MORE CONVINCED

Today is the day before Easter, 2011. Lots of hoopla about tomorrow--Easter. Hoopla among those who believe and those who don't believe. Is it about bunnies and eggs? Is it about Jesus coming alive again from the dead? What do you think?

There was a very accomplished Jewish rabbinical student years ago who believed totally that the resurrection of Jesus was all false. He went looking for those believing in "the way" to bring them to be persecuted. He agreed when they were stoned and left for dead. But one day, (Acts 9), that same man was radically changed--totally--about-face--into one of, if not the, strongest evangelist, teacher, and church planter of the Christian faith. He wrote about 1/2 of the books that now are in the Christian New Testament. (This was Saul, later named Paul.)

In one of his letters to the Christian church in Corinth (1 Corinthians 15:13-14, 20), he writes, "If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. ... But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, ..." (NIV)

Was he convinced of the truthfulness of Christ's resurrection? Well, did you just read these verses? This is a man who was stoned for his belief and preaching, under threat of death several times, and tradition says was finally martyred for his faith. Did he believe it?

For 44 years, I have been a Christian. For about 35 years, I have been a minister of that same Lord, Jesus. After all those years, with all the education I have (B.S. in Ed.; M. Div.; D. Min.; with all of the reading I have done, certainly in Christian but in other religious literature, in secular thought; being with people from many, many countries of the world, having been exposed to believers from many world religions, I am MORE CONVINCED than ever, of the truthfulness of Jesus and His coming alive from the dead. More convinced than ever! (I do not mention these "credentials' as a way of drawing attention to myself nor thinking I am smarter than anyone else--just sharing who I am and what God has worked through in my life.)

Paul said, if it is not true then his preaching (all Christian preaching actually) and Christian faith is useless (if indeed based on a false and faulty premise). If it is not true, then my (Sam's) life and ministry have been based on falsity as well.

But the more I study, the more I pray, the more I live life even in this world that for the most part does not believe the resurrection, the more convinced I become of its truthfulness and the crucial nature of believing it and Him.

I also believe more strongly the closer I get to the grave--my grave--my death--my "time of departure" (as Paul put it).

Would you die for something "not true"? Would you give your life for something false (unfortunately, many people in our world do)? I would not, at least I hope I would not.

Would you live for what is true? Easter 2011--a time to investigate again, for yourself, the truthfulness and the importance of the resurrection of Jesus. Look at Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, John 20, and 1 Corinthians 15 and read for yourself. How do you read it--and how do you interpret it?

Are you convinced? Check it out for yourself, ask God to show you the "reality" and also the meaning of that event. Then celebrate this life and the life to come with me. I AM CONVINCED! Are you?

TOO!

Do you ever feel "too"? I certainly do.

I see the world as it is today--not the world I grew up in, and I feel "too" out of it. I feel like I don't fit as well anymore. (Actually I guess that is true, for as Peter said in 1 Peter 1:1, 2:11, believers in Jesus are "aliens and strangers" here.)

At the age I am now, I feel "too" young to retire, and yet "too" old to adjust to the changes necessary for what I need to do right now.

I feel "too" old to change, and yet feel "too" young to quit and give up and not continue to grow and mature and seek for more in terms of my life with Christ and spiritual growth. (See Philippians 3:12-14)

I look at the new life of the church in the world we live in today, and I feel "too" old to retool for ministry and service to a new age and new world and new needs, and yet feel "too" young to give up and throw in the towel and just glide along or slide along until retirement or death.

Someone said that we all "live our life as novices." Just when we get comfortable with the stage of life we are in, then another stage of life comes along that causes us to learn new things, face new issues, and so we begin again as amateurs at this new stage. It causes us to want to go back rather than living forward. Always living with the tensions of change. But we can't really go back, can we? Time marches on, whether we want it to or not. And I find that I would not be happy or content with where I once was either, because I HAVE changed and am not who I used to be.

I guess with all this introspection, Philippians is a good letter for me to read and study right now. In it the author, Paul, said that he "had learned to be content whatever the circumstances (Phil. 4:11 ff.). I need his word that God can supply all my needs (4:19). I need his admonition to "not worry, but to pray" (4:4-9) and realize that I can have the peace of God as I have the God of peace with me.

Are you "too"? Maybe you "too" need "too" much more of Philippians, like I do right now.

Lord, teach me to be content in "all" circumstances, especially when I feel the "toos"! Let me realize when I am caught in the middle of the "toos" that You are there with me, and I "too" can see that you will supply my needs, according to Your riches in glory in Christ Jesus." Teach me to be content with You, above all things, even the "toos."