Sing His Praise in the Pain!

Many years ago, I read the anonymous observation that pain and suffering are inevitable, but misery is optional. The Bible strongly reflects a similar kind of message. James, our ancient and Holy Spirit inspired brother in the Christian faith, wrote at James 1:2-3: “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.” The apostle Peter wrote words that bear out what happens to us and around us is not as important as what goes on in us in response to life’s pain. He wrote these words to suffering Christians: “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials.” Peter has just reminded them they had been “begotten again to a living hope … to an inheritance and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:3-6). These Bible passages and many others support the idea that while pain and suffering are inevitable, misery is optional!

 

Misery is the default setting for many people when pain crashes into their lives. So, what do you do when a storm blows in as you sail life’s unpredictable sea? Bell Calloway, an African American historian in Omaha, Nebraska, once said, “We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails.” The apostle Paul calls for us to adjust our sails with words like these: “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice … giving thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:4 * 1 Thessalonians 5:18 NIV). Those all’s and always’s in the Bible always bother me! I’d much rather they said, “Rejoice in the Lord if you can or rejoice if life is good.” Didn’t Paul ever have “a bad day?” Bible students know much of Paul’s life was spent in miserable circumstances after he came to Christ. He was constantly in physically miserable circumstances. It was from prison he directed the Philippian Christians to rejoice in the Lord always as cited above. Acts 16:24ff finds Paul and co-missionary Silas in a prison in Philippi a number of years before Paul wrote the words of Philippians 4:4, but he’s practicing what he preached! They are in great physical pain. As a result of preaching Christ and doing good in His name, they had been libeled, falsely accused of breaking the law, unjustly beaten, thrown into prison, and their feet fastened in stocks. Pain was pouring down on their preaching parade. They are suffering, and they can’t get out (but eventually did due to God’s intervention!). They couldn’t control their physical position. What they could control and did control was their disposition! They refused to give in to miserable circumstances. In a prison cell, they adjusted their sails and kept prison from getting in them. Acts 16:25 says that at midnight (the darkest and deepest part of the night) “Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God.” Prisoners were listening. More importantly, God was too. Shortly after God delivered them by means of an earthquake (!!), the jailor who guarded them relieved their pain, asked how them to be saved, was taught the Gospel, and he and all his family were baptized into Christ! And it all began with two suffering Christians who chose to sing in their pain. Remember — suffering is inevitable, but misery is optional. When suffering, sing God’s praise—not for your pain, but in your pain.

 

  by: Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN 

The Bible: Wonder But Never Wander!

 

Somebody observed that the Bible will make you wonder, but it will never make you wander. To that I would say a hearty, “Amen!” Does the Bible ever make you “wonder?” Wonder is defined @ merriam-webster.com as “a cause of astonishment or admiration; rapt attention or astonishment at something awesomely mysterious or new to one's experience.” The Grand Canyon, the Rocky Mountains, the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the birth of my sons — I (and perhaps you) have been blessed to see at least some of these things that are “a wonder to behold.” Astonishment, admiration, rapt attention and awesomely mysterious — those are words that describe our reaction to such things.

 

So why would anyone say the Bible makes you “wonder?” First, consider its inspiration. The Bible claims, and tons of evidence support the claim, that God is its author. “All Scripture is given by the inspiration of God” is the claim in 2 Timothy 3:16 (also 2 Peter 1:20-21; 3:15-16). “God-breathed” is the way the New International Version says it. The Library of Congress in Washington D. C. contains a vast collection of 110 million items stored on 838 miles of bookshelves. The wonder in that is the Bible is the only book in the whole bodacious thing that can rightfully claim God as its ultimate author! Hundreds of times the Bible’s authors record the words, “Thus saith the Lord.” As someone said, if you want to hear God speak audibly, open your Bible and read it out loud! Now consider the Bible’s preservation and duration. Psalm 119:89 says, “Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven.” There is no debate in Heaven about the Bible being from God. Meanwhile, on earth, the Bible is booed, banned, belittled, burned, denounced, debated and devalued. But one thing the devil and his agents will never be able to do is destroy the Bible! In the words of theologian and author Bernard Ramm, “A thousand times over, the death knell of the Bible has been sounded, the funeral procession formed, the inscription cut on the tombstone, and committal read. But somehow the corpse never stays put. No other book has been so chopped, knifed, sifted, scrutinized, and vilified.” And yet, like the Energizer Bunny, it just keeps “going and going and going!” It always will. Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away” (Matthew 24:35). Now consider the Bible’s translation and propagation. It has been translated into 704 languages as of 2021, the most of any book in the world, reaching 6.1 billion people worldwide (biblica.com). As to propagation, “Christian missionaries” in some 160 of the 195 countries teach the Bible today. Given fair consideration, as stated above the Bible will make you wonder.

 

The Bible makes you wonder, but it will never make you wander! In the words of Psalm 119:105, God’s word “is a lamp to my feet and a light to path.” Faithfully followed, that light guides us to God and to Heaven. The proper attitude we ought to have toward the Bible is captured by the apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians 2:13 — “when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.” In light of eternity, the real wonder about the Bible is why more people don’t welcome it.

 

Dan Gulley

Worried About the Church?

 Somebody reported a church bulletin blooper with this announcement: “Our church will have a seminar entitled, “WINNING OVER WORRY. Don’t let worry kill you. Let the church help.” Do you ever worry about the church? My aim here is not to discuss the stuff we worry about — our health, houses, kids, the economy, politics, severe weather, war, terrorism, school shootings, money, the rapid rate of moral decline, etc., etc., etc. Rather, my worry here is about whether or not we worry about the church, and if we should. Concern is another word for worry, and concern is defined as having a worried feeling or state of anxiety about some thing or someone that is important to you. See the point? The apostle Paul suffered what he called a “deep concern for all the churches” (that is, congregations — 2 Corinthians 11:28).

 

So it is, if you find yourself at least to some degree concerned and worried about the spiritual health and faithfulness of the church in general and your local congregation in particular, you are in good company. Consider another passage from 1 Thessalonians 3:1-5 — “1 Therefore, when we could no longer endure it, we thought it good to be left in Athens alone, 2 and sent Timothy, our brother and minister of God, and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you and encourage you concerning your faith, 3 that no one should be shaken by these afflictions; for you yourselves know that we are appointed to this. 4 For, in fact, we told you before when we were with you that we would suffer tribulation, just as it happened, and you know. 5 For this reason, when I could no longer endure it, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter had tempted you, and our labor might be in vain.” The apostle Paul wrote those words perhaps a few months after events we read about in Acts 17:1-10. By preaching Christ he established Christ’s church in Thessalonica where there a “great number” obeyed the Gospel. But the devil wasn’t happy about that and so he set out to do to that congregation what he seeks to do to every faithful Christian and congregation today. In Paul’s words Satan sought to “tempt” them away from Christ and so rendered Paul’s spiritual labor and work there “in vain.” Note the sobering prediction in vs 3 and 4 the apostle had issued when he preached there earlier — their spiritual gain by accepting the Gospel would bring physical pain in the form of suffering, afflictions and tribulation. And they had suffered (1:6; 2:1, 14). So it is, twice in chapter 3 (verses 1, 5), Paul confesses, “I could no longer endure it,” or as the New International Version puts it, “I could stand it no longer.” So he sent his co-missionary Timothy back to see how they fared. Turns out they were standing strong, bringing him great comfort and encouragement. I think the case can be made every New Testament writer was concerned (or “worried” if you wish) about the church. The letters Jesus sent to the seven churches of Asia in Revelation chapters 2 and 3 leave no doubt about His love and concern about the strength and faithfulness of His church. If you never “worry” about the church, maybe it’s high time you got started.

 

Dan Gulley

Popinjays in the Church?!

I  may be showing some ignorance here, but I recently read the term “popinjay” for the first time in nearly 70 years of living. It was in an article by Cable Neuhaus in the March/April 2024 issue of “The Saturday Evening Post Magazine” (p 12). Keep reading. The title of the article was “STARSTRUCK” and a sub-heading read, “Once upon a time people became famous because they did great things.” The article was a thoughtful critique of what we call “celebrities” in America. He notes the number of people we call “celebrities has proliferated in modern times, writes: “Today, what we refer to as serious ‘celebrity’ is cooked up in a stew consisting of personal vanity, bejeweled popinjays, and hyper- caffeinated publicists, amplified a billion times by the internet, especially on social media. The process by which [a person] is fabricated into a bonafide celeb’ is not always ugly, but usually it ain’t pretty. Having talent helps, although it’s not essential. (Hello, any Khardasian).” Neuhaus also states the obvious — our biggest celebrities are found in TV, film, and music, and already famous professional athletes who seek even higher profiles in showbiz. His view is that neither our definition of nor our rabid fascination with these “bejeweled popinjays” as celebrities and “stars” are positive forces in our culture.

Let’s define these “popinjays” Neuhaus referred to in the paragraph above. The term originally referred to a parrot, and being compared to such a beautiful bird was considered a compliment. But over time the term popinjay developed a pejorative sense and has come to mean a vain or conceited person, especially one who dresses or behaves extravagantly. As used today popinjay describes a strutting, supercilious person (that is, a person who thinks and behaves as though superior to others). The website vocabulary.com defines popinjay as “a person who is talkative and cocky, who struts around chattering like a parrot.” Let’s see now — conceited, cocky, extravagant, supercilious, talkative, chattering, strutting people. Seen or heard any of them lately? Abundant evidence points to a proliferation of popinjays in our culture. Yep, from the well-known on the national stage to those who are legends only in their own minds, to be a popinjay seems to be the rage of the age as cocky, conceited people strut and chatter. What’s the point, preacher? Just this. No Christian, including preachers, should ever be a popinjay. Words from the Bible in 1 Thess. 2 provide Biblical proof for that assertion. In that chapter the apostle Paul denies he ever used flattery or deceit or was greedy (vs 5); he denies self-centered motivation or that he ever sought glory or praise from people (vs 6). Instead, he asserts he was “gentle, just as a nursing mother cherishes her children” (vs 7). He expressed genuine affection and his desire to share not only the Gospel but also his own life “because you had become dear to us” (vs 8). He affirms they were witness to “how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you” (vs 10), as he “exhorted and comforted and charged” them with all the care / concern of a loving father for his own children (vs 11). His whole concern was to help them “walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory” (vs 12). Cocky, strutting, chattering popinjays in the church’s pews and pulpit? May it never be!!

by: Dan Gulley,  Smithville, TN