Through the Keyhole of Grace

phil@heartlight.org (Phil Ware) — Mon, 20 Jul 2015 02:00:00 -0500

What can we learn about God by looking at Jesus?

When I was a little boy many years ago, my mom would occasionally take my brothers and me to see her beloved Aunt Irene. For little boys, Aunt Irene was more than a great-aunt; she was a memorable experience! My Aunt Irene had a high-pitched, scratchy voice. Her gray-turning-white hair was always well coiffed. Most memorable to me as a little boy, this beloved aunt caked her face with powder. This powder would make your nose itch if you got too close. Every hug left a powder mark of her face on your clothes. She always wore bright lipstick with bright red rouge on her cheeks. She always wore high heels, but in her older years, they were what we called the old lady version of high heels - shorter and thicker heels with a big strap over her ankle. This special aunt lived in a beautiful old house in a very nice part of a fashionable Houston suburb. The house smelled a little stuffy despite being immaculately clean. This odor was probably due to the seldom-used upstairs bedrooms. The cabinets, the furniture, the drapes, the plumbing fixtures, the doorknobs, and even the locks screamed old yet once quite nice. As boys, we were always too noisy for older people. However, we learned at Aunt Irene's house that silence bought us time for exploration of the old and wonderfully strange house. This exploring was especially true of the upstairs. Several of the rooms had their doors shut. (The doors probably were shut to ease the expense of cooling and dehumidifying the big old house in the hot and muggy Houston summers.) We would, however, pretend that behind those doors were all sorts of mysteries and dark secrets. Walking as quietly down the hall as we possibly could, the old wood floors would often creak under the carpet. This creaking was even truer when we approached a closed door. Little-by-little, we would muster the courage to peer through one of those old style keyholes that used a skeleton key. The fact that they required a skeleton key made the keyholes spookier and even more mysterious. The closer we got to the keyhole, the more we could see what was on the other side of the door. Sooner or later, one of us moved our eye closer and closer to the keyhole. The closer we got, the more we could see inside the darkened room. Then, one of our brothers or cousins would push the back of the head of the brave one peeking through the keyhole. The door went thud and rattle as the forehead smacked the door knob. The old door would rattle, the floors would creak, and all of us little boys would run down the stairs whooping and hollering with a mixture of terror and delight. We would get scolded for making too much noise. All of this, of course, left the darkened rooms upstairs even more mysterious and alluring, which guaranteed we would do it all over again on the next visit. Recently, I was doing my daily Bible reading through the Gospel of John. I try to read on average, one chapter per day from one of the Gospels. As I was reading, Jesus said these words:

If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him (John 14:7).

John emphasizes that Jesus was God in human flesh. He wanted us to know that Jesus was God with us and that Jesus on earth was making known and doing the will of the Father. Yet for some reason - I trust it was the leading of the Holy Spirit - the image of peering through the keyhole at Aunt Irene's came back to me as I thought about this truth. At that moment, I understood Jesus as the keyhole through whom I look and see God. The closer I get to Jesus - just like with the keyhole - the clearer and greater detail of God's truth I can see, understand, and share with others. This insight challenged me to draw closer to Jesus. I can only know God more fully by knowing Jesus more intimately. I felt called to spend more focused time in the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) so that I can know what Jesus said and did when he was on earth. Most of all, it dared me to be a disciple - one whom when fully trained becomes fashioned to be like his or her teacher (Luke 6:40). Of course, my memories of Aunt Irene's house with her keyholes, creaky hallways, and locked rooms on the second floor challenged me even more. I reminded myself that I often allow my fear of the unknown to keep me from really delving into the story of Jesus. I find myself easily distracted, never really getting to know him and not just know a little about him. In addition, I realized that I've sometimes allowed the disapproval and interference of those I know who don't share my passion for Jesus to steal me away from my pursuit of the Savior. As I look around today, I notice a lot of Aunt Irene keyhole Christians. They do a lot of talking about Jesus - what he had to say or what he didn't have to say. They play at knowing what is on the other side of the door but refuse to take the risk and draw close enough to the keyhole to really see what is on the other side of the door. They talk about what they think Jesus said or did, but they don't really know the Jesus of the gospels. Their Jesus is a Savior of their own making - a Jesus made up of hearsay, rumor, suspicion, legend, and personal choice. They only get close enough to the keyhole to recognize the room on the other side is mysterious. They let the opinions and interference of friends keep them from moving close enough to the keyhole to really look inside and see what is really there. How about you? Do you really know Jesus? Do you know his story in the gospels? Do you know what he taught - not just a few oft-repeated clichés and misquoted sayings, but what Jesus really taught? When's the last time you were brave enough to accept Jesus' invitation at the beginning of the Gospel of John to "Come and see" (John 1:39) who he is and what he is longing to do through you in his world? I will warn you. Religious people and political people crucified Jesus because he said and did radical stuff. So be careful when you start quoting some of his stuff. Before long, you will need to start living all of his truth. He promised that this would bring you life (John 10:10). However, be warned: Jesus will also challenge you to change you opinions, your positions on key issues, re-arrange your lifestyle, alter the way you treat people, and re-wire your values. To look through this keyhole is dangerous. Far more dangerous than little boys playing in an old house, peering in this keyhole of Jesus is inviting God to take control of your heart, your life, and your choices. I hope you will dare to spend the next year reading each gospel through, one chapter at a time. Do this until you have read all four gospels through four times. Before you read, simply pray, "Father in heaven, I ask that the Holy Spirit help me recognize today what Jesus wants me to know about what I read, how Jesus wants me to feel about what I read today, and what Jesus wants me to do today because of what I've read. I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen." Or, like we did at Aunt Irene's house, you could just keep playing little kids games instead of knowing Jesus. Of course, it feels safer to play games with Jesus than it is to let him start messing with your life. Folks, both unbelieving and church folks, won't think you are weird because you are willing to play the Jesus game like they do. You can use him as a good luck charm and quote him when you think he supports your opinion. This play Jesus never requires you to change anything. This way of approaching Jesus allows us to keep him at a safe distance from your own darkened rooms and the mysteriously hidden and shadowy corners of your character. But then the life you live will never approach the true life he promised. Your life will never thrill to the risky significance of a life that matters beyond the musty smell of old superstitions and sweet things said at dead relatives' funerals. The invitation is still open. Jesus invites you to "Come and see"! Find out for yourself who Jesus is. Find out the life the Lord longs to fashion in you. Or do you not have the courage to take a look through the keyhole of Jesus' grace? Come on and take the one year with Jesus dare? Aunt Irene and her old musty-smelling house with the creaky hallways are just a memory. Jesus longs for us to step into his world and change history - our own history and the history of all those that our lives will touch.

About the author: Phil Ware has authored 11 years of daily devotionals, including VerseoftheDay.com, read by 500,000 people a day. He works with churches in transition with Interim Ministry Partners and for the past 21+ years, he has been editor and president of HEARTLIGHT Magazine, author of VerseoftheDay.com, God's Holy Fire (on the Holy Spirit), and aYearwithJesus.com. Phil has also authored four books, daily devotionals on each of the four gospels.

Legacy and a Little Tack Hammer

phil@heartlight.org (Phil Ware) — Mon, 19 Jul 2004 02:00:00 -0500

What kind of legacy are you leaving?

His life was short ... way too short. The church where he was an elder moved sharply toward the negative after his death. He left behind a loving wife and an only child - a grown and married daughter - at his death. He had made his mark in his work, helping start an operation in Italy and running one in the states. He loved saltwater fishing. He kept his wooden boat in meticulous condition. He was great with his strong hands and kept his tools neatly arranged, ready and clean for their frequent use. His yard was neat as a pin with the smell of mint in the back flowerbed. All this came flooding back to me this week as I was hanging pictures with my wife in our new home. I picked up a little tack hammer - just like the one he used and taught me to use many years ago. He was my grandfather - Gordon Phillips. I called him Daddy Gordon. He died before I was six years old. What I remember are just little snatches of him from a young boy's faulty memory. Yet all it took was a little, wooden-handled tack hammer to bring it all back. Such is the power of influence. We call it legacy! I have heard it often said that the measure of a person is not the years of his or her life, but the life in those years. I guess I'd come down somewhere in the middle of that statement - the people I love and admire I want to live a long time so the life in their years can have a powerful impact. Yet I can't help but be impressed with the legacy left by this one man who departed this earth at 51 years. His daughter, my mom, has been a lady of faith and has touched literally thousands of people through her ministry and hospitality to high school and college students over six decades of ministry. His three grandsons are men of faith with families of faith. They preach, teach, write, minister, lead, and serve. Tens of thousands of people have been impacted by their lives and influence - and yes, all three have a love for saltwater fishing like their Daddy Gordon. So what's the point? Oh, if I'm honest, I'm doing a little reminiscing. But more than that, I'm reminding myself that all any of us gets is one lifetime. To get the most of that lifetime, we need to invest in two things - faith and family. Then we go about doing what we do and being who we are with those priorities, trusting that God will make the impact of our lives significant to his glory on those we love, no matter how many years we have here on our little blue planet. As I approach the age that my grandfather and my father both left this life, I can't help but think about them and their influence on my own life. I am thankful that all it takes is a little tack hammer to take me back to their influence and to remember the important things of their lives. Such is the power of a legacy of family and faith. May such legacy be mine ... and yours!

That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are quite small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us an immeasurably great glory that will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see right now; rather, we look forward to what we have not yet seen. For the troubles we see will soon be over, but the joys to come will last forever. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NLT)

Choosing to Be Positive

trshelly@lipscomb.edu (Rubel Shelly) — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 02:00:00 -0500

How can you keep a good attitude at a time like this?

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:4-7 TNIV)

Many things about your life are not yours to choose. You didn't choose to be born to that mother and father. Matter of fact, you didn't choose to be born at all! You didn't choose a body build, a nose, or ears. And you can't rework the things that have happened to you since being born - where you grew up, your educational opportunities, your career choices, or your relationships. What you can choose is the attitude you will take toward all those things. You don't have to let your good fortune spoil you and make you an unbearable snob. You don't have to wallow in self-pity and be defeated. An excellent example of the difference one's attitude makes is the late Beverly Sills. If you know the name Beverly Sills, it is probably as a famous opera singer. When she died of inoperable lung cancer this month at age 78, she left an impressive list of achievements as a performer, celebrity, and advocate for the fine arts. As a New York Times writer put it, she "demystified opera" for many Americans. Contrary to the stereotype of elitists in the fine arts, she was a good-humored artist who was willing to appear with both Johnny Carson and The Muppets to prove, in her words, opera isn't just "fat ladies with horned helmets." What you may not know about Ms. Sills is how hard she had to work to get a break in opera and how many personal tragedies dogged her adult life. Beverly Sills was born in Brooklyn to emigrant parents. Her Russian-born mother had dreams that her talented daughter would become a Jewish Shirley Temple and pushed her into singing and tap-dancing for radio shows. Her Romanian-born father put a stop to all that in favor of formal voice training and school. At 16, she began ten years of touring with opera companies. Only in 1955, after eight failed auditions over a three-year period, was she accepted into the New York City Opera. Her professional breakthrough came in 1966, and she became one of the best-known, most distinctive, and widely hailed artists of the twentieth century. Happily ever after? Charmed existence? Hardly! Ms. Sills and her journalist husband, Peter Greenough, had a daughter who was born deaf. Two years later, just as the parents were learning to cope with their daughter's deafness, they had a son who was deemed to be "mentally handicapped" by doctors at the time. "[Doctors] knew nothing about autism then," Sills later wrote. Perhaps it was adversity that kept Ms. Sills from taking stardom too seriously. She seemed to enjoy comedic roles even after her much-heralded success in high-brow operatic roles. She reflected on her triumphs and tragedies in an interview given in 2005. "Man plans and God laughs," she said. "I have often said I've never considered myself a happy woman. How could I, with all that's happened to me? But I'm a cheerful woman. Work kept me going." Every life is a mixture of blessing and blight, achievement and heartache. We don't choose the state of affairs, but we do choose a state of mind.

About the author: Rubel Shelly preached for decades and served as a professor of medical ethics, Bible, and philosophy at multiple universities. He was a former president of Rochester College and Professor of Philosophy and Religion at Lipscomb University. He was the author of more than 30 books and hundreds of inspirational articles. His commitment to a non-sectarian presentation of the gospel touched countless lives.

Selling Your Soul

p.d.odum@gmail.com (Patrick D. Odum) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 02:00:00 -0500

So what are you really worth?

[Jesus said] Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for you to gain the whole world, yet forfeit your soul? Or what can you give in exchange for your soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward everyone according to what they have done (Matthew 16:24-27).

First there was the guy in Australia who auctioned off his life on eBay, including his house and its furnishings, his car, and even an introduction to his friends and a trial at his job, for nearly $400,000. That story was full of interesting insights into how we define ourselves and for what amount we think we'd be willing to trade our lives. Walter Scott, a twenty-four-year-old New Zealand man, is apparently going even farther. Walter recently put his soul up for bid on the New Zealand auction site TradeMe. He's received over a hundred bids. Walter characterizes his soul on the site as "merry old" He says he had been thinking about selling his soul for some time: "I can't see it, touch it or feel it, but I can sell it, so I'm going to palm it off to the highest bidder." Walter reassures potential bidders that his soul is in "pretty good nick" except for a rough patch six years ago when he reached the legal drinking age. The winning bidder, Walter is quick to point out, would only be entitled to his soul and would not be able to own or control him in any way. He also says that the successful bidder will receive a framed deed of "soul ownership." So, there's that. So here's what I'm wondering: Whatever happened to the days when a person would trade their soul to the Devil for knowledge or prosperity or a World Series or the ability to play guitar? A hundred and eighty-nine dollars. You can't buy a Wii for that. According to Jesus, of course, Walter is seriously undervaluing himself. According to him, there isn't enough money, property, power, pleasure, or fame in the world to make it a good deal for Walter. A soul isn't some part of us, some spiritual trinket that we can excise and hand out with a certificate of ownership like a Franklin Mint collectible. In fact, in Matthew 16 there's no reason to use the word "life" in verse 25 and "soul" in verse 26: they're the same word. Your life is your soul is your life, and whatever you call it there's nothing worth giving it up for except Jesus. And yet we do. Laugh or roll your eyes or shake your head at Walter Scott all you want, but he's not doing anything that's all that different than other people do every day. He's a bit more blatant about it, and it doesn't look like he's going to get quite as much in the bargain as others, but every day people everywhere trade themselves for one thing or another. And that one thing or another is never worth the cost. It's subtle, and seductive, and here's how it works. It begins, maybe, with a felt need: a certain standard of living, or a certain amount of respect, or a particular status in society. That need becomes a matter of life and death, the bare minimum I must have for happiness. And so I start working so many hours that my family starts to suffer, my kids start to miss me but eventually learn to get along without me, my spouse becomes a stranger. Maybe I cut some ethical corners. Maybe I take advantage of a colleague to vault up the corporate ladder. And maybe I do get what I want, and then one day I wake up and look in the mirror and wonder how I became who I am. I've gained the world, and yet to get it I've forfeited myself. My soul. My life. For others, the price is love, or approval, or comfort, or escape. They all have at least two things in common. The first is that they can become so important to us that we will give up our true lives as God's people, lives that by his grace will stretch on into eternity, to have them. We'll give up a life shared with God for some piddling, paltry existence with the trinkets that we think we want. The second thing they all have in common is that they never deliver on their promise. In the end, everything we think is so important will crumble away to dust and leave us with empty hands, empty hearts, and empty lives. You remember Gollum, don't you, from The Lord of the Rings? He wasn't always so bad - wasn't always Gollum, in fact. He was a creature named Smeagol until the glint of the Ring caught his eye and he gave up everything else to live alone, to live for nothing more than to have and to keep his Precious. It killed him in the end, of course - but he lost his life and himself long before he died. "Whoever wants to save their life will lose it." Things like that don't just happen in books and movies, and the world is full of any number of things that quickly and easily become our Precious and turn us into creatures we wouldn't recognize if we could look through time and see how things would turn out. That's why Jesus says what he says; that's why following him involves saying no to self in the same way he did. It isn't that Jesus doesn't want us to enjoy life or prefers that we be miserable. It's that he knows how easily our efforts to "save our lives" - to have what we want - can wind up costing us our lives. "Whoever loses their life for me will find it." Just sounds wrong, doesn't it? It would be, of course, except that Jesus knows what life really is, what it's really about. It turns out that we aren't made for spending our lives chasing all our ambitions and pursuing every whim. That isn't who we really are, and when we live like that we eventually lose ourselves. "Our" lives aren't really so much about us at all as they are about fulfilling God's purposes for us. It's on that criterion, and that one alone, that our lives will be judged "success" or "failure." When Jesus invites us to drop our attempts to create ideal lives and follow him instead, he invites us to live the lives God created us to live. And so it's true; the only way to save our lives is to lose them, and the surest way to lose our lives is to be hung up on saving them. So may we take him seriously. May we live lives of eternal significance and purpose. May we resist the temptation to sell ourselves out to the highest bidder. Or, if we do, may we always remember who the highest bidder really is - the one who offered himself to give us life.

About the author: Patrick Odum lives in Chicago, Illinois, with his wife, Laura and son, Joshua. He is one of the ministers at Northwest Church of Christ, and an avid Heartlight fan. He enjoys writing and maintains a website of his work called Faith Web where you can find all of his articles. Email Patrick

Sweet Gracious Relief!

phil@heartlight.org (Phil Ware) — Mon, 18 Jul 2005 02:00:00 -0500

When is the last time someone brought you refreshment?

42 days! 42 days of sweltering summer heat, sizzling temperatures, and oppressive humidity and without a drop of rain. None in the forecast. None on the horizon. Then boom! As a complete surprise, during the night while we slept and when summer thunderstorms are supposed to die down, clouds piled up and showers began to fall. No, it wasn't a gully washer or frog strangler, but it was sweet welcome relief to hear the boom of thunder, the patter of rain on the roof, and feel the cool downbursts of a morning rain. Ah! Sweet gracious relief. The pace of life, the demands of work, the concerns of family, and the pain of losses can pile up and have a withering emotional impact on the soul. The lack of courtesy and simple kindness in our world makes this trip through the parched land of soul-drought unbearably withering. All around us are people who need sweet gracious relief. Unfortunately, most never receive it. None in the forecast. None on the horizon. These weary souls plod on, waiting for their fortunes to change, their grief to dissipate, their exhaustion to pass, and their disappointments to fade. That's where the "anapsookho" solution becomes such a blessing. You are probably not familiar with the "anapsookho" solution. No, it's not some new imported pillow, massage device, exercise program, or herbal remedy from the orient. No, this gift of sweet gracious relief was demonstrated by an early Christian family you probably don't remember and with a name hard to pronounce. I'm talking about the household of Onesiphorus. Onesiphorus, unlike most others who abandoned Paul in his first imprisonment, went to Rome, searched for Paul, found him in prison, and ministered to him in his time of need (2 Timothy 1:16-18) He was willing to risk being identified with a man who might be sentenced to die because that man was his brother in Christ. But more than just the effort of Onesiphorus, his whole family joined in the ministry! Paul describes their ministry with the word "anapsookho," one of the two key words in the New Testament to describe refreshing someone's spirit. The other word, anapowoe focuses more on calming someone and letting them rest to be refreshed. While this is a wonderful blessing, Onesiphorus' word is "anapsookho." Onesiphorus' word means to cool off and help someone recover from the effects of heat, to breathe in fresh, cool air. Sweet gracious relief! All around us are people who live in the parched and dry land of soul-drought. More than needing a lecture or a book or a sermon, they need friends like Onesiphorus and his household. They need sweet gracious relief. They need the "anapsookho" solution. That's where we come in! We are the community of Christ, the friends of the Savior. We're the folks who share a little kindness with a person needing relief. We go the extra mile to track them down, seeking to bless them in their time of sorrow, struggle, need, or pain. We know that a little loving refreshment is often the difference between a long withering time in soul-drought and finding the strength to go on through difficult times. How important is the "anapsookho" solution? Jesus gave us a pretty good hint about its importance when he said:

"If anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward." (Matthew 10:42)

Ah! Sweet gracious relief! The gift of refreshment for the recipient and the blessing of forever for the giver.

Featured Articles from Heartlight

Through the Keyhole of Grace

Legacy and a Little Tack Hammer

Choosing to Be Positive

Selling Your Soul

Sweet Gracious Relief!