– Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN

The Lord," said the apostle Peter 2,000 years ago in a famous verse of Scripture, "is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9). The English Standard Version says God is "patient toward you." Unlike most of us, God is in no hurry! In the context surrounding this familiar verse Peter makes clear what God is in no hurry to do – He is no hurry to bring judgment against people who have not repented, thus consigning them to hell. God would urge all who are outside His will and separated from Him by sin, to hurry up and repent, that is, turn their lives around and obey His will. There is a story about a preacher who was known for his poise under pressure. One day a close friend saw him pacing back and forth, pondering a problem. "What’s the trouble?" the friend asked. The preacher replied, "The trouble is I’m in a hurry, but God isn’t!" God is not in a hurry. We truly live in a hurried world today where many people (and plenty of professed Christians among them) are too busy to take time to be holy. We have fast cars, fast phones, fast computers, and fast internet service. We drive fast and live fast lives. We want fast food – whether at McDonald’s or at church (as in fast, short sermons). We like fast service, whether in line at the bank, the grocery store, the local Walmart, the doctor’s office, or waiting to board a plane! But as someone noted, "Everyone who lined up 30 minutes early to board the plane is gonna be so mad when we all land at the same time." Have you ever been passed on the highway at a break-neck pace by some speed-demon who is on his / her way to who knows where? They fly by you until, just a few seconds later, you pull up behind them at a stop sign or traffic light turned red! In today’s sprint-paced world of smartphones, on- demand video, next or even same-day delivery, microwaveable meals, and instant-everything, we are very impatient with the notion of waiting and being patient! Why wait? We want patience – and we want it now! The result is a hyper-impatient culture where millions of people have a "short-fuse."

We may be in a hurry, but God is not. Caution: there is a constant temptation to re-create God in our own image. Since we are in a hurry and since we are impatient and just can’t hardly stand to wait on anything or anybody these days, we can easily come to mistake God’s (seeming) slowness at making good on His promises as slackness and inability to do so. The verse quoted above at 2 Peter 3:9 is in a context where some in the first century were doubting God is really coming in a "day of judgment" to punish the ungodly (verse 7). But Peter warns God’s people not to mistake and misinterpret God’s long delay in coming in judgment as meaning He has reneged on His long-standing promise to do just that. Some may demand that God perform on their own self-devised timetable. But Peter will have none of it. When it comes to judgment, God is the unhurried God. He is in no eager rush to condemn lost people to hell. In love and compassion and concern He waits...and waits...and waits for lost people to repent. But He won’t wait forever, for "the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night" (verse 10). Are you away from God? He patiently waits on you to come. Why not hurry to Him now? Think about it.

       – Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN

Unbalanced Christians!

             
Losing your balance can be dangerous. Even deadly. It was for Karl Wallenda. You may have heard of Karl. Beginning at 6 years old, he walked on high-wires and rode cycles across tightropes high in the air. He and his dare-devil family, the Flying Wallendas, gained international fame for their exciting but dangerous shows. After scores of years and hundreds of successful, jaw-dropping performances, on March 22, 1978, the 73 year-old Wallenda attempted to walk across a high wire strung between the two towers of the Condado Plazo Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Part-way across the wire Wallenda lost his balance. He teetered on the wire for several heart-rending seconds. Then, tragically, via live TV, millions were horrified when he fell off the wire and plunged 10 stories down to his death. Becoming unbalanced can lead to catastrophe if you walk on a tight rope.



Many passages in the Bible teach that balance matters for God’s people. Let us focus especially on Ephesians 4:15 where the apostle Paul penned these words: ^"but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head – Christ." Anyone with even a superficial knowledge of the Bible knows that these two themes – truth and love – take up a major amount of ink and space in God’s word. Scripture frequently teaches us to love. Jesus taught that to love our neighbors as ourselves is second only to our duty to love God with all our heart, soul and mind (Matthew 22:37-40). John the apostle declared, "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God ... He who does not love does not know God, for God is love" (1 John 4:7-8). The apostle Paul said that though we do all kinds of powerful religious things, but have not love, "it profits me nothing" (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). Jesus taught, "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:35). This could go on and on, but balance demands we recall the other element in Paul’s statement above at Ephesians 4:15. That verse tells us how to speak – "in love" – but we are also told what to speak – "the truth." We don’t have to guess what "truth" he is referring to in that verse. It is "the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation" Paul spoke about earlier at Ephesians 1:13. It is the truth [that is] in Jesus" (Ephesians 4:21). In the inspired words of Galatians 2:5b it is "the truth of the gospel." At Colossians 1:5b it is identified as "the word of the truth of the gospel." Jesus spoke about this same truth when He declared in John 8:32, "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." The Lord laid it out plainly in John 17:17 where, as part of a prayer for His apostles the night before He died, He asked the Father, "Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth." Surely this is the truth referred to in Proverbs 23:23 where we are admonished, "Buy the truth, and sell it not." The apostle Paul predicted in 2 Timothy 4:4 some "will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables." Truth and love – God speaks clearly about the imperative nature of both. Some Christians, churches, and preachers are so focused on truth they forget about love, and some are so in love with love, they forget about truth. The corrrect approach is to always speak the truth, but speak it in love. Otherwise we may become unbalanced and fall to our spiritual death. 

-- Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN

Many if not most of us have at one time or another worried about a "weight" problem. The bathroom scales keep showing numbers we wish were somewhat less. But my topic in this little piece is not a "weight" problem but a "wait" problem. Millions of people keep waiting instead of doing many things that ought to be done. Think with me about procrastination. Procrastination is defined as "the action of delaying or postponing something." It is the bad habit of intentionally putting off and not performing some task or responsibility that needs to be done. Like mowing the yard, cleaning the house, painting that spot on the house, cleaning up the garage, etc. Or maybe our "wait problem" actually has to do with our weight. We intend to eat less, or at least eat better, and exercise more, but instead we just keep "waiting" till tomorrow and putting these things off!

The Bible is direct about waiting when it comes to urgent matters of the soul. The Good Book still declares in 2 Corinthians 6:2, "behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." Regarding the best time to obey the gospel and be saved, God’s clock shows only one time – NOW! Since 1878 George F. Root’s powerful gospel hymn has been asking, "Why do you wait, dear brother, O why do you tarry so long?" – and, further, "Why do you wait, dear brother? The harvest is passing away; Your Savior is waiting longing to bless you: There’s danger and death in delay" (verses 1a and verse 4 "Why do You Wait?"). Why would anyone risk their soul by waiting to get right with God? Do you know anyone who is waiting to believe in Jesus Christ, and waiting to repent and be baptized into Christ’s death for the forgiveness of sins (Mark 16:16; Romans 6:3-4; Acts 2:28)? And how about the church? How long will we wait before we take the gospel to our lost world, not only to those across the country or ocean, but to those across the street or the back yard or maybe even across the dining room table from us every day? Some Christians ought to ask themselves, how long do I intend to go on deliberately putting off being more faithful to worship assemblies, or praying, or unplugging from the cell phone and TV and computer in order to seriously listen and see what Almighty God has to say as I read and meditate on His word? Or how long am I going to wait before I come back to my first love and do the works for Christ I used to do before I tuned out, turned off, and cooled down in my love and devotion to Jesus Christ and His church (see Revelation 2:4-5)? The Roman governor Felix had a golden opportunity to get right with God after the apostle Paul shared the gospel with him. So convicted was he of facing God’s judgment that he "trembled!" But, alas, he had a "wait" problem and put off obeying Christ until he could find a more "convenient time" (Acts 26:24-25). Apparently, he never found it because, so far as the Bible record goes, he never obeyed the gospel.

Jesus Christ was not a procrastinator. He declared, "I must work the works of Him who sent me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work" (John 9:4). A Bulgarian proverb says, "Seize the opportunity by the beard, for it is bald behind." Remember – "behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." Solve that "wait problem," friend. Tomorrow may be too late.

            – Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN