Dear Disciples of Christ,
The focus this week’s posting will be less on how we hear the Word and more on how the Word we hear changes us. I made mention last week that one of the great values of participating in weekly worship is that the seed of the Word was planted in me, watered and repeatedly reseeded year after year. It was there in my very early years and my teen years and in the years as I was getting ready for college. I expect you remember the story of Saul’s conversion (moving from one attacking the church to one receiving the call of Christ). to become one of the most effective witnesses to Jesus. At first, Saul wasn’t seeking God’s will but seeking to arrest disciples. God called him and when Saul heard that call his life was changed. The Word can do that. Other disciples were hesitant to believe Paul had a change of heart but Saul had heard it and that was enough for him. In my own life, there were two instances I can point to where the value and power of that Word guided and even changed my life.
The first was a “crisis” situation in our household. My sister was three years older than I was (and still is!) and was experiencing life sooner. I guess I was about 12 or 13 and she, being older, was dating before I knew what a “date” was. I had not yet had my first kiss (a chubby crew cutted boy that I was would have to wait years for that) but my sister was well on her way into life. Sure enough, she was caught “necking” in the lot across from our house. I labeled this a “crisis” as it is one of the few times in my childhood when I can remember the entire family in turmoil, sitting in the living room, discussing this “terrible” situation. It went on for quite a while with seeming little hope for resolution.
With all the theological insight and understanding I could muster (and having not a clue what “necking” meant), I suggested we call up Pastor Schruhl and he could come over and help us out. I could tell from the immediate look from my sister that my suggestion was not helpful in her mind. But in my mind, it was the crucial solution. If there was an issue we could not resolve, it could only mean that the faith was not being applied sufficiently to the situation. If we could get the “faith guy” (Pastor) to come over, he would clearly bring the appropriate Word of the Lord. It would be able to instruct us and profit us. My sister may well have heard the rest of Paul’s comments as more pertinent and of concern; “reproof and correction” would be coming. I honestly did not mean that comment in any way other than to bring the Word to bear.
And that leads to the second example of the Word’s power in life. I had completed three of the four applications I had to universities in my state (hoping my low grades would be overshadowed by some good SAT scores). With one more application to complete (with that one I planned to submit to a state school to become a gym teacher), Superman came on TV and I never got back to fill it out that week. I mailed off the others to be accepted into the general liberal arts programs in math and science. The last application sat on the end table in the living room. The next Sunday, at Sunday school, my life changed forever.
As I went to the high school Sunday study in the balcony of our church, the pastor made a passing remark about science and God. It went something like this. “That’s the thing about science. You can’t mention ‘God’ since God can’t be proved.” Now I know that sentence didn’t mean anything major to anyone else but it was the moment when my future began to take form. “Hmmm,” I thought to myself, “that was pretty dumb. I had filled out the applications to colleges without considering what it was God might be calling me to do in life (and science might force me to leave Him out of the picture).” I’m not sure why the very first thought that came into my head, when I asked myself the question, “Well, what might He ask me to do?” was that I could be a pastor. True, the pastor was standing in front of me and he was going on with the rest of the Bible study, but I can’t say it was because of that.
I then began to day dream (“dream dreams?”) like the prophet Joel said we’d do) what being a pastor might involve. It raised questions in my mind. What about income? Our advisors in high school met with us regularly to guide our completion of the applications. The focus needed to be occupational. We needed a college education to get a job to get married to have children (get on with our lives). But somehow, I knew pastors didn’t make much money (perhaps I knew the story of pastors visiting members and getting “paid” with a chicken or turkey instead of any significant income). Could I be a pastor if I didn’t earn much? The answer came quickly. I thought to myself, “If I had a million dollars, what would I do with my life?” If I was responding to and following God’s call (to be a pastor), wouldn’t He take care of what was “needful?” “Of course He would (was the response I heard).
What about standing in front of people? Pastors are always standing up front of church and preaching and teaching. I hadn’t really been given that gift, had I? (Answer? Actually, oddly enough, I had. I had forced myself into debate club and was no longer nervous doing that. I thought back to the entry test to get into our debate club. We had to go up to a desk, pick up a scrap of paper and talk for 10 minutes on whatever was written on the paper. I folded my paper, turned around and amused my hearers with the topic… “My life as a ping pong ball”. No fear, just fun””. I could certainly speak to a group of believers about the faith and the Word God provided for us.
What about using my other gifts like I might in science? (Answer: “Is that really what God was preparing me to do and calling me to do?) For each question the Word came forward with an answer. All those years that I heard the Word, I was getting answers to questions I hadn’t asked yet. By the end of the class, it was clear in my mind where I was to go and what I was to do (or, better yet, what I would be! I would become a pastor!”) Here I am 50 years, 4 months and 9 days later, centering on the Word for life and proclaiming my hope in Christ. Lots of people appropriately “retire” from their occupations. But, for me, God had not called me to do something as much as to be something – a pastor. I keep listening and looking for Him to tell me, “That’s enough”. But instead, I hear Him saying to me, “Not yet.
The point of my sharing my life stories is that I truly believe that God’s Word is inspired and profitable and crucial if we are to know His will. It is “a lamp to our feet and a light to our path (Psalm 119:105). That is what is the value of the daily reflection on the Word. We never know when the challenges in life will come and whether it will be personal or with family or spouse or life or death but there will be challenges that only the Word can confront. “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). It will cut to the center of our hearts and show us our intentions and our trust in the Lord and the way He would have us go.
1) Has the Word ever directly guided your actions in life? Should it?
2) Do you know the Word well enough for it to be a lamp and light?
3) How will you know it better?
I pray that the Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our paths.
In Him,
Pastor Johnson