THIS REFLECTION TODAY is quite personal. I have been foolish at different times in life, to varying, even staggering degrees, but I have never denied God in my heart. My earliest memories come from the age of about 2-½ and are literally of being in church, and sensing God’s presence there. From then until now, a period stretching now into eight decades, I have never denied God’s existence, even though my knowledge of his Son would await a later time in life. This is not a self-aggrandizing statement, merely a fact about my own knowledge of and faith in God. It is important to teach children these things while they are young, for scripture says, “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not turn from it. ” (Pro. 22:6) But the child sure might, as I did, wander far and wide at times.
As a pastor, something strangely part of my journey later in life, I am not averse from using tales of my misspent youth and some years beyond as illustrations in preaching. There is an important value here of bringing real-life application to scripture that is useful testimony, as long as it is supporting the points in the Biblical text and its story, and not used as a way to boast in the negative. In the aftermath of a particular Sunday service in which I had used such an illustration, a man I was grooming for the pastorate invited me to lunch. During the course of the following hour or so, at one point he asked me, hesitantly and nervously, something he really wanted to know. “Greg,” he said, “have you ever been evil?” I think he had wanted to ask this for quite some time, and it was an important question for him. I took my time thinking about it, wondering if in fact there might be truth in his question, and finally responded, “Evil? No… sinful, yes, and foolish often, yes, but evil, never. Evil desires to harm others.” It was as truthful an answer as I could come up with, and afterwards I reflected upon it for several days. It’s true that there were times that observers, even careful observers, would not have detected that I was Christian. And, during the midst of some dark times then, if someone had asked me if I believed in God, I probably would have had to take a pause to remember that I really did, before I answered.
There are different kinds of fools. There are fools like I was, who took great liberties with their faith, and who’s willful lack of obedience to God’s moral and ethical codes tried God’s patience and put all personal relationships—especially the one with our Father—at risk. But the fool that the Bible speaks of denies God; denies his existence, despite the loud voice of general revelation spoken from the mouths of flowers and stars and babies; denies the shame of his own conduct, despite the conscience that God has given to every man and woman; and denies the underlying fear of death and judgment that he has worked assiduously to cover over at each point of shameful behavior, until the heart is hardened and with false bravado then “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” (Psa. 14:1a) I am overwhelmingly grateful for the grace of God extended to those who fall short, who have backslid more than once, who have battled and lost to habitual sin many times. I am thankful that for people like us Jesus came, in God’s long-suffering forbearance, saying, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:31-32)
Isaiah, speaking plaintively, and with an interwoven subliminal thread of prophecy, says “Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.” (Isa. 64:4) As we think about such things, the other-ness of Jesus stands crystal clear and pure against the darkness of the human heart revealed throughout all human history. We who are alive literally and spiritually in the new covenant of grace recognize that Jesus came as the first one who’s ‘ear perceived, who’s eye saw the God ‘who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.’ And, Jesus is the only one that has not failed in faith or obedience, as testified to by his sinlessness. (cf. 2 Cor. 5:21, 1 Pet. 2:22, Heb. 4:15) You and I can’t make that kind of claim, even if it is credited as righteousness to us because of the renewed motivation of our born-again hearts. We fall far short in our actions, which testify against us.
Isaiah cried out, “Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down.” (Isa. 64:1) He didn’t see, nor did he hear of, the things that you and I have heard and seen—the advent of the Christ. God rent the heavens, and he came down, in this singularly unique redemptive way: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:16-17)
The stakes are high in this one life in the here and now—time and eternity are being weighed in the balance. “We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?” (Heb. 2:1-3) This would be foolish to ignore.
Q. What has been my most foolish moment in my relationship with my Father?
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