Regrets

TODAY’S SPECIAL: 1 Corinthians 15:1-28

TO CHEW ON: “For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am….” I Corinthians 15: 9-10a

Are you one of those people who are haunted by the life you lived before coming to Christ? Perhaps you slept around, wrecked a marriage, had an abortion, or abused your body with drugs and alcohol. I gave my heart to Jesus when I was a little girl but turned my back on God for some years in my 20s. I still get flashbacks of scenes from that old life. They fill me with shame and regret.

Paul speaks of such regrets. Memories of his zeal in persecuting the church before he met Jesus make him feel unworthy to be an apostle. I wonder if scenes from events like the stoning of Stephen (in which he participated) dogged him even after his conversion.

“But…” Paul continues, and with that great little hinge word he opens the door on light: “…by the grace of God I am what I am.” So many thoughts flow out of this eleven-word sentence:

• God knows about me and my past and He forgives.
• I can’t do anything to change the past; I must forgive myself too.
• God knows why He put me in the place I am today; it’s not my job to understand His ways or to justify them to others.

If there’s one good thing that can come out of a shadowy past, it’s the way it keeps you from becoming self-righteous. Because when you see someone caught in sin, you know at a gut level that but for the grace of God, it could be you.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for Your grace (favor I don’t merit and didn’t earn) that takes me the way I am and makes me useful to Your kingdom. Amen.

MORE: “Just As I Am”
God takes us the way we are. The familiar invitation hymn “Just As I Am” expresses it so well. Charlotte Elliott (a once miserable old maid) wrote the words to this hymn. Robert J. Morgan tells the story in Then Sings My Soul.

A bitter women with broken health, Charlotte railed against God. Her family, trying to help her, invited a Swiss minister, Dr. Cesar Malan to their home for a meal. During the dinner conversation Charlotte lost her temper and denounced God. Family members left the room in embarrassment. Alone with the pastor, he confronted her:

“You are tired of yourself aren’t you? he asked. “You are holding to your hate and anger because you have nothing else in the world to cling to. Consequently, you have become sour, bitter and resentful.”

“What is your cure?” asked Charlotte.

“The faith you are trying to despise.”

As they talked, Charlotte softened. “If I wanted to become a Christian and to share the peace and joy you possess,” she finally asked, “What would I do?”

“You would give yourself to God just as you are now, with your fightings and fears, hates and loves, pride and shame.” (Then Sings My Soul, p. 113)

Charlotte did come as she was that day and was forever changed. She wrote the poem “Just As I Am” some years later to help her brother raise funds for a school to educate the children of poor clergymen. It was later set to music by William B. Bradbury.

Here it is, sung by Brian Doerksen

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Have you thought about the finish line?

TODAY’S SPECIAL: 2 Timothy 4:1-8

TO CHEW ON: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” 2 Timothy 4:7

“Shortly after noon on July 5, 1997, the doctor told me I had cancer,” writes Larry Crabb in the Introduction to his book Soul Talk. He goes on, “My wife and I cried when the doctor left. He had made no promises. We didn’t know if I’d live or die. It takes a while to realize what life is all about. We don’t ask the hard questions until we have to. That day I had to. …The curtains covering my soul fell back and I began to see what was happening inside. When that occurred, the battle began. But it’s also when life began” (Soul Talk, p. 2).

The “curtains covering my soul” got a definite tug in 2006 – the year my mom died. As I made funeral arrangements then cleaned out her apartment and gave away and sold her things, I began to know at a gut level it would be only a matter of time before the person whose heap of stuff needing to be dealt with was me. And I’d better start living more than ever with those hard questions in mind.

Questions like: Have I discovered what I’m here for? Have I made a difference? What will I be remembered for? If I died today, would I have regrets? What would they be?

Paul was able to say, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge will give to me on that day.”

What about you? Have you begun asking yourself the hard questions? It’s never too soon to begin, so that you can end like Paul did – with no regrets!

PRAYER: Dear God, please keep the light on inside me. Help me live today with the end in mind. Amen.

MORE: More finish lines

• Today the church celebrates the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul. The liturgy of the day begins with this collect prayer:

"Almighty God, whose blessed apostles Peter and Paul glorified you by their martyrdom: Grant that your Church, instructed by their teaching and example, and knit together in unity by your Spirit, may ever stand firm upon the one foundation, which is Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen."

• Every Christmas, Concordia College in Moorhead Minnesota presents a program of choral music. For years they have performed it against the backdrop of a 20 x 60-foot painted Christmas mural reflecting the year's theme. For many of those years David Hetland designed the stunning murals for those concerts, then supervised the volunteers who painted them. In 2006, at the age of only 59, Hetland died – but not without a sense that he had achieved something of significance.

David Hetland talks about his life and work.

A David Hetland mural

• Gavin MacLeod became famous for playing parts on the Mary Tyler Moore show and the Loveboat series. But now that he’s older, he considers a couple of far less prestigious projects the ones that define what his life is about.

Gavin MacLeod "The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry"




If you had to make a 2-minute video like this, what would you say about your life?

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The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. - Used with permission.

Have you thought about the finish line?

TODAY’S SPECIAL: 2 Timothy 4:1-8

TO CHEW ON: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” 2 Timothy 4:7

“Shortly after noon on July 5, 1997, the doctor told me I had cancer,” writes Larry Crabb in the Introduction to his book Soul Talk. He goes on, “My wife and I cried when the doctor left. He had made no promises. We didn’t know if I’d live or die. It takes a while to realize what life is all about. We don’t ask the hard questions until we have to. That day I had to. …The curtains covering my soul fell back and I began to see what was happening inside. When that occurred, the battle began. But it’s also when life began” (Soul Talk, p. 2).

The “curtains covering my soul” got a definite tug in 2006 – the year my mom died. As I made funeral arrangements then cleaned out her apartment and gave away and sold her things, I began to know at a gut level it would be only a matter of time before the person whose heap of stuff needing to be dealt with was me. And I’d better start living more than ever with those hard questions in mind.

Questions like: Have I discovered what I’m here for? Have I made a difference? What will I be remembered for? If I died today, would I have regrets? What would they be?

Paul was able to say, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge will give to me on that day.”

What about you? Have you begun asking yourself the hard questions? It’s never too soon to begin, so that you can end like Paul did – with no regrets!

PRAYER: Dear God, please keep the light on inside me. Help me live today with the end in mind. Amen.

MORE: 

• Every Christmas, Concordia College in Moorhead Minnesota presents a program of choral music. For years they have performed it against the backdrop of a 20 x 60-foot painted Christmas mural reflecting the year's theme. For many of those years David Hetland designed the stunning murals for those concerts, then supervised the volunteers who painted them. In 2006, at the age of only 59, Hetland died – but not without a sense that he had achieved something of significance.

David Hetland talks about his life and work.

A David Hetland mural

• Gavin MacLeod became famous for playing parts on the Mary Tyler Moore show and the Loveboat series. But now that he’s older, he considers a couple of far less prestigious projects the ones that define what his life is about.

Gavin MacLeod "The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry"




If you had to make a 2-minute video like this, what would you say about your life?