means “to have more.” A fair definition of covetousness is “to fix our passions upon having more.” Covetousness believes that “more” will satisfy. We are kept in a life of perpetual poverty by this belief that life does consist in the abundance of our possessions, and by the demand that we somehow deserve that abundance. This dulls our mind to poverty we inflict on ourselves.

What can break that cycle so that we can see the truth and receive those things that meet our real needs and bring a measure of joy and happiness to our life? The cycle of poverty is broken by the grace of God. The life of poverty believes “I must have, and I deserve.” The life of grace believes “I have received and I can share.” Grace and giving go together like humor and laughter, like a back rub and the sigh of pleasure. Grace can prompt our giving, or giving can prompt our experience of God’s grace. Every time we give, we let go of the belief that we must have. We subdue the demanding spirit. We recover from our dull narcissism. Some part of us may still believe that life does consist in the abundance of possessions, but we act on the belief that we have been gifted with the goodness of life. Our giving keeps open the window so that the joy of grace can blow gently into our life.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope November 1, 1992

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell